WASHINGTON—U.S. law-enforcement officials said Monday they had recovered millions of dollars in digital currency paid to the hackers who hit Colonial Pipeline Co. with a ransomware attack last month, a strike that prompted the shutdown of the main conduit for gasoline and diesel fuel to the U.S. East Coast. Investigators seized nearly 64 bitcoin, valued at roughly $2.3 million, that were allegedly the proceeds from the ransom hack on Colonial Pipeline, the Justice Department said.

Colonial Pipeline, which transports gasoline, diesel, jet fuel and other refined products from the Gulf Coast to Linden, N.J., was shut down for six days in May as the company responded to the ransomware attack. The stoppage spurred a run on gasoline along parts of the East Coast that pushed prices to the highest levels in more than six years and left thousands of gas stations without fuel.

Because bitcoin is volatile and has recently swung dramatically in value, the amount recovered is a little more than half the value of what was paid last month. About 75 bitcoin were paid to the hackers by Colonial shortly after the company learned it was the victim of a ransomware attack, a person familiar with the matter said.

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