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

[Ziskinberg]

I agree with you, it doesn’t matter if the price has gone up or down, anyone that think about it well will know that the victims deserve to get their bitcoin back,

I don't know if you're not reading the OP or you just didn't understand it.
Man, it's not their Bitcoin, what they invested was yuan.

Is it not because they knew the money was invested in Bitcoin that all this hassle is happening. Let's imagine they didn't know it was put in Bitcoin, all the UK government will do is willing give them their money.

They will know, because Zhimin Qian was arrested in 2024 and plead guilty.
And the seize bitcoins was publicly published as well, so nothing is secret here.

But the more accurate question is who stole the money? If it's the UK government, then they have committed crime and must give all the money to their victims claiming none to themselves.

You also did not read the topic well.

[Zigabel]

Numbers two should apply for me, this is because from the time of recovery till date, some funds would have been spent on the process and even the government who has held the recovered funds all this years would probably want to charge for thar, i don't know whatever legal term will be used for that but i think they will have a charge for that, then cost of litigation and investigation, all may be charged on this sum, after which they could look into the sum invested by each victim and see how to spread the expenses across every ones of their balance for the remitting and then the balance could be returned to them of which they will still be in a very good and tangible profit as compared to the invested sum. Definitely the money will be taxed by the government and that too could bee another means of the government getting some funds out of the whole sum.

[MossCircuit]

Did the victims originally hand over Bitcoin, or did the fraudsters collect fiat and later buy BTC themselves? That distinction would affect my view of what is fair. Returning coins entrusted to someone and distributing assets purchased with stolen money are different situations, even if both involve the same seized Bitcoin today.

[mirakal]

Did the victims originally hand over Bitcoin, or did the fraudsters collect fiat and later buy BTC themselves?

The latter is correct. The victims invested in Chinese yuan and the scammer later used their money to purchase Bitcoin.

That distinction would affect my view of what is fair. Returning coins entrusted to someone and distributing assets purchased with stolen money are different situations, even if both involve the same seized Bitcoin today.

You need to read a few pages back and follow the discussion to get the whole picture.
Also, read the news first - https://www.channelnewsasia.com/world/qian-zhimin-cryptoqueen-bitcoin-scam-uk-china-5462446

[Hamza2424]

You raise a good point, because what if the total value of those Bitcoins was already lower than the amount lost in the scam..

Would the government cover the deficit and compensate the victims for the remaining losses?  
Of course not, so if they cannot refund the losses, they also should not be entitled with the gains.

Governments know well how and when to reverse the UNO haha. They wait for the right opportunity, and then they pull that card out that fucks everyone haha.

Anyway bro, we can't be sure of anything unless the authorities tell us about their next plan. But I am not one of the victims, so I don't care. Now, after knowing about this news, I would like to know what happens next. Whom will they pay? Like the recently seized $11 million in Africa by the FBI, it goes straight into their possession.

And claimants have to file directly with them rather than with African authorities. And to be honest bro, they would love this decision because, due to corruption, they would not want their own authorities to be in control of the seized funds.

[JiiBs]

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.

Has there being any successful claims to scammed Bitcoins through some laid down procedures by centralized authorities?

Wouldn’t this be some way to trap them never to have all that is required to claim the said Bitcoin and at the very least, they would be highly taxed on it.

Either way, it still would be a win if the victims are reunited with their lost coins, even after taxes given the value of the coins today.

[Ziskinberg]

Governments know well how and when to reverse the UNO haha. They wait for the right opportunity, and then they pull that card out that fucks everyone haha.

That is what happens when a government is corrupt, we can't win because how can we sue the government?
Maybe our best chance is to vote for the right leader during elections, but there's no guarantee that the promises they make during their campaigns will be fulfilled once they are in office.

Anyway bro, we can't be sure of anything unless the authorities tell us about their next plan. But I am not one of the victims, so I don't care. Now, after knowing about this news, I would like to know what happens next. Whom will they pay? Like the recently seized $11 million in Africa by the FBI, it goes straight into their possession.

we will have to wait and see for the final court decision, this news is just saying what law will be use.

[Botnake]

Looks like it's not good news for the victims and China.

They won't have a share of the gains as per this report, UK Moves Closer to Keeping $5B Bitcoin Haul After High Court Ruling.

[5W-KILO]

If I am in power and in position to do anything the solution is to release a news to people in china and around the world, if you can come out with good proof that you lost Bitcoin to scammer around the particular time then there is a chance to get them back.

Or they can just beat the shit out of this criminal to atleast give up some information where they stole the money from, some victims can still get their Bitcoin back, this Bitcoin is some people's last hope on earth and they lost it.

I don't buy the idea of the government taking over seized Bitcoin from criminals, it shows how useless and legal criminals they are, I will start hailing the government around the world when they start taking full responsibility on people.

[TedMosby]

1. Should the victims receive the Bitcoin itself since it was their money that was stolen after all?
Yes, why not? I can't find any reason why they shouldn't get their money back. But it depends on the investment plan at the beginning, whether it was a fiat-based investment that used BTC as the payment method, or a pure BTC investment. I think this is crucial to understanding how this investment worked in the first place. After that, the relevant authorities can decide whether the victims will get their funds back in the form of fiat or BTC.

2. If not, then at least should they receive some compensation on top of their original investment, such as interest?
No, it's an investment risk.

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?
This would be debatable, especially because this case involves huge amounts of money. I think it's not limited to just the UK and Chinese governments. It could be the country that seized the BTC, the countries where the victims are come from, the country where the scam happened, the country where the founder/owner of that investment fraud is from, the country where they kept the money before it was seized, etc. If this was an online investment, I think it would be more complicated. It may involve the country where the website's server was located, the country where they obtained their business license (if any), etc. CMIIW.

[stadus]

Looks like it's not good news for the victims and China.

They won't have a share of the gains as per this report, UK Moves Closer to Keeping $5B Bitcoin Haul After High Court Ruling.

I think that is already kinda expected, because the bitcoins are already in their possession so they will no longer give them to the Chinese or the people who have invested in the investment scheme. And the UK did not just arrest the scammer because she has a case in China, the scammer also has a case in the UK and that is money laundering so the UK has a hold on the funds as they were also used for illegal activities subject to sanctions under their law.