Blockchain Engineer Sentenced for Stealing Ethereum from Employer

According to a report by Jinse Finance, a blockchain engineer named Zhang, employed by a Beijing-based internet company, was sentenced to three and a half years in prison and fined 60,000 yuan for stealing Ethereum from his employer.

The Beijing Municipal High People's Court reported that Zhang, while working on a project for the company, learned that a company account contained a significant amount of Ethereum. He then devised a plan to attack the account to steal the cryptocurrency.

Using his position, Zhang requested program code and private keys beyond his authorized access, claiming it was for "code learning". However, Zhang had joined a "technical exchange group" where members discussed using code cracking to gain virtual currency for profit. He shared the stolen code and private keys with the group, inviting a member named Jack to crack the code and attack the company account, leading to the theft of 106.15 Ethereum.

Zhang admitted to "laundering" the stolen Ethereum, intending to distribute it after its value increased. He converted the Ethereum to other currencies, moving it through his wife's accounts and then back to his own.

The company reported the theft to the authorities, leading to the prosecution of Zhang by the procuratorate. The Changping Court held a public trial, finding Zhang guilty of illegally obtaining data from a computer information system.

The court's verdict was based on evidence such as the flow of the stolen Ethereum, the extracted code addresses and corresponding private keys found on Zhang's computer, and chat messages between Zhang and his wife regarding money laundering.

The court sentenced Zhang to three and a half years in prison, fined him 60,000 yuan, and confiscated his illegal gains of 38,329.76 yuan. Zhang appealed the verdict, but the appeal was dismissed, and the original sentence stands. The case is now closed.