British Court Puts Chinese Law at Center of 61,000-Bitcoin Case

The British High Court has placed Chinese law at the center of ownership claims involving more than 61,000 Bitcoin (BTC) seized from convicted fraudster Zhimin Qian, leaving the cryptocurrency’s eventual disposition unresolved.

The ruling did not decide whether the victims own the Bitcoin or whether the British government can retain it. Those issues will be considered in later proceedings involving 2,594 Section 281 applicants and other named parties, including Qian, Jian Wen and Wang Wu.

The seizure involved 61,000 BTC linked to an investment fraud that operated in China from 2014 to 2017 and affected more than 128,000 people. The Bitcoin was worth about £300 million when it was seized and remains subject to civil-recovery proceedings in the High Court.

Qian pleaded guilty to cryptocurrency-related criminal-property offenses in September 2025 and received an 11-year, eight-month prison sentence. The court’s next proceedings will determine how Chinese law applies to the victims’ proprietary claims and the government’s recovery action.