BlockBeats News, November 28th, in an article published by China Newsweek titled “Can China Get Back the 40 Billion Bitcoin Taken Away by Qian Zhimin?”, it was pointed out that when Qian Zhimin entered the UK in September 2017, he had about 70,000 bitcoins on hand, worth 3.05 billion pounds. In October 2018, the London police first searched his residence in Hampstead, finding an additional £163,000 in cash, and detecting behavior of transfer and conversion of over 18,800 bitcoins, gradually tracing clues to about 61,000 bitcoins.
A special audit showed that from August 2014 to July 2017, Blue Sky Grid had absorbed over 40.2 billion yuan in funds, all of which were controlled and used by Qian Zhimin. From April 2014 to August 2017, Blue Sky Grid refunded over 34.1 billion yuan to 128,409 individuals, and over 1.14 billion yuan was used to purchase bitcoin. Documents obtained from the UK court also showed that Qian Zhimin had purchased a total of 194,951 bitcoins, exceeding the 61,000 bitcoins locked by the police. However, the court did not disclose the situation of the remaining over 120,000 bitcoins. This also means that in Qian Zhimin’s assets, there is likely still bitcoin that has not been discovered or confiscated. In an interview with the British media, Detective Joe Lane of the London Police Department revealed that Qian Zhimin claimed to have a wallet with 20,000 bitcoins which he had “lost the password” to. Based on the latest exchange rate, just these “lost” bitcoins are worth about 12.5 billion yuan.
