The ‘technical brains’ behind a nearly £110,000 cryptocurrency robbery have been spared jail.

John-Ross Rennie was said to have had a “pivotal” role in the crime, thought to be the first of its kind in Scotland.

The 29-year-old was cleared of assault and robbery at the High Court in Glasgow but was found guilty of reset – the possession of stolen goods.

He was sentenced to a six-month community payback order with 150 hours of unpaid work, to be completed within three months.

Rennie denied being part of a late-night raid that saw three men forcibly enter a house in Blantyre, South Lanarkshire, and threaten a man to transfer his Bitcoin into another account.

He claimed he was forced by a “scary” relative to deposit the crypto – valued at £109,601.46 at the time – into his account.

He said the “violent” relative was not someone “you said no to.”

Jurors were told the digital cash that ended up in Rennie’s account was transferred elsewhere.

The court heard that during the home invasion on 18 March 2020, the victim’s brother was awoken by his dog barking. He then spotted a man with a machete in the doorway.

Another man then forced the victim to transfer the cryptocurrency.

A third man then threw a woman who was also at the house into a bedroom after repeatedly hitting her with a personalized Toblerone bar.

After the attacker made a “throat-slitting gesture” with the bloodied chocolate bar, the gang fled in an Audi car.

Rennie, a delivery driver from Cambuslang in South Lanarkshire, was arrested months later and described in court as providing technical expertise to the gang to steal the crypto.

At the High Court in Edinburgh on Tuesday, defense solicitor advocate Marco Guarino argued that Rennie should not be sent to prison as he was a first offender, cares for children, and had a limited role in the robbery.

Mr Guarino pleaded: “This is not a man who is a risk. He is not a man who will be involved in future offenses.

“He is a man who made a foolish decision. He was a delighted man.”

Lord Scott agreed, as Rennie’s crime involved “no violence.”

The judge said: “It seems to me that your role in what happened was pivotal, even if the jury decided that it did not extend to participation in the plan to carry out the robbery.

“Without the robbers’ reliance on what you knew, however, it is hard to see the robbery being able to proceed or at least as it did.”

Lord Scott passed the sentence after prosecutor Stewart Ronnie told the court that the Crown Office had planned to launch a proceeds of crime action against Rennie.

The court heard that Rennie had “siphoned” off around £35,000 from the robbery for himself.

The action will be called at the High Court in Lanark on 18 December.

Detective Inspector Craig Potter of Police Scotland’s cyber investigations unit said: “This was a complex investigation and the first robbery in Scotland to involve tracing the movements of stolen cryptocurrency.

“This conviction demonstrates Police Scotland’s capability and commitment to tackling criminality involving the digital space and bringing criminals operating in this world to justice.”