Armed raiders who held 2 bitcoin traders at gunpoint in rural England didn't actually manage to steal anything
- Armed criminals attacked a home in Oxfordshire, Britain, last month.
- It was the registered address of a cryptocurrency company.
- Four men broke in and tried to force inhabitants to make a transfer.
- But it failed and the raiders left with nothing, police said.
- Officers are still looking for the men and issued descriptions.
Armed burglars who broke into the home of two British bitcoin traders and held them at gunpoint didn't actually manage to steal any cryptocurrency, police have said.
Four men, who are now on the run from Thames Valley Police, tried to force two traders to transfer a large quantity of bitcoin after kicking down the door of a home in rural Moulsford, Oxfordshire, on January 22.
The raid was carried out on the home of Danny Aston and his girlfriend Amy Jay, who had used it as the registered address of their business, Aston Digital Currencies.
But, according to an update on the case more than a week later, the transfer didn't actually work. They did not take any material possessions either, meaning they left empty-handed.
A statement released on Tuesday by Thames Valley Police described the incident:
"The offenders threatened the two men and a woman who were inside the property, with what appeared to be a firearm and demanded one of the occupants to transfer bitcoins electronically to another account.
"The victim was struck to his head but was not seriously injured during the incident. He attended the John Radcliffe Hospital and was later discharged. Nothing was stolen during the incident."
The Oxford Mail local newspaper confirmed with the police force that the transfer did not work, and were told by a spokesman: "It's correct to say that the attempted transaction of bitcoins failed."
"Targeted incident"
Police also released slightly more detail on the suspects, describing their race (three were black, one was white) and what they were wearing ("tracksuits/sports clothing").
Officers are still looking for the men. They asked anybody with dashcam video footage or other evidence from the morning of the raid to contact them.
Police have not issued further information on who the men might have been, but suggested that the raid "may be a targeted incident," implying a level of sophistication beyond that of small-time criminals.
Cryptocurrency and crime are overlapping more and more since the dramatic spike in the value of leading currencies like bitcoin.
Officers from London's Metropolitan Police told Business Insider towards the end of last year that bitcoin is so widely used in the city that even regular drug dealers are using it to launder their takings.