The US authorities have been able to unearth a huge stash of nearly £3 billion in bitcoin stolen almost a decade ago.

The bitcoins were stolen by 32-year-old James Zhong from the dark web. The police found the stash hidden in a popcorn tin at his house in Gainesville, Georgia. Zhong had successfully managed to steal more than 50,000 bitcoins, worth £2.9 billion, from the dark web marketplace Silk Road.

Silk Road was a dark web forum which was being used to sell and purchase drugs and other illicit products with cryptocurrency.

The police raided his house following an investigation in 2021. The man had stored cryptocurrency on computer devices, and investigators found these devices locked away in an underground floor