China has accused the United States of effectively taking control of 127,426 Bitcoin tied to the December 2020 LuBian mining pool hack, turning an old wallet compromise into a major geopolitical crypto dispute. At the center of the debate is whether the coins were lawfully seized through U.S. legal procedures or obtained through what Beijing calls a state-level cyber operation. The stash was worth about $3.5 billion when it was drained from LuBian’s hot wallet in under two hours, and is now valued at more than $13.3 billion. At Bitcoin’s October 6, 2025 all-time high above $126,000, the same holdings would have been worth over $16 billion. Blockchain forensics suggest the original breach may have resulted from weak private key generation rather than a conventional external intrusion, with technical reports including CVE-2023-39910 pointing to vulnerable random number generation. The coins then entered a long dormancy period of nearly four years before being moved in 2024 to wallets later identified by tracking firms as controlled by the U.S. government. Washington links the matter to anti-fraud enforcement and forfeiture actions involving Prince Group chairman Chen Zhi, while China frames it as cyber theft at the state level. The case also matters for the market: 127,426 BTC represents about 0.65% of Bitcoin’s total supply, meaning prolonged government control could tighten circulating liquidity even as Bitcoin ETFs continue to attract institutional inflows.

China has accused the United States of effectively taking control of 127,426 Bitcoin linked to the 2020 LuBian mining pool incident, a stash now valued at roughly $13.3 billion. Chinese authorities, including the National Computer Virus Emergency Response Center (CVERC), argue that the case was not a conventional external hack but a state-level cyber operation allegedly tied to U.S. intelligence. The U.S., however, frames the matter as a lawful seizure conducted through standard legal and forfeiture procedures, treating the Bitcoin as criminal proceeds rather than stolen property. The dispute has transformed what might otherwise have been a technical wallet compromise into a geopolitical confrontation with legal, cybersecurity, and market implications. The article also reviews the timeline of the December 2020 breach, the nearly four-year dormancy of the coins, their movement in 2024 into wallets identified by tracking firms as controlled by the U.S. government, and the technical concerns around weak private key generation and random-number flaws, including CVE-2023-39910. Finally, it explains why a disputed holding representing about 0.65% of Bitcoin’s total supply matters for liquidity, long-term valuation narratives, and institutional sentiment, especially as Bitcoin ETFs continue to attract inflows.

China's National Computer Virus Emergency Response Center (CVERC) has formally accused the United States of stealing over 127,000 Bitcoin (worth $13 billion) in the 2020 LuBian mining pool hack. The US Department of Justice frames the seizure as part of standard legal procedures against alleged crypto fraud involving Chen Zhi, chairman of Cambodia's Prince Group. The contested stash represents about 0.65% of total Bitcoin supply, potentially tightening liquidity. Bitcoin price hovers near $103,474 with continued ETF inflows. On-chain analysis reveals weak private key generation (CVE-2023-39910) as the root cause of the exploit, with coins dormant for four years before being consolidated into US-government-controlled wallets in 2024.