Tianjin Court Takes Up Bid to Confiscate More Than 61,000 Bitcoin

A court in Tianjin accepted a prosecutors’ application to confiscate more than 61,000 Bitcoin (BTC) seized in Britain, adding a separate proceeding to a dispute over who owns the coins.

The Chinese court accepted the filing Sept. 28 and announced it Oct. 13. Prosecutors seek assets linked to Zhimin Qian, including Bitcoin held by British authorities. They contend the property represents unlawful proceeds and related gains. Accepting the application does not confiscate the coins or order their transfer to China.

The filing runs alongside a British civil recovery case involving investors in Qian’s schemes. In its Oct. 12 ruling on the investors’ claims, the High Court held that Chinese law determines whether they have property rights in the seized Bitcoin. English law governs the civil recovery procedure under Part 5 of the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002.

Section 281 of that law provides a route for people claiming an interest in recovered property. Investors must establish an interest in the Bitcoin itself. A claim for repayment of money put into the schemes does not, by itself, establish ownership of coins bought with those funds.

The High Court rejected arguments for applying English law, or a combination of English and Chinese law, to the investors’ underlying rights. It did not decide whether any investor owns the Bitcoin, how much anyone might receive or whether an individual can claim a share of the coins’ increase in value.

Chinese rules on illegal fundraising allow recovered assets, including proceeds and gains from property bought with investor funds, to be used for repayments. That does not automatically give each investor ownership of part of the Bitcoin or an individual right to its gains. The distinction matters to both the claims in Britain and any repayment process in China.

Qian ran investment schemes in China from 2014 to 2017, most through Tianjin Lantian Gerui Electronic Technology Co Limited. Bitcoin was bought with investor funds before she left China. British police seized devices and access keys in London in 2018. Qian was sentenced in Britain in November 2025 to 11 years and eight months after pleading guilty to offenses involving criminal property.

The British court must still examine Chinese law and the investors’ individual claims. The Tianjin court must decide the confiscation application. Neither proceeding has established a final distribution or a cross-border transfer of the Bitcoin.