China and Britain Both Want the $5 Billion in Bitcoin From the Qian Fraud - Startup Fortune
A Chinese court has filed for the return of $5 billion in bitcoin seized by British authorities from fraudster Qian Zhimin, creating an international legal standoff over the cryptocurrency.
The Tianjin court accepted a request from local prosecutors on September 28 to confiscate the illegal gains of Qian Zhimin, who ran a Chinese investment fraud from 2014 to 2017. The filing covers 61,896.41552945 bitcoin worth nearly $5 billion, plus other cryptocurrencies including Bitcoin Cash, Bitcoin Gold, Bitcoin Satoshi Vision, XRP, and dogecoin.
The cryptocurrency is currently in the custody of London's Metropolitan Police, which has called it the largest cryptocurrency seizure in British history. The digital assets were seized as proceeds of crime during a seven-year investigation led by the Met's Economic Crime team.
Fraud Scheme and Conviction
Qian operated under the fake name Yadi Zhang in Britain and ran Tianjin Lantian Gerui Electronic Technology, which sold fake wealth-management products promising guaranteed returns. The scheme pulled in approximately 40.4 billion yuan (about $5.7 billion) from more than 128,000 Chinese investors, many of them elderly.
After the scheme collapsed, Qian fled China on a moped toward the Myanmar border, then moved through Southeast Asia and Europe on forged passports before settling in London. A woman who assisted her, Jian Wen, a former takeaway worker, was jailed for six years and eight months in 2024 for laundering money through UK property.
Qian pleaded guilty at Southwark Crown Court in September to two counts under the Proceeds of Crime Act, for possessing and transferring criminal property.
International Legal Standoff
China's forfeiture filing argues the bitcoin was stolen from Chinese victims and should be returned to them, with any remaining amount seized by the Chinese state under its own laws. However, Britain has no treaty obligation to hand over the bitcoin, as civil asset forfeiture under the Proceeds of Crime Act allows UK authorities to keep or redistribute seized property through their own process.
The UK's disposal proceedings for the bitcoin are separate and still pending, creating a complex situation with two sovereign legal systems and more than 128,000 defrauded investors seeking restitution. The British government now holds an asset worth more than some national defense budgets.
Fluctuating Value Complicates Case
The value of the bitcoin has fluctuated dramatically since seizure. At the time of seizure in 2018, authorities valued the haul in the hundreds of millions. By Qian's November 2024 sentencing, outlets cited $6.6 billion, while the Tianjin filing priced the same coins at roughly $5.1 billion.
China's fixed figure of 40.4 billion yuan stolen from investors contrasts with the volatile value of the bitcoin, making any eventual restitution formula complicated. The settled facts remain narrow: Qian is in a British prison, the coins are in British custody, and a Chinese court has agreed to hear the case for their return.
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