Zhimin Qian

UK

2026-10-13 10:51:33

UK High Court ruling boosts government position over seized 61,000 BTC tied to Zhimin Qian case

The UK government strengthened its position over a seized 61,000 BTC stash after London’s High Court ruled that Chinese law, not English law, should govern victims’ claims in the case linked to convicted fraudster Zhimin Qian. At current CoinGecko pricing of about $83,200 per Bitcoin, the holdings are worth roughly $5 billion. Qian was sentenced last year to more than 11 years in prison after pleading guilty to fraud and money laundering connected to a Ponzi scheme that targeted investors in China between 2014 and 2017. The ruling said at least 128,409 investment contracts were entered into and victims paid about RMB 40.2 billion, with roughly RMB 34.1 billion later paid back to some victims. Thousands of victims have applied under the Proceeds of Crime Act, seeking declarations that parts of the Bitcoin belong to them. Justice Mark Turner said each claimant must prove a proprietary interest in the coins. He found that the fraud, the payments, and the contracts all took place in China, and wrote that the governing law is Chinese law. The decision does not yet determine who ultimately keeps the Bitcoin, with further proceedings still needed on the content of Chinese law and whether any victim can establish an interest in the assets.

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ChainCatcher

2026-08-04 10:32:54

Specter links 28,600 BTC wallet cluster to addresses tied to Zhimin Qian case

Blockchain investigator Specter said it has identified a wallet cluster holding 28,600 BTC, worth about $1.8 billion, that may be tied to wallets previously attributed to the Zhimin Qian money-laundering case. The finding followed the movement of 1,020 BTC, valued at roughly $60 million, from a Bitcoin wallet that had been dormant since 2017. After the transfer, the funds were distributed across multiple addresses in a pattern Specter said was consistent with laundering activity. By tracing those transactions, Specter said the cluster could be connected to addresses publicly linked to the U.K. investigation into Zhimin Qian. The report also pointed to a transfer of seized BTC by British authorities in July 2021, which created identifiable on-chain links. Following the recent 1,020 BTC movement, Specter said it found additional wallets, bringing the total holdings of the related cluster to 28,600 BTC. Those wallets have been largely dormant since June 2021. Specter added that the available on-chain evidence is not enough to determine whether the wallets are still controlled by the same actor, managed by another custodian, or already known to law enforcement.

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