A London High Court judge has ruled that Chinese law, not English law, governs the property claims of thousands of Chinese fraud victims to 61,000 bitcoin seized by the Metropolitan Police, the Financial Times reported on Tuesday. The haul is worth roughly £3.8 billion, or about $5 billion.

The judgment strengthens the U.K. government's position that it can ultimately retain most of the seized coins. Mr Justice Mark Turner sided with U.K. authorities in the ruling, delivered Monday, finding that the underlying fraud played out entirely in China.

"The relevant damage occurred in China. The applicants parted with their money in China. The alleged fraudulent representations were made in China," the judge said. "The contractual relationships thereby induced were entered into in China. The immediate economic consequences of the alleged wrongdoing were likewise suffered in China."

What is the case about?

The bitcoin was seized during the Metropolitan Police's investigation into Zhimin Qian, who pleaded guilty to defrauding thousands of people in China. Qian ran a Ponzi scheme through her company, Tianjin Lantian Gerui Electronic Technology, taking money from more than 128,000 investors between 2014 and 2017.

She converted the stolen billions into bitcoin and fled to Britain in 2017, where the police investigation caught up with the assets.

Why does the choice of law matter?

The victims had argued English law should apply. That argument mattered because English law could have allowed them to assert property rights directly over the multi-billion-pound crypto fortune — a route that Chinese law may not provide in the same form.

By anchoring the claims in Chinese law, the court has narrowed the victims' path to recovery. The practical consequence: the U.K. Treasury's chances of eventually keeping the bulk of the 61,000 BTC have materially improved.

The ruling does not finally decide ownership. The Crown Prosecution Service confirmed a further hearing will determine whether any victims can establish a legal interest in the bitcoin. The victims' lawyers are appealing, according to the FT.

How does the U.S. handle seized crypto?

Across the Atlantic, seized bitcoin has already moved onto the national balance sheet. The U.S. established a strategic bitcoin reserve in March 2025, which includes BTC and other tokens confiscated in enforcement actions. No coins in that reserve were acquired with taxpayer money.

Addresses linked to the U.S. government currently hold $25.8 billion in cryptocurrencies, according to Arkham Intelligence — a scale that puts the U.K.'s potential £3.8 billion windfall in context.

What happens next?

The victims' appeal and the CPS's follow-up hearing will shape whether any of the 61,000 BTC flows back to Qian's investors — or whether the U.K. Treasury books one of the largest crypto seizures in British history.