Share this article
Bitcoin Mining Hardware Thief Escapes from Prison
Sindri Thor Stefansson, the alleged culprit behind the theft of 600 cryptomining computers, escaped from prison earlier this week.
By Nikhilesh De
Updated Sep 13, 2021, 7:50 a.m. Published Apr 18, 2018, 6:00 p.m.
The alleged thief behind Iceland's "Big Bitcoin Heist" has escaped from prison and escaped to Sweden.
Sindri Thor Stefansson, who is accused of stealing 600 cryptocurrency mining computers across at least four separate incidents between December 2017 and January 2018, allegedly flew to Sweden on a flight with Iceland's prime minister, according to a report from The Guardian published Wednesday.
STORY CONTINUES BELOW
Don't miss another story.Subscribe to the Crypto Daybook Americas Newsletter today. See all newsletters
Police arrested a further 22 individuals as possible accomplices, though it is unclear how many remain in custody.
The heist – which resulted in the theft of an estimated $2 million worth of mining hardware – is the largest in Iceland's history, as previously reported. At the time, officials called it "a highly organized crime" that was coordinated "on a scale unseen before."
As such, Stefansson likely had help escaping, local police chief Gunnar Schram was quoted as saying. He told reporters that the alleged criminal "had an accomplice" to help him leave the low-security prison he was being held in and travel to the airport, located some 60 miles away.
The mining hardware has not yet been recovered, The Guardian further reported. The owners of the machines have offered $60,000 as a reward for anyone who can help locate the machines.
While a warrant is out for Stefansson's arrest in Sweden, his whereabouts are reportedly unknown at this time.
Prison image via Shutterstock
More For You
What to know:
- As of October 2025, GoPlus has generated $4.7M in total revenue across its product lines. The GoPlus App is the primary revenue driver, contributing $2.5M (approx. 53%), followed by the SafeToken Protocol at $1.7M.
- GoPlus Intelligence's Token Security API averaged 717 million monthly calls year-to-date in 2025 , with a peak of nearly 1 billion calls in February 2025. Total blockchain-level requests, including transaction simulations, averaged an additional 350 million per month.
- Since its January 2025 launch , the $GPS token has registered over $5B in total spot volume and $10B in derivatives volume in 2025. Monthly spot volume peaked in March 2025 at over $1.1B , while derivatives volume peaked the same month at over $4B.
More For You
Michael Saylor's Strategy Made Second Consecutive $1B Bitcoin Purchase Last Week
Despite the continued struggles of its share price, Strategy again funded the purchase mostly via sales of common stock
What to know:
- Strategy last week purchased 10,645 bitcoin for $980.3 million.
- The fresh acquisition was mostly funded by sales of common stock.
- Total bitcoin holdings rose to 671,268 acquired for $50.33 billion, or an average price of $74,972 each.
Top Stories
