UK court rules Chinese law governs claims to 61,000 seized Bitcoin

A UK court has decided which country’s rulebook applies to one of the largest Bitcoin seizures on record. The answer is China’s, not England’s. The UK High Court ruled that claims to more than 61,000 BTC, valued at approximately $5 billion, are governed by Chinese law. That makes the path to recovery steeper for thousands of fraud victims hoping to share in the haul. What the court decided Mr Justice Mark Turner handed down the ruling on or around October 12, 2026. The case sits within civil recovery proceedings brought under the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002. Those proceedings target assets linked to Zhimin Qian, a convicted fraudster also known as Yadi Zhang or Qian Zhimin. The question before the court was simple to ask and hard to answer: whose law decides who owns the coins? The court picked Chinese law. That choice changes what victims have to prove. Claimants now need to show a proprietary interest in the Bitcoin under Chinese legal standards. A creditor claim on its own will not be enough. The difference matters more than it sounds. A creditor says, “You owe me money.” A proprietary claimant says, “That specific property is mine.” The second argument is far stronger, and far h...