Chinese Court Accepts Application to Confiscate Bitcoin Valued at About $5.1 Billion
Key Facts
Tianjin's Second Intermediate People's Court has accepted a prosecution application to confiscate illicit proceeds linked to Qian Zhimin, including 61,896.41552945 bitcoin, according to a court announcement cited by Chinese newspaper The Paper. The court announced its acceptance of the application on 13 October 2026, after registering and accepting the case for consideration on 28 September. Yicai Global valued the bitcoin holdings at about $5.1 billion, based on market prices cited in its coverage published on 14 October 2026. The list of property sought for confiscation also includes other virtual currencies, cash, jewellery and financial assets. The application covers criminal proceeds, assets into which they were converted and returns generated from them, excluding anything lawfully returned to affected participants, according to Xinhua news agency.
The case stems from Tianjin Lantian Gerui Electronic Technology, a company effectively controlled by Qian, according to Xinhua. She used the company to sell fictitious investment products to the public, promoting them with promises to guarantee principal and pay returns. Advertising for the products promised substantial returns to attract funds from participants. But the money raised was used to pay amounts due on earlier investment products and to run sham projects, according to the agency. Some of it went towards purchases of bitcoin, as well as properties, cars and jewellery. The agency said "the vast majority of the funds raised were not used for production or business activities". According to Britain's Crown Prosecution Service, fraud losses totalled about £600 million, and Qian converted about £20.2 million in illicit proceeds into bitcoin.
In Britain, the investigation began in 2018, according to London's Metropolitan Police, after it received intelligence about the transfer of criminal assets. Qian was arrested in York on 22 April 2024, according to sentencing remarks officially published by the British judiciary. The criminal proceedings against her ended with a prison sentence of 11 years and 8 months, according to the Crown Prosecution Service. The sentence followed her guilty pleas to offences involving cryptocurrency derived from crime. Jian Wen had been sentenced in separate proceedings to 6 years and 8 months in prison for her role in a money-laundering arrangement, according to the prosecution service.
Cooperation between British and Chinese authorities extended to gathering evidence from victims, according to the Crown Prosecution Service's annual report. Specialist prosecutor Joanna Ingle said video-recorded victim testimony provided important evidence in building the British case. Authorities obtained the testimony with assistance from Chinese law enforcement agencies, according to Ingle. Describing its contribution, the prosecutor said it "provided invaluable evidence to build a strong case". The cooperation thus included the use of victims' video-recorded accounts among the evidence underpinning the case.
Alongside the Chinese confiscation proceedings, a British High Court ruling addressed the law governing the rights relied on by claimants in Britain. The court ruled that Chinese law applied to those rights, according to the judgment published by Britain's National Archives. It said in its ruling that "the law governing the matters relied upon by the applicants is Chinese law". British procedural mechanisms govern how the claims are presented and determined. The court deferred consideration of the substance, effect and proof of Chinese law, stating that "any questions concerning the substance, effect or proof of that law are matters for a later stage".
In the Chinese proceedings, the court's procedure allows victims to register to participate in the case through its platform on WeChat, according to Xinhua. Their right to receive funds returned from recovered assets remains intact even if they do not participate in the proceedings. The agency stressed that "non-participation in the proceedings does not affect receipt of funds distributed and returned from recovered assets linked to the case". Recovery of victims' entitlements is tied to the exception in the prosecution application, which seeks confiscation "excluding anything lawfully returned to affected participants in the fundraising". In Britain, questions concerning the substance, effect and proof of Chinese law remain for consideration at a later stage of the proceedings, according to the ruling.