A UK Court Just Handed 61,245 Seized Bitcoin to Chinese Law — $5 Billion Hangs on the Appeal

A procedural ruling in London on Monday put the fate of 61,245 bitcoin — about $5.0 billion at $81,548 — in the hands of Chinese property law. Mr Justice Mark Turner held that whether the victims of Zhimin Qian's investment schemes keep any rights to bitcoin seized by London's Metropolitan Police is a question for Chinese law, not English law. The judgment as published runs to a narrow point with an unusually large object behind it.

Bitcoin barely noticed. BTC traded at $81,548 at 04:20 UTC on October 17, down 0.56% over 24 hours inside an $80,809 to $82,941 range, with the whole market at $2.89 trillion and bitcoin dominance at 57.2%. The case matters for a slower reason: it is the first court test of who owns a slice of the roughly $47 billion that governments now hold in seized bitcoin.

What the Judgment Actually Decided

The ruling sits inside civil recovery proceedings brought by the Director of Public Prosecutions under Section 281 of the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002. Investors wanted English law — or a blend of English and Chinese law — applied to their claims on the frozen coins. Prosecutors argued for Chinese law alone, and Turner sided with the prosecutors.

The distinction is not academic. A Section 281 declaration requires applicants to show a proprietary interest in the specific bitcoin, not a personal claim against the fraudsters for the value of the money they handed over. A creditor's claim for repayment is not enough, as the victims' lawyers set out in their note on the decision. That is the difference between recovering 2017-era deposits and owning coins that now trade near $81,500 each.

Monday's judgment did not decide ownership. The court still has to determine whether the investors hold ownership rights under Chinese law — and Fieldfisher, the firm leading the individual claimants, told the Financial Times it is appealing the ruling.

Where 61,245 Bitcoin Came From

Qian ran Ponzi-style investment schemes in China between 2014 and 2017. The proceeds went into bitcoin: some through a Huobi account that is now HTX, some through over-the-counter purchases inside China, and some through mining. Qian left China for Myanmar in July 2017 and later settled in London, where Metropolitan Police searches in October and November 2018 recovered devices holding access to the coins.

Qian pleaded guilty to money laundering offences and was sentenced in November 2025 to 11 years and eight months. The seizure has been reported at around £3.8 billion — one of the largest single bitcoin hauls any police force has made.

Why the Ruling Favours the Government

Restitution under Chinese law is likely to leave victims closer to their original outlay plus interest than to a share of bitcoin's gains since 2017. Caixin reported that roughly 16,000 Chinese victims have joined the UK proceedings.

The Financial Times read Turner's decision as improving the government's chances of retaining much of the haul. If the coins stay with the state rather than going back to claimants, the UK becomes a long-term holder of one of the largest sovereign bitcoin balances outside the United States and China — a balance that has never been sold and has never been formally claimed by the people who funded it.

Today's judgment is an important decision for the many thousands of Chinese investors who lost money in the Tianjin Lantian Gerui scheme. The Court has held that whether victims retain rights in the frozen bitcoin is to be decided under Chinese law. — Jackson Ng, partner, Duan & Duan UK LLP

The Number That Matters More Than the Case

Bitcoin Treasuries puts the UK at an estimated 61,245 BTC, third among governments. The United States holds 328,372 BTC — about $26.8 billion — and China 190,000 BTC, roughly $15.5 billion, per its government holdings table.

Add them up: 579,617 BTC, or about $47.3 billion at today's price, equal to 2.9% of the 20.10 million bitcoin already mined. No single court ruling moves that supply. But every restitution case sets the template for the next one, and for whether seized coins end up returned, held indefinitely, or sold into the market.

What to Watch

Three decisions matter from here. The Court of Appeal, where Fieldfisher's challenge keeps the ownership question alive. The Chinese-law analysis itself, which will decide whether victims are treated as owners or as unsecured creditors. And disposal: nothing in the ruling orders a sale, and the coins have sat under police control since 2018.

For now the bitcoin stays where it has been for eight years — in wallets held by UK authorities, priced at $81,548, with no court yet having named who owns it.