Two courts, one pile of bitcoin. Chinese prosecutors have applied to confiscate 61,896 BTC that British police seized in 2018, while a London court decided on 12 October 2026 that Chinese law, not English law, decides who among the victims can claim it. That detail matters more than the headline value of roughly US$5 billion, because it sets how much of bitcoin's price rise the victims can ever recover.
For Southeast Asia the case is not distant. According to Caixin, the fraudster's escape route ran through Myanmar, Thailand, Laos and Malaysia, and the UK Crown Prosecution Service says a Malaysian national helped her move money. As of 23 October 2026, 19 days before Web3 Week Asia opens in Jakarta on 11-12 November 2026, nobody has yet won the coins.
What happened. On 12 October 2026 the UK High Court (Mr Justice Turner) ruled that Chinese law governs whether victims keep rights in the frozen bitcoin. It did not decide who owns any coin.
China's filing. The Tianjin No. 2 Intermediate People's Court accepted a confiscation application on 28 September 2026 and published a notice on 13 October 2026, according to TokenPost. The notice opens a six-month window, which runs to roughly mid-April 2027.
The amount. 61,896.41552945 BTC in the Chinese filing. At US$81,130 to US$82,732 per BTC, the range of two price quotes, that is about US$5.0 billion to US$5.1 billion.
The defendant. Qian Zhimin, also known as Yadi Zhang, was sentenced at Southwark Crown Court on 11 November 2025 to 11 years and 8 months.
Status. No court has decided final ownership. Victims' lawyers say they are pursuing an appeal.
Why the governing law decides the payout
The UK ruling is a choice-of-law decision, and the choice changes the arithmetic. Caixin reported that under Chinese law the roughly 16,000 victims who joined the UK process could be limited to their original investment plus interest, instead of a share of bitcoin's gains. Under English law, claimants argued they could receive the full current value. Coin-Turk describes the same split.
The scale of the gap is visible in the numbers. UK prosecutors put the fraud's losses at about 600 million pounds, and Chinese prosecutors cite nearly 20 billion yuan in victim losses, against a stash now valued at about US$5 billion. The difference between the principal and the current value is the state's potential windfall. The Financial Times, as relayed by Bitcoin.com, reported that UK Treasury officials privately discussed using the proceeds for public finances. No UK official has confirmed that publicly in the sources reviewed.
One filing, three overlapping processes
The coins sit in three tracks at once. In the UK, the Director of Public Prosecutions brought civil recovery under the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002, and investors applied for declarations that the property belongs to them. In China, prosecutors argue the assets are illegal gains, that victims should be compensated first, and that any remainder should be confiscated. Crowdfund Insider notes the Chinese order does not by itself move assets out of British custody.
That overlap creates a jurisdictional problem rather than a clean race. A Chinese confiscation order cannot, on the sources reviewed, compel the UK to hand over the coins, and the UK court has said Chinese law will be examined in later hearings. The next hearing date was not given in the sources.
What the case shows about state-held bitcoin
According to Bitcoin Treasuries data cited by The Block, the United States holds 328,372 BTC, China about 190,000 BTC and the UK about 61,000 BTC, which ranks the UK third among governments. Crowdfund Insider cites the same ordering with rounded figures. A seizure of this size turns an enforcement agency into one of the larger bitcoin holders in the world without anyone choosing to buy.
The practical lesson is custody and title. The coins were seized from devices in 2018, and years of price appreciation now decide how much the dispute is worth. How an agency stores, accounts for and eventually sells seized crypto becomes policy, not an afterthought.
The honest counterweight
No ownership ruling exists. The High Court said the ruling does not settle ownership. Any distribution depends on later hearings, a possible appeal and the Chinese process, so the US$5 billion figure is a valuation of coins in dispute, not money anyone has received.
The numbers do not agree. Chinese prosecutors cite more than 102,000 investors, while the UK prosecution service cites over 128,000 victims. The Chinese filing lists 61,896.41552945 BTC and Arkham labels UK government wallets at 61,245 BTC, a gap of about 651 BTC that the sources do not explain.
No link to bitcoin's price is established. Bitcoin fell about 4% over 24 hours to roughly US$81,000 on 22 October 2026, according to FXStreet, which attributed the move to AI-spending worries, oil prices and geopolitical tension. None of the sources reviewed tie the China filing to that move.
What this means for Indonesia crypto users and regulators
Indonesia is a large retail market. OJK reported 23.21 million crypto consumer accounts and Rp23.16 trillion in crypto transactions in August 2026, up 12.87% from July's Rp20.52 trillion. OJK counts 28 licensed digital financial asset traders as of September 2026.
