UK Court Rules Chinese Law Governs Claims to 61,000 Seized BTC

England's High Court ruled on Monday, Oct. 12, that Chinese law, not English law, will decide whether Chinese fraud victims have property rights in the more than 61,000 bitcoin seized from Zhimin Qian. The coins are now worth over $5 billion, according to Cointelegraph. Justice Mark Turner rejected the victims' bid to apply English law or a hybrid of English and Chinese law. The judgment is published as [2026] EWHC 2509 (KB).

Details

The bitcoin is the proceeds of an investment fraud Qian ran in China between 2014 and 2017 through Tianjin Lantian Gerui. An audit cited in the judgment counts at least 128,409 investment contracts. Qian later brought the wallet keys to England, where the Metropolitan Police seized the coins, and the Crown Prosecution Service is now pursuing civil recovery. Around 16,000 victims have joined the U.K. proceedings, Caixin reported, arguing the coins are theirs.

The court's reasoning centered on where the harm happened. "The relevant damage occurred in China," Turner wrote, noting that the victims parted with their money there and the contracts were signed there. Applying English law retroactively to those transactions was not justified, he found. The CPS argued for Chinese law at a July 7⁠–⁠9 hearing, and the court-appointed receivers for the Chinese company backed that position.

The ruling does not settle who owns the bitcoin. The case stays in London, where the next stage will hear expert evidence on Chinese law to determine whether any victim holds a property interest. Fieldfisher, which represents the applicants, is pursuing an appeal, the Financial Times reported, per Cointelegraph.

What it means for the market

English law could have let victims claim the coins themselves, and with them the price gains since 2017. If Chinese law does not recognize such ownership, claimants would be closer to creditors seeking their original money back, and a large share of the bitcoin could remain with the British state.

The open question for the market is what the U.K. eventually does with the coins once the dispute ends: sell them, route them into a compensation scheme or hold them. Until the appeal and further hearings play out, the fate of the 61,000 BTC remains unresolved. For live prices, see the market dashboard.