Digital Currency Arrest: Cash, Bitcoins Worth $120,000 Seized

SYDNEY: In a nascent criminal offence and potentially a first person to be charged with bitcoin offences, a 52-year-old Sydney woman has been charged with acting as an unlawful digital currency provider after being arrested at a shopping centre in suburban Burwood on Friday.

Police found $60,000 in cash, along with bitcoins worth $55,000 in her handbag and vehicle.

Strike force investigators who later searched a residential unit in Hurstville seized digital currency wallets and a further $18,200 in bitcoins, along with mobile phones, computers, digital storage devices and documentation.

The woman has been charged with three counts of dealing with the proceeds of crime and breach requirement re digital currency exchange services.