61,000 Seized BTC: Who Deserves the Billions in Gains?

[Ziskinberg]

There's a new development regarding the 61,000 BTC seized by UK authorities.
This is related to the massive investment fraud in China, which was already reported in the previous threads I attached at the bottom.

And according to the report, the UK High Court has ruled that Chinese law should govern the victims' claims to recover their lost funds.

What's actually interesting here is that the value of Bitcoin has already increased significantly. Here's the price history of these Bitcoins.

Period	Approximate BTC Price	Value of 61,000 BTC
October 2018 — Initial seizure	$6,300	$384 million
2021 — Bitcoin recovery	~$25,000*	~$1.5 billion
October 2026 — Court proceedings	$83,610 (assuming the current price)**	~$5.1 billion

Just for clarification, the ruling does not mean that the UK government will keep the Bitcoin, the court has only decided that Chinese law should apply to the victims' claims. Who will ultimately receive the Bitcoin has not been decided yet. So here's the interesting question. Since the value has increased significantly.

1. Should the victims receive the Bitcoin itself since it was their money that was stolen after all?
2. If not, then at least should they receive some compensation on top of their original investment, such as interest?

But another interesting question is if option #2 is followed, and the victims are compensated in fiat, there could still be a huge amount remaining, who should keep the remaining balance, which could be worth billions? Would it be the UK government that seized the Bitcoin, or China where the original scam happened?

Previous Discussions:
The biggest bitcoin seizure
Record-Breaking $6,700,000,000 BTC Seizure

[_act_]

If the victims of the investment fraud can be known, they should give them back their money. It may not be all because the process of given them back the money will require some money spent on it. But bitcoin price has increased 200 times. If they are not given back all the bitcoin, they will still be in massive profit.

[ryzaadit]

1. Should the victims receive the Bitcoin itself since it was their money that was stolen after all?
2. If not, then at least should they receive some compensation on top of their original investment, such as interest?

It must pass the claim process. Example from the Department of Justice, they still needed to pass the claim process even you know the victimss. This example, the portal claims has been provided by DOJ for victims of these scam or other activities to be able to claim their funds.
[1] OneCoin: https://www.onecoinremission.com/
[2] https://airbitvictimfund.com/

These portals are being established by DOJ. IDK about the UK Laws for processing or claiming victim funds from scams or other. Also, quite reminder usually they give us a deadline to claim the victims fund.

[Ziskinberg]

It must pass the claim process.

I understand that it will have to pass the process, but I'm asking your personal opinion here. 

If the victims of the investment fraud can be known, they should give them back their money.

There's a filing, only those who filed will be paid.
And as per report, there's more ore less 128,000 victims, but not all of them are identified.

[davis196]

Why do you even have to ask that question? The victims of the investment fraud deserve to get their BTC back. It doesn't matter if the BTC price has gone up or down. Just because someone has invested 10K USD in BTC back in the day that doesn't mean that he's gonna get 10K USD worth of BTC. They should get the BTC, not the monetary value of those BTC at a given moment in the past.

[alani123]

This is an incredible act of international fair play from the UK if they're going to let the Chinese court handle the recouping of victims while the BTC remains at the custody of the UK government. I highly doubt other countries would have acted in such way. 5 billion hot cash can literally fill so many holes, but UK court acted incredibly fairly and didn't let anyone take advantage of other people's money. American for instance likes to boast about their justice system, but surely they wouldn't have done this for china.

[Zlantann]

1. Should the victims receive the Bitcoin itself since it was their money that was stolen after all?
2. If not, then at least should they receive some compensation on top of their original investment, such as interest?

This case is far from over because the court didn't establish who holds the enforceable property rights to the seized Bitcoin. The victims might end up not getting back their Bitcoin if the court rules that, based on Chinese law, they don't hold property in the seized Bitcoin.

Ideally, the victims should receive the current Bitcoin-equivalent value of what they lost after administrative fees for custody, litigation, and other expenses have been deducted. Maybe they should consult Mt. Gox Rehabilitation Trustee Nobuaki Kobayashi to learn how he managed the repayment of victims of the bankrupt exchange.

[Ziskinberg]

Why do you even have to ask that question? The victims of the investment fraud deserve to get their BTC back.

Because I want to know how you see it. I agree that they deserve it but if it's the government that will decide, the decision is not always in favor of the victims.

For instance, have you followed the news about the FTX collapse, the victims were compensated but they were not given back the BTC they lost but instead the dollar value at the time of the bankruptcy filing + interest or additional compensation of course.

even Mt. Gox'

https://www.business-standard.com/article/reuters/special-report-twice-burned-how-mt-gox-s-bitcoin-customers-could-lose-again-117111601422_1.html

District Court ordered the exchange be liquidated. At that time, one bitcoin was worth $483. On the basis of the April 2014 value, the claims ultimately approved were fixed at 45.6 billion Japanese yen, currently about $400 million.

but UK court acted incredibly fairly and didn't let anyone take advantage of other people's money.

