A Norwegian multi-millionaire jumped from a second-story balcony in Oslo following an attempted armed robbery, according to local reports.

Prior to the attempted robbery, the victim had allegedly boasted about making a fortune through investing in bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies, Norwegian broadcaster TV2 reported.

An indictment taken by the Oslo Attorney General's Office said the perpetrator knocked on the victim's apartment door brandishing a shotgun.

When the victim opened the door the robber said "lie down, or I'll shoot", but instead the victim decided to jump from his balcony. It is not known whether he sustained any injuries in the fall.

The unnamed businessman runs a cryptocurrency company and his personal wealth is estimated as around NOK 100 million (£9m).

Bitcoin's volatile history in pictures Show all 8 1 /8 Bitcoin's volatile history in pictures Bitcoin's volatile history in pictures Satoshi Nakamoto creates the first bitcoin block in 2009 On 3 January, 2009, the genesis block of bitcoin appeared. It came less than a year after the pseudonymous creator Satoshi Nakamoto detailed the cryptocurrency in a paper titled 'Bitcoin: A peer-to-Peer Electronic Cash System' Reuters Bitcoin's volatile history in pictures Bitcoin is used as a currency for the first time On 22 May, 2010, the first ever real-world bitcoin transaction took place. Lazlo Hanyecz bought two pizzas for 10,000 bitcoins – the equivalent of $90 million at today's prices Lazlo Hanyecz Bitcoin's volatile history in pictures Silk Road opens for business Bitcoin soon gained notoriety for its use on the dark web. The Silk Road marketplace, established in 2011, was the first of hundreds of sites to offer illegal drugs and services in exchange for bitcoin Bitcoin's volatile history in pictures The first bitcoin ATM appears On 29 October, 2013, the first ever bitcoin ATM was installed in a coffee shop in Vancouver, Canada. The machine allowed people to exchange bitcoins for cash REUTERS/Dimitris Michalakis Bitcoin's volatile history in pictures The fall of MtGox The world's biggest bitcoin exchange, MtGox, filed for bankruptcy in February 2014 after losing almost 750,000 of its customers bitcoins. At the time, this was around 7 per cent of all bitcoins and the market inevitably crashed Getty Images Bitcoin's volatile history in pictures Would the real Satoshi Nakamoto please stand up In 2015, Australian police raided the home of Craig Wright after the entrepreneur claimed he was Satoshi Nakamoto. He later rescinded the claim Getty Images Bitcoin's volatile history in pictures Bitcoin's big split On 1 August, 2017, an unresolvable dispute within the bitcoin community saw the network split. The fork of bitcoin's underlying blockchain technology spawned a new cryptocurrency: Bitcoin cash REUTERS Bitcoin's volatile history in pictures Bitcoin's price sky rockets Towards the end of 2017, the price of bitcoin surged to almost $20,000. This represented a 1,300 per cent increase from its price at the start of the year Reuters

Bitcoin's current price of around $10,400 is a long way off its peak in late 2017, when 1 bitcoin was worth around $20,000, however it still remains a popular target for criminals.

The digital nature of cryptocurrency means that a long and complex password known as a private key is all that is needed to transfer funds from one digital wallet to another.

The incident in Oslo is the latest in a string of cases involving criminals targeting people for their cryptocurrency holdings, with the semi-anonymous nature of bitcoin and other digital currencies making it difficult for police to track transactions.

A bitcoin millionaire jumped from a second story apartment building in Oslo, Norway, following an attempted robbery (Getty Images)

In 2015, a New York City firefighter was stabbed by muggers who demanded he handed over his private keys. Two years later, kidnappers in the Ukraine made more than $1 million after successfully ransoming a cryptocurrency analyst.