Chinese prosecutors seek to confiscate $5.1B in Bitcoin that UK authorities seized, with a Tianjin court hearing scheduled after a six-month notice period.
Regulation & Gov ·
Prosecutors in Tianjin have filed an application to seize approximately 61,896 BTC and additional cryptocurrency holdings linked to Zhimin Qian, with a local court accepting the case in late September. The Bitcoin alone is valued at roughly $5.1 billion at current prices. The confiscation bid also targets Bitcoin Cash, Bitcoin Gold, Bitcoin SV, XRP, Dogecoin, and various fiat assets already held by UK authorities. Qian allegedly orchestrated a scheme selling unlicensed wealth management products across China between 2014 and 2017, raising over 40 billion yuan from more than 102,000 investors who suffered combined losses of nearly 20 billion yuan.
The Tianjin No. 2 Intermediate People's Court has initiated a six-month notice period before hearing arguments on the matter. Chinese law permits confiscation proceedings in the absence of a defendant who has been a fugitive for over a year; Qian fled the country in mid-2017 and was later apprehended in the UK. The prosecutor's claim rests on characterizing the holdings as criminal proceeds that warrant recovery and victim compensation.
The outcome remains uncertain given parallel litigation in London. A UK High Court decision in October ruled that Chinese law should govern victims' compensation claims, though the firm representing claimants has signaled an intent to appeal. The eventual distribution of the assets depends on how both jurisdictions resolve overlapping legal claims.