China accused the US of not only seizing but possibly directing the hack of LuBian, then legitimizing the seizure in the name of “confiscating criminal assets” from Chen Zhi.
China accuses the US of “using the hand” of the Chen Zhi case to seize $13 billion in Bitcoin. Photo: Yahoo Finance
A serious accusation has just been made by China, claiming that the US government was behind the hack of 127,000 BTC from the LuBian mining pool in December 2020, and directly confiscated this amount of Bitcoin from Chen Zhi , Chairman of Prince Group (Cambodia), worth more than 13 billion USD at current prices.
If true, this would be the largest state-sponsored cyberattack campaign in the cryptocurrency industry, threatening to spark a “crypto cold war” between the two superpowers, the US and China.
According to a technical report recently released by the China National Computer Virus Emergency Response Center (CVERC), the incident has been reconstructed in detail:
- At the end of December 2020, Chen Zhi's LuBian mining pool was hacked for more than 127,272 BTC, worth about $3.5 billion at the time. The attack used tools and techniques far beyond the capabilities of ordinary hackers, and was almost only feasible for organizations with state-level technological capabilities.
- After the hack, the BTC remained virtually untouched for four years. By mid-2024, the entire amount was transferred to a new wallet and remained dormant.
- Arkham Intelligence later labeled these wallets as owned by the US government , while analysis from TRM Labs, Elliptic also pointed out the connection between the hacked funds from LuBian and the Prince Group wallet, further strengthening the suspicion that Washington is holding the stolen BTC itself.
- During 2021–2022, LuBian sent more than 1,500 OP_RETURN messages on the Bitcoin network, which were XEM ransom calls to return the stolen BTC .
- On October 14, 2025, the US Department of Justice (DOJ) officially prosecuted Chen Zhi and confiscated 127,000 BTC , but did not disclose details of the storage location or the method of recovery. From here, CVERC accused that the DOJ not only confiscated but also possibly directed the LuBian hack, then legalized the seizure under the name of "confiscation of illegal assets".
Chen Zhi is currently being prosecuted for running a network of investment fraud, money laundering, and forced labor exploitation in “digital slave” complexes. The seizure from Chen Zhi is also the largest in DOJ history, bringing the total US Bitcoin holdings to more than 325,000 BTC, worth about $37 billion.
CVERC rejected the US argument that these were “confiscated criminal assets”, emphasizing that the slow and discreet movement of Bitcoins did not resemble normal money laundering, but was more consistent with organized, intelligence or political activities.
The US maintains that the seizure of 127,000 Bitcoins was a legitimate law enforcement action within the framework of the criminal case against Chen Zhi and his associates. As of press time, the US Department of Justice and the US Treasury Department have not yet responded to China's allegations.
The case is not just a dispute over crypto ownership, but also reflects the deepening tensions between the US and China over cybersecurity, digital assets and global blockchain control. If Beijing’s allegations are proven, this could be the most serious hacking scandal in crypto history, shaking confidence in the transparency of Western regulatory bodies and raising the question: Who really controls the global flow of Bitcoin?
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