Overview
- China’s CVERC released a report alleging a U.S. state-level operation stole roughly 127,000 BTC from the LuBian mining pool in December 2020 before the coins were later seized.
- The U.S. Justice Department rejects the allegation and says it lawfully seized about 127,271 BTC in October 2025 as criminal proceeds tied to Chen Zhi and Cambodia’s Prince Group.
- Blockchain trackers report the coins sat dormant for nearly four years, then moved in mid‑2024 into addresses tagged as U.S. government–controlled, though public data does not show how control was obtained.
- Independent analyses cite weak private‑key generation at LuBian (Mersenne Twister with a small seed) as the 2020 attack vector, a finding that does not by itself attribute the hack to any state actor.
- TRM Labs told reporters the seized funds traced to wallets controlled by Chen in 2020 and noted an insider-theft theory referenced in DOJ filings, while Chen’s lawyer has moved to challenge the seizure in court.