RMB 40.3 billion raised—eight years later, it collides with $5.1 billion in Bitcoin. Victims may get back only their principal 🦖
On October 12, the UK High Court ruled in the case of Qian Zhimin that the Chinese victims’ property claims to the Bitcoin should be determined under Chinese law. Four days later, on October 16, the court held another hearing and approved an appeal against the ruling by around 16,000 Chinese victims ⚖️
It began in 2014, when Tianjin Lantian Gerui raised funds under the guise of selling wealth-management products. By August 2017, it had raised a total of RMB 40.378 billion. Prosecutors put the losses at RMB 19.977 billion, with more than 102,000 affected participants. Other reports say around 128,000 investors were involved.
Qian Zhimin left China in July 2017 and entered the UK that September using the alias Zhang Yadi. She was arrested in York in April 2024. In 2018, London police seized more than 61,000 Bitcoin from a residence—one of the largest cryptocurrency seizures in UK law-enforcement history. She tried to buy London properties priced at £4.5 million, £12.5 million, and £23.5 million, but all three deals fell through during source-of-funds checks 💰
On November 11, 2025, Southwark Crown Court in London sentenced her to 11 years and 8 months for offenses involving cryptocurrency derived from criminal proceeds. Wen Jian, a co-defendant, was sentenced to 6 years and 8 months, and Lin Chengfu to 4 years and 11 months.
The most valuable assets still have no final ruling on who they belong to. On October 13, the Tianjin No. 2 Intermediate People’s Court announced that it had accepted prosecutors’ application to confiscate the illegal proceeds. The case was filed on September 28, 2026. The asset list includes 61,896 Bitcoin, another 72,725 Bitcoin Cash, 70.08 million Dogecoin, and 3.6 million XRP. At Bitcoin’s current price of $82,688, the Bitcoin alone is worth about $5.1 billion. The Financial Times estimates the total at around £3.8 billion.
The striking contrast is that in 2014, she bought Bitcoin through trading platforms at an average price of about RMB 2,815 per coin. It is now around RMB 560,000—a 198.93-fold increase. But under Chinese law, victims must prove how much they lost in the fundraising fraud, not that they own these coins. The losses are a debt claim; the increase in value is proceeds from asset disposal. Legally, these are treated as two separate things 📉
So the most likely outcome is that victims will recover only the portion of their principal corresponding to their share of the losses. The nearly 200-fold increase will most likely remain within the asset-disposal process. This is the most painful part of cross-border asset recovery: the more sharply the coin price rises, the smaller the recovery rate seems by comparison.
There’s another signal for the market: the law governing crypto assets seized overseas can be the law of the place where the crime occurred. But the transfer and disposal of the assets must still go through the procedures of the country that seized them. These processes take years, not quarters.
Do you think victims in cases like this should get a share of the appreciation? Share your thoughts in the comments.
Tap the profile picture to watch the livestream.
Every day, we bring you the latest on Bitcoin and cross-border asset recovery—not just what’s happening, but the logic and opportunities behind it 👀🚀
On October 12, the UK High Court ruled in the case of Qian Zhimin that the Chinese victims’ property claims to the Bitcoin should be determined under Chinese law. Four days later, on October 16, the court held another hearing and approved an appeal against the ruling by around 16,000 Chinese victims ⚖️
It began in 2014, when Tianjin Lantian Gerui raised funds under the guise of selling wealth-management products. By August 2017, it had raised a total of RMB 40.378 billion. Prosecutors put the losses at RMB 19.977 billion, with more than 102,000 affected participants. Other reports say around 128,000 investors were involved.
Qian Zhimin left China in July 2017 and entered the UK that September using the alias Zhang Yadi. She was arrested in York in April 2024. In 2018, London police seized more than 61,000 Bitcoin from a residence—one of the largest cryptocurrency seizures in UK law-enforcement history. She tried to buy London properties priced at £4.5 million, £12.5 million, and £23.5 million, but all three deals fell through during source-of-funds checks 💰
On November 11, 2025, Southwark Crown Court in London sentenced her to 11 years and 8 months for offenses involving cryptocurrency derived from criminal proceeds. Wen Jian, a co-defendant, was sentenced to 6 years and 8 months, and Lin Chengfu to 4 years and 11 months.
The most valuable assets still have no final ruling on who they belong to. On October 13, the Tianjin No. 2 Intermediate People’s Court announced that it had accepted prosecutors’ application to confiscate the illegal proceeds. The case was filed on September 28, 2026. The asset list includes 61,896 Bitcoin, another 72,725 Bitcoin Cash, 70.08 million Dogecoin, and 3.6 million XRP. At Bitcoin’s current price of $82,688, the Bitcoin alone is worth about $5.1 billion. The Financial Times estimates the total at around £3.8 billion.
The striking contrast is that in 2014, she bought Bitcoin through trading platforms at an average price of about RMB 2,815 per coin. It is now around RMB 560,000—a 198.93-fold increase. But under Chinese law, victims must prove how much they lost in the fundraising fraud, not that they own these coins. The losses are a debt claim; the increase in value is proceeds from asset disposal. Legally, these are treated as two separate things 📉
So the most likely outcome is that victims will recover only the portion of their principal corresponding to their share of the losses. The nearly 200-fold increase will most likely remain within the asset-disposal process. This is the most painful part of cross-border asset recovery: the more sharply the coin price rises, the smaller the recovery rate seems by comparison.
There’s another signal for the market: the law governing crypto assets seized overseas can be the law of the place where the crime occurred. But the transfer and disposal of the assets must still go through the procedures of the country that seized them. These processes take years, not quarters.
Do you think victims in cases like this should get a share of the appreciation? Share your thoughts in the comments.
Tap the profile picture to watch the livestream.
Every day, we bring you the latest on Bitcoin and cross-border asset recovery—not just what’s happening, but the logic and opportunities behind it 👀🚀