British Court Puts Chinese Law at Center of 61,000-Bitcoin Case

The British High Court has placed Chinese law at the center of ownership claims involving more than 61,000 Bitcoin (BTC) seized from convicted fraudster Zhimin Qian, leaving the cryptocurrency’s eventual disposition unresolved. The ruling did not decide whether the victims own the Bitcoin or whether the British government can retain it. Those issues will be considered in later proceedings involving 2,594 Section 281 applicants and other named parties, including Qian, Jian Wen and Wang Wu. The seizure involved 61,000 BTC linked to an investment fraud that operated in China from 2014 to 2017 and affected more than 128,000 people.