Chinese Prosecutors Seek to Confiscate $5.1B in Bitcoin Seized by UK in Qian Case

Prosecutors in China have applied to confiscate the 61,896 BTC seized from Zhimin Qian in the UK, and a court in Tianjin has agreed to hear the case, according to a court notice reported by Chinese outlet The Paper.

The Bitcoin is worth about $5.1 billion at its current price of around $82,000.

The Tianjin No. 2 Intermediate People's Court said it accepted the application from the city's prosecutors on September 28, and published a notice on October 13. The court said there was evidence that Qian had committed fundraising fraud, mainly in Tianjin's Hedong district.

Besides the Bitcoin, prosecutors are seeking about 72,746 units each of Bitcoin Cash, Bitcoin Gold and Bitcoin SV, around 3.6 million XRP, and some 70 million Dogecoin, which UK authorities have already converted and placed in an interest-bearing account. The application also covers U.S. dollar, euro and pound cash, jewelry, bank balances and investment portfolios.

According to the prosecutors' application, Qian was the controller of Tianjin Lantian Gerui Electronic Technology, and between April 2014 and August 2017 sold fake wealth management products across China without a license, promising guaranteed returns. The scheme raised more than 40.38 billion yuan, most of which was not used for any genuine business, and left more than 102,000 investors with losses totaling about 19.98 billion yuan, prosecutors said.

Qian fled China in July 2017 with computers holding Bitcoin wallets and eventually reached the UK, where she converted some of the coins into other assets.

Prosecutors argue the seized assets are proceeds of crime that should be recovered, returned to victims, and otherwise confiscated. Because Qian has been a wanted fugitive for more than a year, the case falls under Chinese rules that allow confiscation without the suspect present.

Victims can apply to join the proceedings through a WeChat mini-program, though those who do not will still be able to receive repayments from any recovered assets. The notice period runs for six months, after which the court will hear the case.

The UK case

Qian was jailed for 11 years and eight months in the UK in November 2025, after pleading guilty to acquiring and possessing criminal property. Unnamed Treasury officials had privately raised whether the seized Bitcoin could help fill a shortfall in the UK's public finances, the Financial Times reported at the time, while legal experts argued that victims could be entitled to compensation if they could show a sufficient link to the coins.

Weeks after Qian's guilty plea, UK prosecutors told the High Court they were planning a compensation scheme for victims, without giving details. They have since said victims could be compensated through a redress scheme run from China.

On October 12, the High Court ruled that Chinese law should govern thousands of victims' claims to the coins, a decision seen as improving the UK government's chances of keeping them. Law firm Fieldfisher, which represents the claimants, said it is seeking to appeal.

The ruling does not decide whether the victims own the Bitcoin, since no evidence has yet been heard on the content of Chinese law, David Phillips, a dispute resolution partner at London law firm SMB, wrote on Wednesday. But it shows that "a victim cannot necessarily recover cryptocurrency simply by proving: 'That Bitcoin was bought with money taken from me,'" he wrote.

"Cryptoassets may operate without borders, but proprietary rights in them remain capable of raising intensely territorial questions of applicable law," Phillips added.