We don't know yet as there was no decision yet as to how that 61,000 Seized BTC will be distributed.

Ideally, the victims should receive the current Bitcoin-equivalent value of what they lost after administrative fees for custody, litigation, and other expenses have been deducted. Maybe they should consult Mt. Gox Rehabilitation Trustee Nobuaki Kobayashi to learn how he managed the repayment of victims of the bankrupt exchange.

Given that is the final verdict, and the case of the victims are settled, where would the remaining money go? will it say in UK or will be sent to china?

[BlackBoss_]

There's a new development regarding the 61,000 BTC seized by UK authorities.
This is related to the massive investment fraud in China, which was already reported in the previous threads I attached at the bottom.

Is it a biggest Bitcoin seizure in history?
I really doubt that it is a biggest one.

The Rise of Government Bitcoin Holdings: From Seizures to Strategic Reserves

The USA has biggest seized bitcoin amount compares to seized bitcoins by other nations and governments. It's more logic if a biggest Bitcoin seizure is in the USA, not in the UK or any other countries.

[stompix]

1. Should the victims receive the Bitcoin itself since it was their money that was stolen after all?

Why should they receive Bitcoins when what they had stolen was yuan?

You're forgetting one essential thing in this story and this is why you're making a mess of it:
https://www.judiciary.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/Rex-v-Zhimin-Qian-and-Seng-Ling.pdf

The Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies laundered in this case derive from the proceeds a of large scale investment fraud, committed in China through a company called Lantian
Gerui, and set up by Ms. Qian and others in March 2014. The fraud was exposed in early 2017. By then the equivalent of approximately £4.6 billion had been invested into
the scheme by over 128,000 investors. Although a significant proportion of this was returned, a sizable amount was siphoned off and used by Ms. Qian and her Chinese coconspirators; many of whom have been prosecuted and convicted in China.

5. In June 2014 Ms. Qian, using the name of one of her associates, opened an account at the Huobi cryptocurrency exchange in China and proceeded to transfer investor funds into that account in exchange for Bitcoin. Additional investor monies were spent purchasing Bitcoin in over the counter transactions. By the time Chinese police started their investigation over 70,000 Bitcoin had been transferred from Huobi to a cryptocurrency wallet stored on a laptop.

Why do you even have to ask that question? The victims of the investment fraud deserve to get their BTC back.

They never had Bitcoins in the first place, the scam was all in yuan!

[Cointxz]

1. Should the victims receive the Bitcoin itself since it was their money that was stolen after all?
2. If not, then at least should they receive some compensation on top of their original investment, such as interest?

Best approach is to return the amount which they actually lost on that particular time. Either Bitcoin or fiat depending on what they use for that scam investment then give the profit to the government who manage to seize it since all those money was already at lost if it’s not seize by the government.

If I’m the victim, I will be happy if I will get back even only my original investment either in fiat or crypto since I don’t expect much to received again this money after ~7 years. Most probably the majority of the victim already move on. 

[Ziskinberg]

There's a new development regarding the 61,000 BTC seized by UK authorities.
This is related to the massive investment fraud in China, which was already reported in the previous threads I attached at the bottom.

Is it a biggest Bitcoin seizure in history?
I really doubt that it is a biggest one.

in UK, yes.. And your picture does show the total, this one is just a single seizure.
But the biggest actually was from us, 173,991 BTC ( silk road).

Why should they receive Bitcoins when what they had stolen was yuan?

I read the story but I just asked the question because I know about the cases of FTX and Mt. Gox where what was lost was Bitcoin, but the victims received fiat.

So if I'm going to throw this question to you, why should they receive fiat when Bitcoin was stolen?

And the reason why they should receive the Bitcoin is because if it was their money that was used to purchase Bitcoin, and Bitcoin is considered property in China then they should get the proceeds of that Bitcoin. To simplify, if the scammer bought land at that time using the proceeds of the scam, and years later it was decided that the victims should receive compensation, isn't it only right that the land should be sold and the proceeds divided among the victims based on the percentage of the amount they lost?

[Zoomic]

If the victims can provide verifiable claims to the coins, returning them will be will be the fairest outcome.

Bitcoin's significant appreciation over the years doesn't change the fact that the funds were originally stolen from them, so there's no reason to deny them of their benefits.

Nobody will be satisfied to receive the worth of their BTC in the exact worth it was when it was stolen years after even when they're very much aware that the value is much more than it was. What I think will be very difficult here is identifying the rightful owners and coming up with the best means to distribute the coins accordingly.

[Russlenat]

If the victims can provide verifiable claims to the coins, returning them will be will be the fairest outcome.

