China alleges US stole 127,271 Bitcoin from Chen Zhi in 2020

Beincrypto reports that China says US government hackers stole 127,271 Bitcoin from accused scam kingpin Chen Zhi in 2020 and later presented the funds as a law-enforcement seizure. According to Chinese state media and a technical report by the National Computer Virus Emergency Response Center (CVERC), Chen’s Bitcoin-mining pool was hit in late December 2020 and more than 127,000 Bitcoin vanished; Chen reportedly posted over 1,500 messages offering bounties for their return.

CVERC said the coins remained dormant for nearly four years and only moved in mid-2024, a pattern it called “obviously inconsistent with typical hackers” and “more consistent with a state-level hacker organization.” Blockchain analyst Arkham Intelligence has tagged the final-destination wallets as belonging to the US government.

US prosecutors announced in October 2025 that they had seized 127,271 Bitcoin, calling it a record forfeiture, and the US and UK sanctioned 146 individuals and entities linked to Chen’s Prince Group. The Justice Department has not addressed China’s allegations and the DOJ indictment does not say how investigators accessed Chen’s cryptocurrency.

Key Topics

Crypto, Chen Zhi, Bitcoin, Us Government, Prince Holding Group, Cverc