Former NCA officer's £1.81m order prices each recovered bitcoin at what all 50 were worth in 2017
Former NCA officer Paul Chowles must repay £1.81 million over 50 bitcoin he took from a Silk Road 2.0 seizure in 2017, when they were worth about £60,000. The order values only the 30 coins police recovered, at today's price, so the 20 he spent are the state's loss.
The Investor · Invest desk
What happened
- Chowles led the analysis and extraction of cryptocurrency from seized devices, and he moved the 50 coins out of Silk Road 2.0 operator Thomas White's reserve wallet over two days.
- The theft was blamed on White for years, though he denied it, and by late 2021 the missing coins had been written off as untraceable.
- A 2022 search of Chowles's home found devices holding the private keys, and Merseyside Police traced the funds through the Bitcoin Fog mixer with help from Chainalysis.
- He pleaded guilty to theft and to transferring and concealing criminal property, and was jailed for five years and six months at Liverpool Crown Court in July 2025.
Why it matters
- Who's exposed exposure Any agency where the officer extracting seized crypto can also move it has the exposure the NCA had, and a loss of that kind is easy to pin on the suspect.
- What it sets up precedent Pricing recovered coins at their appreciated worth means an insider who keeps stolen bitcoin faces a bill that grows with the market, while coins spent early drop out of the order.
- What doesn't add up contradiction Crypto Briefing puts his spending at £613,000 and Decrypt puts his card cash-outs at £144,580, so what he banked from the 20 spent coins is uncertain by a factor of four.
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Divide the order by the 30 coins it covers and each comes out at about £60,356 [17]. In May 2017 the whole 50-coin haul was worth about £60,000, or roughly £1,200 a coin [2][3][18]. Each bitcoin Chowles still held when police reached him is now priced at close to what all fifty were worth when he took them, about 50 times the 2017 price per coin [19].
The CPS put the gap between the two figures down to bitcoin's appreciation since 2017 [5], but the order reaches only the recovered coins. The other 20 were deemed spent [4]. Had the 30 stayed in NCA custody unsold, they would be worth the same today, so the £1.81 million is the value of an asset the state already held, marked up while it was stolen. At the same implied price, the spent 20 would be worth about £1.21 million [20].
The NCA had seized about 97 coins in the probe [12], so the officer leading extraction took about 52% of the seizure [22]. Crypto Briefing reports the loss went unnoticed for five years [25], and that the case turned when White reported the missing coins after his release from prison [8].
"Paul Chowles exploited a position of trust for personal gain, stealing assets that had already been recovered through law enforcement action," said Luke Clements, a specialist prosecutor in the CPS Proceeds of Crime Division [14]. He said the agency would "pursue offenders' assets relentlessly" [15]. The order is about a third of one percent of the more than £530 million his division has recovered through confiscation orders in five years [21][23].
The case supports three readings. One is that the system worked: Cryptopay and Wirex run know-your-customer checks, according to Crypto Briefing [27], and the Bitcoin Fog mixer did not hide the trail from Chainalysis [9]. A second is price luck, since the thief kept 30 coins through the rise [4][5]. The third is that an officer with extraction duties held working keys to seized coins from 2017 until a 2022 search, while the suspect took the blame [6][7][9]. I think the third is right. The first two describe the clean-up.
The counter-thesis is that this was a single theft, committed about nine years before the order, by one officer the NCA has since dismissed [1][2][11]. The sources do not describe how the NCA restricts access to seized wallet keys today. Evidence that no single officer can now move seized coins would weaken the view.
What to watch
- Whether and when the CPS sells the 30 recovered coins, since the order is a sterling figure set on September 30 while the bitcoin price keeps moving.
- The size of the compensation order made for the victim, and which party the CPS names as that victim.
Information, not investment advice. This story is general information about companies and markets, drawn from cited reporting. It is not a recommendation to buy, sell or hold any security; check the cited sources before acting.
Clarity's read
What the record supports and how the coverage leans. The claims behind it follow.