What the victims want is to recover their losses, and it wasn't Bitcoin they originally lost, but Chinese yuan (RMB), so in that case, they should be compensated based on their claims, not necessarily in Bitcoin. However, Bitcoin's price has appreciated significantly, so it still needs to be decided where the remaining $4 billion will go given its current value.

According to the UK High Court judgment, the estimated outstanding losses were RMB 6.13 billion, equivalent to approximately $916 million, while the 61,000 BTC seized is now worth around $5 billion. That would leave roughly $4 billion after compensation, assuming all claims are settled based on their original cash value.

So would that remaining amount become a windfall for the UK or Chinese government?

[crwth]

Hmm. I think it depends on what happened with the current BTC. If it's only BTC, then customers should get their actual amounts back; whether it has changed or not, they should get what they are owed.

If the BTC turns into USD, it doesn't matter. I think the best option is to make what they lost 1:1. So if you lost USD, Yuan, or anything, it should be 1:1.

If anything is left over after paying what they owe, it might be considered forfeit, and the one holding it would be the beneficiary.

[collardelay]

IMO the UK government is not known for fairness at all. The victims will likely be asked to prove how much they invested in the scheme, which will take a while and thereafter they will most likely be paid the exact

amount. I doubt if they will take into account the appreciation in BTC price or interest payments. The UK is yet to pay for it's colonial errors so i really doubt they will start being angels now. My 2 cents..

[stompix]

So if I'm going to throw this question to you, why should they receive fiat when Bitcoin was stolen?

You're not throwing a question back at me; you're just angry you've been exposed for not even caring to look at facts!
It's always the same thing, you rush opening a topic and two seconds later you realize you haven't spent two moments on the subject!

THERE WAS NO DAMN BITCOIN STOLEN!

And the reason why they should receive the Bitcoin is because if it was their money that was used to purchase Bitcoin, and Bitcoin is considered property in China then they should get the proceeds of that Bitcoin.

LMAO!
Do you hear yourself?
So if she had bought 100 Ferraris, each of the victims should get some wheels an engine the lucky ones, and a windshield for the ones over 10 000 yuans, the ones with less get the exhaust gases. Or are you going to tell me Ferraris are not considered property in China?
What would have happened if she had bought diamonds with that? Lols!

To simplify, if the scammer bought land at that time using the proceeds of the scam, and years later it was decided that the victims should receive compensation, isn't it only right that the land should be sold and the proceeds divided among the victims based on the percentage of the amount they lost?

So you answered your own question, agreeing with me while disagreeing?
Just lock the damn topic!

[goldkingcoiner]

To help the victims... Sure sure...

It's probably going to get redistributed towards other hands anyway. Whether from one corrupt organisation or another. I really am no fan of these kinds of stories since they only make me sad for humanity.

[Dr.Bitcoin_Strange]

Given that is the final verdict, and the case of the victims are settled, where would the remaining money go? will it say in UK or will be sent to china?

Assuming the UK government did not seize the money, the scammers probably would not be even noticed and the money will be gone, as a matter of fact, some of those vitamins have even removed their mind from the money since it has been a long incident, while some of them will also been happy if they can get back the exact capital they invested, so I have this opinion that after only verified victims has been settled their exact capital, the remaining money can be kept by the UK government for the good they have done in taking the money from the scammers which the Chinese government would not have been able to do.

If they are lenient too, they could pay the capital and some interest because if the money was seized in fiat, there's no way they would have paid victims their complete capital since some charges would have been deducted from the money to cover fees of activities that was carried out in seizing the money and keeping it safe. Now that the money was seized in Bitcoin and Bitcoin has appreciated so well since then, they could still pay some interest to victims or not, my opinion can not change what will be later decided but as long as victims gets their capital back, that's a good one first.

[Ziskinberg]

If anything is left over after paying what they owe, it might be considered forfeit, and the one holding it would be the beneficiary.

If that's the case, are you saying that the UK should benefit from the billions remaining after the victims have been compensated in fiat?

Assuming the UK government did not seize the money, the scammers probably would not be even noticed and the money will be gone, as a matter of fact, some of those vitamins have even removed their mind from the money since it has been a long incident, while some of them will also been happy if they can get back the exact capital they invested, so I have this opinion that after only verified victims has been settled their exact capital, the remaining money can be kept by the UK government for the good they have done in taking the money from the scammers which the Chinese government would not have been able to do.

This will now become confusing because in the litigation they will be applying Chinese law, but UK will keep the funds? And of course, it's possible that the UK will end up keeping the remaining funds since they already have control over them anyway, and if China decides to challenge that, then that's another story.

Now that the money was seized in Bitcoin and Bitcoin has appreciated so well since then, they could still pay some interest to victims or not, my opinion can not change what will be later decided but as long as victims gets their capital back, that's a good one first.

That is the least they can do, pay the victims.
The question here is who deserve the gain, is it UK or china?

Just lock the damn topic!

Okay, I will ^^^