Shenzhen employee sentenced to prison for $87K Bitcoin extortion after posing as overseas hacker

A Shenzhen court sentenced an employee to 3 years and 3 months in prison and fined him 10,000 RMB after he stole R&D data and attempted to extort his employer using demands for 0.88 BTC, 0.8 BTC, and 90,000 USDT. The ruling is notable because the court explicitly recognized Bitcoin and USDT as virtual assets with property value, despite China’s crypto trading ban. Prosecutors valued the ransom demand at more than 630,000 RMB ($87,000-$88,000). The decision could influence how Chinese courts treat digital assets in fraud, extortion, and property disputes, adding legal weight to crypto as an asset even where it is not legal tender.