U.S. Court Rules FBI Not Liable for Destroyed Bitcoin Hard Drive

According to PANews, a U.S. court has determined that the FBI is not responsible for the destruction of a hard drive containing 3,400 bitcoins. The owner of the hard drive had repeatedly denied possessing a significant amount of bitcoin, leading the government to cease further investigation into the cryptocurrency's whereabouts. Subsequently, the device was disposed of following standard procedures after notification. This incident contributes to the growing amount of irretrievably lost bitcoin, with current estimates suggesting that approximately 3.7 million bitcoins, or 18% of the total supply, may be permanently lost.