Reality
- Evidence68
- Adoption
- Not scored
- Hype gap+15
- Incentives35
- Confidence70
Perspective Coverage
3 publishers- Builder
- Builder 22%
- Operator
- Operator 51%
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- Investor 27%
Claim ledger
Ranked by verification strength, evidence, and original report placement.
- [1]
The Crown Prosecution Service secured a confiscation order of £1,810,678.93 (around $2.4 million) against former National Crime Agency officer Paul Chowles, 44, of Bristol, under the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002 on September 30, 2026.
- [2]
Chowles stole 50 BTC in May 2017 while working on the NCA's investigation into Silk Road 2.0.
- [3]
The 50 BTC were worth about £60,000 when Chowles took them in 2017.
- [4]
The confiscation order reflects the current value of roughly 30 BTC recovered from Chowles; the remaining 20 BTC were deemed spent.
- [5]
Thirty of the 50 BTC were recovered, with the order including their total value; the CPS attributes the gap between the order and the 2017 value to Bitcoin's appreciation since 2017.
- [6]
Chowles took the lead on analyzing and extracting cryptocurrency from devices seized in the case, then moved 50 BTC out of Thomas White's reserve wallet over two days in May 2017.
- [7]
The theft was blamed on White for years; he denied it throughout, and by late 2021 the missing coins had been written off as untraceable.
- [8]
Thomas White reported the missing coins after his release from prison.
- [9]
A 2022 search of Chowles' home turned up devices holding the private keys, and Merseyside Police traced the funds through the mixer with help from Chainalysis.
- [10]
Chowles was jailed for five years and six months at Liverpool Crown Court in July 2025 after pleading guilty to theft, transferring criminal property and concealing criminal property.
- [11]
The NCA dismissed Chowles on 11 July 2025.
- [12]
The NCA had seized approximately 97 BTC as part of the Silk Road 2.0 probe.
- [13]
Chowles routed the coins through Bitcoin Fog and cashed out through Cryptopay and Wirex debit cards across 279 transactions totaling £144,580.
- [14]
"Paul Chowles exploited a position of trust for personal gain, stealing assets that had already been recovered through law enforcement action," said Luke Clements, a specialist prosecutor in the CPS Proceeds of Crime Division.
- [15]
Clements said the agency would "pursue offenders' assets relentlessly."
- [16]
A compensation order has also been made for the victim in the case.
- [17]
The order implies a value of about £60,356 per recovered bitcoin.
- [18]
The 2017 value was roughly £1,200 per bitcoin.
- [19]
The implied per-coin value in the order is about 50 times the 2017 per-coin value.
- [20]
At the order's implied price, the 20 spent bitcoin would be worth about £1.21 million.
- [21]
The CPS Proceeds of Crime Division has recovered more than £530 million through confiscation orders over the past five years, returning over £102 million to victims.
- [22]
Chowles took about 52% of the roughly 97 BTC the NCA seized.
- [23]
The order is about a third of one percent of the more than £530 million the CPS division recovered over five years.
- [24]
Over time, Chowles spent roughly £613,000 on personal expenses.
- [25]
Chowles walked away with more than half of the seized Bitcoin without anyone noticing for five years.
- [26]
Crypto Briefing's £613,000 spending figure is about 4.2 times Decrypt's £144,580 cash-out figure.
- [27]
Cryptopay and Wirex both comply with know-your-customer requirements.
Sources
3 independent publishers whose own reporting we read for this story.
- cryptobriefing.comFormer NCA officer Paul Chowles ordered to repay $2.4M for Bitcoin theft during Silk Road 2.0 probe
1 article · September 30, 2026
- cryptopolitan.comThird Silk Road investigator caught stealing seized Bitcoin owes UK £1.8M
1 article · September 30, 2026
- decrypt.coEx-NCA Officer Must Repay $2.4M for Bitcoin He Stole When It Was Worth $77K
1 article · September 30, 2026
Topics and entities
Topics
- Criminal asset confiscation
- Blockchain forensics
- Custody of seized cryptocurrency
Entities
- National Crime Agency
- Merseyside Police
- Chainalysis
- Crown Prosecution Service
- Proceeds of Crime Act 2002
- Bitcoin