Chinese prosecutors have applied to seize roughly 61,896 Bitcoin and associated digital assets currently held by British authorities, linking them to a large-scale fundraising fraud.
The Tianjin No. 2 Intermediate People’s Court accepted the application in late September and issued a public notice in mid-October, opening a six-month window for victims and other interested parties to join the proceedings. After that period, the court is expected to hear the case.
The matter centers on Qian Zhimin (also known as Zhimin Qian or Yadi Zhang), who allegedly controlled Tianjin Lantian Gerui Electronic Technology.
Between 2014 and 2017, the company marketed unlicensed wealth-management products across China, promising principal protection and high returns.
Prosecutors say the scheme collected more than 40.38 billion yuan from over 102,000 investors, yet most of the funds were not deployed in legitimate business activity.
Instead, money went toward earlier investor payouts, fictitious projects, Bitcoin purchases, real estate, vehicles, and jewelry. Investor losses are estimated at nearly 20 billion yuan.
Qian fled China in July 2017 carrying computers that held cryptocurrency wallets and eventually reached the United Kingdom.
British police later seized the assets, including the Bitcoin haul, substantial quantities of Bitcoin Cash, Bitcoin Gold, Bitcoin SV, millions of XRP tokens, tens of millions of Dogecoin (some of which UK authorities have already converted and placed in an interest-bearing account), plus cash in multiple currencies, jewelry, and investment holdings.
In the UK, Qian pleaded guilty to acquiring and possessing criminal property and received an 11-year, 8-month prison sentence in November 2025.
A recent High Court ruling in London determined that Chinese law, rather than English law, governs victims’ substantive property claims to the seized Bitcoin.
The decision does not yet settle ultimate ownership or distribution; further hearings will examine the content of Chinese law.
Victims’ representatives have indicated they will seek to appeal.
Chinese prosecutors, for their part, argue the assets constitute illegal gains that should be recovered, with priority given to compensating victims before any residual amounts are confiscated.
This cross-border dispute unfolds against a wider shift in how governments treat Bitcoin.
In March 2025, the United States established a Strategic Bitcoin Reserve by executive order.
The reserve is capitalized exclusively with Bitcoin that has been finally forfeited in criminal or civil proceedings and is directed to be held rather than sold, treating the asset as a long-term national reserve akin to digital gold. On-chain tracking places U.S. government-controlled holdings near 328,000 BTC, the largest known sovereign position.
China already ranks second with an estimated 190,000 BTC derived primarily from earlier seizures, while the United Kingdom’s holdings of roughly 61,000 BTC place it third.Most large sovereign stacks still originate from law-enforcement actions rather than open-market purchases.
El Salvador remains a notable exception, having pursued deliberate accumulation and once making Bitcoin legal tender, though international lending conditions have complicated its strategy.
As Bitcoin’s fixed supply and global portability become clearer, additional countries may move from incidental holdings to formalized reserve policies in the coming years—whether by retaining seized coins, exploring budget-neutral acquisition methods, or studying the U.S. model. The outcome of the UK-China case could influence how states reconcile victim restitution with the strategic value of the assets themselves.
