China seeks to confiscate Qian Zhimin's 61,800 bitcoin held in UK

Key takeaways

• A court in Tianjin has accepted a request from Chinese prosecutors to confiscate about 61,800 bitcoin seized in the UK and tied to Qian Zhimin and the Tianjin Lantian Gerui fraud, according to the Chinese outlet The Paper and CoinDesk.
• The court opened a six-month notice period in which relatives and other interested parties, including investors, can apply to join the proceeding. Investors who stay out can still receive refunds from recovered assets, The Paper reported.
• The move comes nine days after the UK High Court ruled that Chinese law, not English law, governs whether fraud victims have property rights in the coins held in Britain.
• At CoinGecko's price of $82,262 (data as of 07:12 UTC on Oct. 22, 2026), 61,000 BTC is worth roughly $5.0 billion. That makes it one of the largest bitcoin holdings controlled by any government.
• Nothing has been decided about who gets the coins. The Chinese case, the UK civil recovery claim and a planned appeal by victims' lawyers are all still open.

What did the Chinese court accept in the Qian Zhimin bitcoin case?

China has formally started proceedings to confiscate the Qian Zhimin bitcoin at the centre of the UK's largest crypto seizure. Tianjin's Second Intermediate People's Court accepted prosecutors' application covering about 61,800 bitcoin, The Paper reported. The move came nine days after a UK High Court ruling.

The prosecutors used China's special procedure for confiscating illegal gains when a suspect has fled and cannot be put on trial. The Paper said the application was filed under Article 299 of the Criminal Procedure Law. The outlet reported that the court accepted the case on Sept. 28 and published a notice on Oct. 13. CoinDesk, which reported the story on Oct. 22 citing The Paper, gives Oct. 13 as the date the court agreed to the request.

According to The Paper, the application lists about 61,896.42 BTC seized by UK authorities. It also covers other crypto assets that CoinDesk lists as bitcoin cash, bitcoin gold, bitcoin SV, XRP and dogecoin, plus foreign-currency cash, jewellery, bank balances and investment portfolios. The court said it has jurisdiction because the main crime scene was in Tianjin's Hedong District.

How the six-month window for victims works

The notice opens a six-month period, and the court will hear the case after it ends, The Paper reported. During that time, close relatives and other interested parties can apply to take part. Investors who want to join as interested parties must register through an online litigation platform run by the court on WeChat.

The Paper also reported that investors who do not register can still receive refunds from any assets that are recovered. This matters because Chinese authorities have already run a compensation scheme for the fraud. A 2024 notice from the UK Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) said many people claiming to be victims had already received partial redress under that scheme.

The fraud by the numbers

Chinese and UK authorities give different figures for the size of the scheme and the number of people affected. The table below shows each figure with its source.

The gap between 102,000 and 128,000 people probably reflects different ways of counting, but neither side has explained it publicly.

What happened in the UK courts

According to UK police and prosecutors, Qian fled China with false documents and reached the UK. The Metropolitan Police said its investigation began in 2018 after intelligence about transfers of criminal assets. The force said it seized about 61,000 bitcoin, which it believes is the largest cryptocurrency seizure in the world.

Qian pleaded guilty at Southwark Crown Court in September 2025 to acquiring and possessing criminal property in the form of cryptocurrency. In November 2025 she was sentenced to 11 years and eight months in prison, according to the sentencing remarks published by the UK judiciary and CPS statements. An associate, Seng Hok Ling, received four years and 11 months.

The criminal case did not decide who gets the bitcoin. That question belongs to a separate civil recovery claim, which the Director of Public Prosecutions filed in the King's Bench Division of the High Court in September 2024 under Part 5 of the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002. In its notice to victims, the CPS said it would not seek a vesting order, the step that would transfer the assets, until claimants had had a reasonable period to get legal advice and make applications. It added that the UK is "mindful of its international treaty obligations" on recovered assets.

