Maastricht University in the Netherlands is preparing to recover a huge amount of Bitcoin after the police managed to solve the ransomware attack in December 2019. You will be really surprised when you hear the story.

In 2019, a ransomware attack targeted the university in question and froze all research data, email, and library resources. Hackers demanded 200,000 euros worth of Bitcoin and fearing to lose crucial research data, the university decided to pay the said amount.

Bitcoin, which they gave as ransom when it was 200,000 euros, is now being taken back with a value of 500,000 euros.

The Dutch Public Prosecution Service has been able to trace one of the crypto wallets that was involved in the 2020 attack in Ukraine and at that time only Freezes credits on account worth 40,000 euros† In the two years that followed, the Public Prosecution Service discovered that the stolen BTC including about a fifth managed to secure the contents of the account.

The value of the partial ransom recovered by authorities is more than double what the university paid two and a half years ago, thanks to the rise in the price of the major cryptocurrency during the 2021 bull period. reached 500,000 euros†

The university said in an official statement that although the recovered ransom has a higher monetary value, it cannot undo the damage done by the hackers. The university said in an official blog post:

“The Dutch Public Prosecutor’s Office could only confiscate about €500,000 worth of cryptocurrencies that could be offered to the university. That is still less than the damage to the university, but it is a nice amount to support students in need.”

The university’s board of directors has decided to use the recovered funds to help students in financial need. By the way, the value of BTC at the time the university’s BTCs were stolen was $7,216now is It’s about $20,000† What do you think? Please don’t forget to share your thoughts with us in the comments.