For scale only: at a rate above 18,000 rupiah per US dollar, the disputed 61,896 BTC is worth at least Rp90 trillion, about 3.9 times Indonesia's entire monthly regulated crypto trading in August. This compares an asset stock with a monthly flow and is not a like-for-like measure.
The takeaways for Indonesian users are narrow and factual. Licensed custody and clear legal title are what a case like this puts under a spotlight. The sources reviewed say nothing about how Indonesian law treats seized crypto, and this article does not claim otherwise.
Web3 Week Asia 2026: blockchain event in Jakarta, 11-12 November
Web3 Week Asia is a two-day crypto and blockchain event in Jakarta on 11-12 November 2026 (Wednesday-Thursday). According to the organisers, the 2025 edition drew more than 5,000 participants, over 100 speakers and more than 200 companies from more than 10 countries.
The 2026 programme is organised in four tracks: Investor Meetups, Alpha Callers, Web3 Entrepreneur and Indonesia Crypto Outlook 2026. Questions like custody, legal title and cross-border enforcement sit squarely in the regulation and infrastructure conversation that the event covers for Southeast Asia. The 2026 speaker line-up has been described by the organisers as to be announced.
Frequently asked questions
When and where is Web3 Week Asia 2026?
Web3 Week Asia 2026 takes place on 11-12 November 2026 in Jakarta, Indonesia. It is a two-day crypto and blockchain event covering markets, regulation, infrastructure and venture investment across Southeast Asia.
What is the 61,896 BTC case?
Chinese prosecutors have applied in a Tianjin court to confiscate 61,896 BTC that British police seized in 2018 from Qian Zhimin, who ran a fraud in China between 2014 and 2017. Qian was sentenced in the UK to 11 years and 8 months in November 2025. The coins remain in British custody.
Who decides who owns the bitcoin?
No one has yet. On 12 October 2026 the UK High Court ruled that Chinese law governs whether victims keep rights in the coins, but it left ownership open. Chinese proceedings run in parallel, with a six-month window for victims to participate.
Does the case affect the bitcoin price?
No link is established. Bitcoin fell about 4% on 22 October 2026, and FXStreet attributed the fall to AI-spending concerns, oil prices and geopolitical tension, not to the China filing.
Is crypto regulated in Indonesia?
Yes. OJK supervises crypto and reported 28 licensed digital financial asset traders as of September 2026, plus 23.21 million consumer accounts in August 2026.
Sources
The Block, UK High Court ruling on Chinese law: https://www.theblock.co/news/regulation/2026-10-13-uk-high-court-rules-chinese-law-governs-claims-over-5-billion-in-seized-bitcoin-418409
InvestorTrust, OJK August 2026 crypto data: https://investortrust.id/market/118409/ojk-jumlah-konsumen-kripto-ri-tembus-23-21-juta-nilai-transaksi-naik-12-87
The High Court ruling of 12 October 2026, the 16,000 victims, the principal-and-interest limit and the Arkham figure of 61,245 BTC come from The Block (13 October 2026, updated 19 October 2026) and crypto.news. The Chinese filing, the 61,896.41552945 BTC figure, the 28 September acceptance and the 13 October notice come from TokenPost (22 October 2026) and Bitcoin.com News (22 October 2026), citing The Paper. Case background, the 40.38 billion yuan raised and the 102,000 investors come from Crowdfund Insider (22 October 2026). The 128,000 victims, the 11-year-8-month sentence and the Malaysian helper come from the UK Crown Prosecution Service (11 November 2025). The escape route through Myanmar, Thailand, Laos and Malaysia comes from Caixin Global (11 November 2025). Government holdings come from Bitcoin Treasuries via The Block and Crowdfund Insider. Bitcoin prices come from CoinDesk (22 October 2026) and FXStreet (22 October 2026). The rupiah level above 18,000 comes from Commerzbank via FXStreet (22 October 2026). OJK data for June, July and August 2026 come from Kontan (5 August 2026), InvestorTrust (7 September 2026) and InvestorTrust and Kontan (5 October 2026).
Methodology: Dollar values multiply 61,896.41552945 BTC by US$81,130 (FXStreet) and US$82,731.85 (CoinDesk), giving US$5.02 billion and US$5.12 billion. The rupiah figure multiplies the lower value by 18,000 rupiah per dollar, giving Rp90.4 trillion, and divides by Rp23.16 trillion, giving 3.9 times. The six-month window is counted from the 13 October 2026 notice. The 651 BTC gap is 61,896.42 minus 61,245. Sources disagreed on victim counts, the BTC amount and the date Tianjin accepted the application, and the article reports both sides. One report of an appeal-permission ruling on 16 October 2026 had a single source and was excluded. Indodax Academy and other aggregators were used only to find the story, not as evidence.
This article is for information only and is not investment advice