The High Court ruling: Chinese law governs victims' claims

On Oct. 12, Mr Justice Mark Turner ruled that Chinese law decides whether investors keep any property rights in the frozen bitcoin. CoinDesk and The Block reported the judgment. Victims' lawyers had argued for English law, or a mix of English and Chinese law, and prosecutors had argued for Chinese law. According to CoinDesk, the judge reasoned that "the relevant damage occurred in China."

The Block reported that under the ruling, applicants must show a proprietary interest in the bitcoin itself, not just a personal claim to be repaid by the fraudsters. Citing the Chinese business outlet Caixin, The Block said about 16,000 Chinese investors have joined the UK proceedings. Caixin reported that those claimants could be limited to recovering their original investment plus interest, rather than any share of bitcoin's rise in value since the seizure.

The ruling does not decide ownership. The case stays in the High Court in London, and a further hearing will decide how Chinese law applies and whether any victims can establish an interest in the coins. Fieldfisher, the lead firm for individual claimants, told the Financial Times it is pursuing an appeal, according to The Block and CoinDesk.

Where the Chinese and UK cases collide

The two proceedings rest on different legal bases and point toward different outcomes.

• The UK track is a civil recovery claim over property physically controlled by British authorities. If victims cannot prove property rights under Chinese law, assets declared recoverable would normally go to the UK state. The Financial Times reported, as summarised by CoinDesk and The Block, that the ruling improves the government's chances of keeping much of the bitcoin.
• The Chinese track treats the coins as illegal gains from a crime committed in China, to be confiscated and used for refunds to investors. A Chinese confiscation order would not take effect in the UK on its own. It would need cooperation between the two governments.

The timing creates an awkward overlap. The UK court has decided that Chinese law is the test for victims' property claims, while a Chinese court is now preparing its own ruling on the same assets. Neither the UK government nor the CPS had publicly responded to the Tianjin application by the time of publication. No Chinese official has said publicly whether Beijing will make a formal request for the assets to be returned.

What it means

For the UK government, the High Court ruling made it more likely that much of the bitcoin could end up with the Treasury. The Chinese application does not change the UK legal process directly. It does add diplomatic weight to arguments that the assets should go back to China for victims. The CPS's own notice ties any state-to-state discussion to a later stage of the civil case.

For victims, the Chinese route offers refunds based on what they lost. The UK route could, in theory, recognise property rights in the bitcoin itself, but the Oct. 12 ruling made that harder. With an appeal planned in London and a six-month window open in Tianjin, the dispute could last well into 2027.

For the bitcoin market, the coins remain frozen. No sale has been ordered by either country, and neither government has announced what it would do with the bitcoin if it gained control. Any future decision would affect one of the largest government-held bitcoin stockpiles. Readers following government holdings can find more context in our latest crypto daily brief and our look at bitcoin ETF flows. For regulation coverage, see our report on the OCC's final GENIUS Act rule and our crypto section.

What is still unknown

• When the High Court will hold the further hearing on how Chinese law applies, and whether the Court of Appeal will allow the victims' appeal.
• Whether China will make a formal request to the UK for the assets to be returned, and how the UK would answer.
• Why Chinese and UK figures for the number of victims differ.

Sources

• The Paper: Tianjin court accepts application to confiscate illegal gains in the Lantian Gerui case (Chinese)
• CoinDesk: China seeks to seize 61,800 BTC tied to $5.7 billion fraud scheme
• CoinDesk: UK court ruling boosts government's chances of keeping £3.8 billion of seized bitcoin
• The Block: UK High Court rules Chinese law governs claims over $5 billion in seized bitcoin
• Crown Prosecution Service: Notice to victims of the Lantian Gerui fraud
• Metropolitan Police: Two people convicted following world's largest crypto seizure
• UK Judiciary: Sentencing remarks, R v Zhimin Qian and Seng Hok Ling
• Crown Prosecution Service: Two people imprisoned for their key roles in a large-scale money laundering case
• CoinGecko: Bitcoin price (data as of 2026-10-22 07:12 UTC)

This article is for information only and is not investment advice.