A London court ruling has improved the U.K. government’s prospects of retaining most of the 3.8 billion pounds ($5 billion) in confiscated bitcoin, after deciding that thousands of Chinese fraud victims cannot rely on English law to claim ownership of the assets.
The case involves 61,000 BTC seized by the Metropolitan Police during an investigation into Zhimin Qian, who pleaded guilty to defrauding thousands of people in China.
Between 2014 and 2017, Qian operated a large Ponzi scheme through her company, Tianjin Lantian Gerui Electronic Technology, defrauding more than 128,000 investors. She converted billions in illicit proceeds into bitcoin before fleeing to the U.K. in 2017.
The victims argued that English law should govern their claims because it could provide a legal basis for asserting property rights over the cryptocurrency worth billions of pounds. However, in a ruling issued Monday, London High Court judge Mark Turner sided with the U.K. authorities. He determined that Chinese law, rather than English law, should apply because the alleged fraud took place entirely in China.
“The relevant damage occurred in China. The applicants parted with their money in China. The alleged fraudulent representations were made in China,” the judge said. He added that the resulting contractual relationships were established in China and that the immediate financial harm was also suffered there.
The judgment does not settle the final question of who will receive the seized bitcoin. However, it limits the victims’ legal options for recovering the assets and increases the likelihood that the U.K. Treasury could ultimately retain the cryptocurrency.
According to the Financial Times, lawyers representing the victims are appealing the decision. The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) has said another hearing will examine whether any of the victims can demonstrate a legal interest in the bitcoin.
Meanwhile, the United States has already incorporated confiscated cryptocurrency into its national reserve strategy. In March 2025, the U.S. established a strategic bitcoin reserve that includes BTC and other digital assets seized through law enforcement actions. The government has not purchased any of these tokens using taxpayer funds. According to Arkham Intelligence, cryptocurrency addresses associated with the U.S. government hold digital assets worth approximately $25.8 billion.
