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Stefansson was one of 11 people who had been arrested in connection with the theft of 600 computers in Iceland. These computers were designed to mine bitcoin and are reportedly worth 1.4million.

An open prison is any jail in which the prisoners are trusted to serve their sentences with minimal supervision and perimeter security and are not locked up in prison cells.

Sindri Thor Stefansson who escaped from an open prison then hitched a plane ride to Sweden which may have had Katrin Jakobsdottir the Icelandic Prime Minister on it according to the BBC.

20.02 - UPDATE - Suspect of bitcoin related heist in Iceland escapes jail on same flight as Icelandic PM

Bitcoin cash is up by more than 10 percent today, which is a faster rate of increase compared to any other major crypto.

18.42 - UPDATE - Survey reveals Brits would not support BoE-backed crypto

New research has revealed the majority of Britons would not support a Bank of England-backed cryptocurrency linked to the pound.

Pollsters D-CYFOR discovered a whopping 60 percent of Britons would not support the Bank of England (BoE) in introducing its own cryptocurrency.

Meanwhile, 93 percent of Britons have now heard of the bitcoin as the cryptocurrency industry continues to attract new interest, while roughly one-third of people said they would be “more likely” to invest in bitcoin if the UK Government regulated the crypto sphere.

The general view of bitcoin's future prospects looks fairly bleak too, with 61 percent of those surveyed expecting the leading crypto to either decrease in value, or even collapse entirely, over the next six months.

17.49 - UPDATE - Chief scientist for Quebec government declares bitcoin is not a ‘magnet’ for criminal activity

Rémi Quirion, chief scientist for a governmental office in Quebec has published a fact check on bitcoin exploring the claim that the crypto is an “index of money laundering” as Larry Fink, CEO of BlackRock has previously said.

Quirion believes there is no link between bitcoin and criminal activities, due to the fact that bitcoin transactions are not anonymous and can often be easily tracked by law enforcement agencies.

Mr Quirion said: “Bitcoin is not above the law, nor is it a magnet for illicit transactions: it forms only a tiny part of the criminal money circulating around the planet. The reason: it is less attractive for anyone who wants to make transactions without leaving a trace.”

HEADLINES

Good afternoon, and welcome to our rolling coverage of all things cryptocurrency, including price, regulation, innovation and financial crime.

Although there is not yet any concrete evidence to suggest that institutional investors are warming to crypto-assets, one City firm claims to have taken the plunge with it's much-hyped underlying blockchain technology.

Financial and technology services group True Potential is set to become the first UK fintech in asset management to successfully incorporate Blockchain technology into its in-house trading platform.

The firm’s investment partners include UBS, Allianz Global Investors, Goldman Sachs Asset Management and Schroders and claim to have over £52bn of assets under administration.

True Potential is incorporating Blockchain technology as an additional ledger into its in-house trading platform, currently being rebuilt, to record transactions.

Managing partner David Harrison said: “We will also be the first Investment Platform in the UK to be using Blockchain at its heart, at first to audit our own systems, but increasingly to interact with others to produce greater clarity and certainty in both the supply chain and our own customer value chain.”

Ian McKenna, director of the Finance & Technology Research Centre, said: “Blockchain technology is beginning to come of age so it is really good to see all it can offer being embraced by a forward thinking financial advice firm who have a long track record of delivering technology enhancements ahead of the rest of the market.

“Driving out cost is a key element in platforms remaining competitive, so embracing Blockchain and the benefits it can bring is a logical step.”

Updates below throughout the day....