An employee at a company in Shenzhen posed as an overseas hacker to extort Bitcoin and USDT, and was sentenced to 3 years and 3 months in prison

Odaily Planet Daily News: An employee surnamed Jia at a company in Pingshan District, Shenzhen, burdened by online loan debts, stole the company's core R&D data and then posed as an overseas hacker to send extortion emails to the company, demanding 0.88 Bitcoin, 0.8 Bitcoin, and 90,000 USDT as ransom. The company did not pay the ransom and reported the case to the police. Jia was ultimately sentenced to 3 years and 3 months in prison and fined 10,000 yuan for attempted extortion. During the trial, the procuratorial authority determined that although Bitcoin and Tether (USDT) are not legal tender, they are virtual assets with property value. The virtual currency involved was valued at over 630,000 yuan, which can be used as the basis for determining the amount of the crime.