UK High Court Rules Chinese Law Governs Recovery of 61,000 Seized Bitcoin

The UK High Court has ruled that Chinese law will govern ownership claims over more than 61,000 seized Bitcoin linked to Qian Zhimin's Tianjin Lantian Gerui Electronic Technology fraud scheme. While civil recovery proceedings continue under the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002, Mr Justice Turner rejected arguments to apply English substantive law because the underlying transactions were centered in China. As a result, roughly 16,000 fraud victims may be restricted to recovering only original principal and fixed interest rather than sharing in the appreciation of the Bitcoin, which was previously valued at over $6 billion.