British Government’s Chances of Retaining $5 Billion Bitcoin Haul Rise After Court Ruling

A London High Court ruling has increased the likelihood that the U.K. government will retain most of the 3.8 billion pounds ($5 billion) in seized bitcoin, after rejecting the argument that thousands of Chinese fraud victims could use English law to claim ownership of the assets.

The case involves 61,000 BTC confiscated by the Metropolitan Police during an investigation into Zhimin Qian, who pleaded guilty to running a fraud scheme that targeted thousands of people in China.

Between 2014 and 2017, Qian ran a large Ponzi operation through Tianjin Lantian Gerui Electronic Technology, defrauding more than 128,000 investors. She converted the proceeds into bitcoin and fled to the United Kingdom in 2017.

The victims argued that English law should apply because it might allow them to establish property rights over the seized cryptocurrency. However, in Monday’s judgment, High Court judge Mark Turner ruled that Chinese law should govern their claims, given that the alleged fraud and its resulting financial damage occurred in China.

Turner said the investors handed over their money in China, where the alleged fraudulent statements were also made. He added that the resulting contractual arrangements were entered into there and that the immediate economic harm was suffered in the same country.

The decision does not determine the final ownership of the bitcoin. Nevertheless, it limits the victims’ options for recovering the assets and improves the U.K. Treasury’s prospects of ultimately keeping the cryptocurrency.

The victims’ lawyers are appealing the ruling, the Financial Times reported. The Crown Prosecution Service said another hearing would examine whether any of the claimants can prove they have a legal interest in the seized bitcoin.

In the United States, meanwhile, cryptocurrency confiscated through law enforcement actions has become part of a government reserve framework. The U.S. established its strategic bitcoin reserve in March 2025, incorporating BTC and other seized digital assets. The government has not used taxpayer funds to purchase tokens for the reserve. According to Arkham Intelligence, wallets linked to the U.S. government hold approximately $25.8 billion in cryptocurrencies.