A man in China memorized a mnemonic to steal 107 bitcoins and was sentenced to ten years and nine months for theft

According to a report by Knews, on June 7, the Supreme People's Procuratorate disclosed a new type of virtual currency theft case. A man from Shandong, Zhang, had long assisted an acquaintance, Feng, in handling virtual currency transactions. After gaining Feng's trust, he proactively suggested that Feng switch to a more convenient digital wallet. The asset mnemonic (key) of this type of wallet is generated by randomly selecting 12 combinations from 2048 commonly used English words, which is the core password for storing virtual currency.

Taking advantage of the moment when Feng was copying the mnemonic, Zhang memorized 11 complete words solely by sight and strong memory, and also noted the first letter of the last word. That night, relying on fragmented memory to repeatedly test and combine, he successfully unlocked Feng's digital wallet and transferred 107 bitcoins, later selling them for an illegal profit of 660,000 yuan. The court ultimately sentenced him to ten years and nine months in prison for theft and imposed a fine of 100,000 yuan.