Tianjin court weighs seizure of 61,896 Bitcoin in 40.4B yuan fraud case

Prosecutors in Tianjin have asked the city’s Second Intermediate People’s Court to confiscate 61,896 Bitcoin and other property connected to an investment fraud that ran for roughly three years, according to Coincentral. The court announced the request on October 13, having accepted the prosecutors’ application on September 28, 2026.

The filing names Qian Zhimin, who controlled Tianjin Lantian Gerui Electronic Technology, and is an attempt to recover assets held in Britain. British authorities had already seized more than 61,800 BTC plus Bitcoin Cash, XRP, Dogecoin, cash and investments as part of a money laundering investigation after Qian left China in 2017 and reached the UK.

Key facts

• The Tianjin Second Intermediate People’s Court accepted the confiscation application on September 28, 2026, and announced it on October 13.
• Authorities say the company raised money from more than 102,000 investors between 2014 and 2017, with losses exceeding 19.977 billion yuan, out of 40.378 billion yuan collected.
• Coinpedia lists additional assets in the request: about 72,745 Bitcoin Cash, 72,745 Bitcoin Gold, 72,745 Bitcoin SV, more than 3.6 million XRP and more than 70 million Dogecoin.
• A UK High Court judge ruled on October 12 that Chinese law should determine whether alleged victims hold property rights over the Bitcoin; the ruling does not award the funds to either government.
• The Tianjin court has opened a six-month window for relatives, investors and other interested parties to join the proceedings.

How the money moved, according to prosecutors

Prosecutors describe an unlicensed investment operation that promised protected capital and high returns and gathered funds across China. In their account, most of the money never went to real businesses: it paid earlier customers, funded fabricated projects, and bought Bitcoin, homes, vehicles and jewellery. Qian allegedly left the country in 2017 with a computer holding his Bitcoin wallet, per Coinpedia.

The two outlets describe the case value slightly differently. Both give the headline figure as 40.378 billion yuan, but Coincentral values it at $5.7 billion and Coinpedia at $5.6 billion. Only Coinpedia details the Bitcoin Cash, Bitcoin Gold, Bitcoin SV, XRP and Dogecoin lines, and only Coincentral reports that a separate 500 million yuan crypto laundering investigation in Thailand, where a Chinese suspect was arrested this month, is being pursued apart from this case.

Two courts, two legal systems

The UK ruling on October 12 does not resolve who gets the coins. Lawyers representing some claimants are seeking to challenge it, and the UK’s Crown Prosecution Service has said victims could be compensated through a process in China, according to Coinpedia. Fieldfisher, which acts for some victims, is seeking to appeal.

For the people who lost money, the practical question is whether they can prove a claim to the Bitcoin rather than simply await a recovery process. Coincentral notes that those who do not join the Tianjin case may still receive refunds from recovered property under Chinese law.

Why it matters

This is a cross-border asset fight between two legal systems, and the answer will shape who benefits from the rise in Bitcoin’s value since the coins were seized. For the roughly 102,000 investors described in the filings, the six-month registration period is the first concrete route to a refund. Accepting the confiscation request does not end the case, and no one has been awarded the funds yet.

What to watch

The immediate milestone is the six-month joining period set by the Tianjin court, followed by a hearing the court is expected to hold once that window closes. In Britain, the appeal against the High Court’s choice-of-law ruling, and any further hearings on whether victims can prove claims to the Bitcoin, will determine how the seized coins are ultimately distributed.

Disclaimer: This article is for information only and is not investment, financial or trading advice. Cryptocurrency prices are highly volatile. Always do your own research.

Sources: CoinCentral, Coinpedia