TL;DR
- Chinese authorities opened forfeiture proceedings seeking 61,896.41552945 BTC and other assets linked to the Qian Zhimin case after a Tianjin court accepted prosecutors’ application.
- Prosecutors allege the scheme raised more than 40.378 billion yuan and left over 102,000 participants with combined losses exceeding 19.977 billion yuan.
- A six-month notice period allows relatives and interested parties to join, while ownership and victim recovery questions still remain unresolved across China and Britain.
Chinese authorities have opened forfeiture proceedings seeking 61,896.41552945 BTC and other assets linked to the Qian Zhimin case. According to The Paper, Tianjin’s Second Intermediate People’s Court accepted prosecutors’ application on September 28 and announced the case on October 13. The proceeding seeks confiscation of assets prosecutors characterize as illegal proceeds, rather than establishing that the state already owns them. The case adds another legal dimension to Bitcoin held under government seizure.
Chinese Court Opens Six-Month Window for Interested Parties
Prosecutors allege Qian controlled Tianjin Lantian Gree Electronic Technology, which raised more than 40.378 billion yuan through unlicensed wealth-management products between 2014 and 2017. The filing says 102,000 participants suffered combined losses exceeding 19.977 billion yuan. Authorities allege investor funds were used to repay earlier participants, operate false investment projects and acquire Bitcoin, property, vehicles and jewelry. The proceeding follows a broader cross-border dispute over the seized BTC involving claims by affected investors.
The forfeiture application covers more than Bitcoin. The listed assets include 72,745.79502 BCH, 72,745.78555 BTG, 72,745.7845 BSV, about 3.606 million XRP, cash, jewelry, bank balances and investment portfolios. It also includes more than 70 million DOGE that British authorities converted and placed into an interest-bearing account. The requested forfeiture therefore extends across multiple cryptoassets and traditional financial property allegedly derived from the scheme. The asset pool has already generated competing recovery claims from investors.
The court said Qian’s close relatives and other interested parties may apply to participate during a six-month notice period. Affected investors can also join as interested parties through the court’s designated platform, although non-participation does not prevent them from receiving distributions from recovered property. The six-month period is part of the forfeiture process, not a final ruling that the assets will be confiscated. After the notice period expires, the court is expected to hear the application under China’s criminal procedure framework.
The Chinese proceeding intersects with litigation in Britain, where the Bitcoin was seized after Qian left China in 2017. A British court recently determined that Chinese law should govern victims’ proprietary claims to the more than 61,000 BTC, while further proceedings remain necessary. The ownership and distribution of the Bitcoin therefore remain unresolved across both jurisdictions despite the new forfeiture application. That uncertainty continues to shape investors’ efforts to recover the seized Bitcoin and any eventual allocation of the assets.
