Taiwanese miners blame China for crackdown on Bitcoin exchanges

A Taiwanese bitcoin trader was reportedly shot in the ankle by local gangsters due to a regulatory crackdown on bitcoin trading in mainland China.

The incident took place on Saturday evening local time, according to Taiwanese news outlet Liberty Times, when two gangsters who had invested heavily in a bitcoin company planned to meet with its miners.

The miner, surnamed Wu, had previously accepted a 10 million yuan (about 1.7 million U.S. dollars) investment in Bitcoin mining from Li and Gao.

While the mining equipment remains missing, reports suggest it is likely located within mainland China.

Wu said in the report that after making a profit of about $370,000, he was unable to cash out the profits as demanded by the two rogue hackers due to China's tightening regulation of Bitcoin transactions - a factor that also caused controversy at the meeting.

The situation reportedly escalated and Wu was shot in the ankle. The hooligans fled the crime scene but eventually chose to surrender to the police.

Seven hours after the incident, police confirmed that the suspect was from a local gang.

While this is not the first Bitcoin crime in Taiwan, this case appears to be a precedent for the involvement of organized criminals.

The surge in bitcoin prices over the past year has led to an increase in armed attacks. In January, thieves robbed bitcoin investors at gunpoint in Canada and the United Kingdom, CoinDesk reported.

Just last week, Singapore police reported a $300,000 robbery of a Bitcoin broker.