Chinese prosecutors have asked a Tianjin court to confiscate 61,896 Bitcoin and other assets linked to Zhimin Qian, the alleged operator of a large unlicensed investment scheme. The cryptocurrency was seized by authorities in the United Kingdom and is currently worth about $5.1 billion at the price cited in the case.
The Tianjin No. 2 Intermediate People’s Court accepted the confiscation application on September 28, according to a notice published on October 13. The case concerns alleged fundraising fraud carried out mainly in Tianjin’s Hedong district. The court’s notice was reported by Chinese outlet The Paper, and the development was reported by Decrypt.
Prosecutors say the assets represent proceeds of crime and should be recovered for people who lost money in the scheme. The application is being handled under Chinese rules that can allow confiscation proceedings to continue without the suspect present when a wanted person has remained outside the country for more than a year.
The alleged investment scheme
Prosecutors allege that Qian controlled Tianjin Lantian Gerui Electronic Technology and, between April 2014 and August 2017, sold unlicensed wealth-management products throughout China. The products allegedly promised guaranteed returns.
The scheme raised more than 40.38 billion yuan, prosecutors said. Most of that money was not used for genuine business activity, according to the application. More than 102,000 investors reportedly suffered losses totaling about 19.98 billion yuan.
Qian left China in July 2017 with computers containing Bitcoin wallets. She later reached the UK, where some of the Bitcoin was converted into other assets. The UK authorities subsequently seized the cryptocurrency and related property.
In addition to the 61,896 BTC, the Chinese application covers approximately 72,746 units each of Bitcoin Cash, Bitcoin Gold and Bitcoin SV. It also includes around 3.6 million XRP and about 70 million Dogecoin. The Dogecoin has already been converted by UK authorities and placed in an interest-bearing account, according to the source material.
The requested confiscation also extends beyond digital assets. Prosecutors listed US dollar, euro and pound cash, jewelry, bank balances and investment portfolios among the property covered by the application.
Victims can apply to join the proceedings through a WeChat mini-program. However, the notice says people who do not formally join will still be able to receive repayments from assets recovered through the case. The notice period will last six months before the court hears the matter.
The UK legal dispute
The confiscation request follows a separate legal process in the UK. Qian was sentenced to 11 years and eight months in prison in November 2025 after pleading guilty to acquiring and possessing criminal property.
The seized Bitcoin has attracted competing claims over how it should be handled. Unnamed Treasury officials had privately discussed whether the cryptocurrency might help address a shortfall in the UK’s public finances, the Financial Times reported at the time. Legal experts, meanwhile, argued that victims could be entitled to compensation if they could demonstrate a sufficient connection to the coins.
After Qian’s guilty plea, UK prosecutors told the High Court that they planned to create a compensation scheme for victims, although they did not provide details. They have since said compensation could be delivered through a redress scheme operated from China.
On October 12, the High Court ruled that Chinese law should govern thousands of victims’ claims to the Bitcoin. The decision was viewed as improving the UK government’s position in relation to the assets, but it did not determine that the victims own the cryptocurrency. Evidence about the substance of Chinese law has not yet been heard, according to legal commentary cited in the source material.
Fieldfisher, the law firm representing the claimants, said it was seeking permission to appeal. The case therefore remains unresolved, with the Chinese confiscation application and the UK proceedings addressing connected but separate questions about ownership, recovery and compensation.
Why the ownership question matters
The dispute illustrates the legal complexity created when cryptocurrency linked to an alleged fraud crosses borders. Bitcoin can be transferred internationally without relying on a conventional bank, but claims over who owns it are still considered under national legal systems.
A legal expert quoted in the source material said that proving a particular Bitcoin was bought with stolen money may not, by itself, establish that a victim can recover it. The applicable law, the evidence connecting the assets to individual losses and the outcome of the court proceedings will all be relevant to how the property is ultimately dealt with.
Moneyiar market picture
Moneyiar data recorded at 23:24 on October 22, 2026, showed Bitcoin at $81,254.62, down 3.59% over 24 hours and 0.97% over seven days. At 23:23, Ondo was $0.4286, down 7.12% in 24 hours and 7.79% over seven days; Sei was $0.05688, down 9.08% and 8.46%, respectively; and Celestia was $0.5571, down 7.69% and 5.38%.
