Overview

• Authorities hold 61,000 BTC seized in 2018, now valued at roughly $7.2 billion in what police called the largest cryptocurrency confiscation on record.
• Zhimin Qian, also known as Yadi Zhang, pleaded guilty on Sept. 29 to offenses tied to the fraud, and associate Seng Hok Ling also entered a guilty plea.
• The High Court will decide in January whether victims are paid at original loss estimates of about £640 million or at current market value.
• If compensation is set at original loss, a surplus of around $6.4 billion could accrue to the state, though officials have been told not to count any proceeds in near‑term budgets.
• Under POCA, the Sentencing Act and ARIS, courts will govern distribution and timing, and any realization is expected to use established custody and sale frameworks that can include paced OTC or auction-style disposals.