On January 7, Chinese state television broadcast dramatic footage: a hooded, handcuffed man being escorted off a plane in Beijing. The prisoner was Chen Zhi, the 38-year-old founder of Cambodia’s Prince Holding Group, accused of running one of Asia’s largest scam empires.
Cambodia had arrested Chen the day before and extradited him to China, ending years of speculation about whether the well-connected tycoon would ever face justice. But as Chen’s downfall dominates headlines, another mystery lingers: What really happened to his $15 billion in Bitcoin?
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The Record Seizure
When US prosecutors announced in October 2025 that they had seized 127,271 Bitcoin from Chen, they called it a “record” cryptocurrency forfeiture. The US and UK coordinated sanctions against 146 individuals and entities linked to Prince Group—the largest enforcement action targeting cryptocurrency-enabled fraud. The message seemed clear: American justice had caught a crypto criminal.
But according to Beijing, the real story began five years earlier.
The 2020 Hack
In late December 2020, Chen’s Bitcoin mining pool suffered a devastating cyberattack. More than 127,000 Bitcoin—then worth around $4 billion—vanished.
Chen was desperate. According to Chinese state media, he posted over 1,500 messages offering massive bounties for the return of his funds. Nothing came back.
Then came October 2025. The US Justice Department unsealed an indictment against Chen and announced the seizure of 127,271 Bitcoin. The number was nearly identical to what Chen had lost in 2020.
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“Not How Normal Hackers Behave”
In November 2025, China’s National Computer Virus Emergency Response Center (CVERC) released a technical report on the incident. Their key finding: the stolen Bitcoin remained completely dormant for nearly four years before moving to new addresses in mid-2024.
“This behavior is obviously inconsistent with typical hackers who urgently seek to cash out,” the report stated. “The operational pattern is more consistent with a state-level hacker organization.”
The blockchain analytics platform Arkham Intelligence had tagged the final-destination wallets as belonging to the US government.
Du Guodong, a partner at Beijing Haotian Law Firm, told a Chinese media outlet that the US indictment did not disclose how authorities obtained Chen’s private keys. “This suggests the US government may have already stolen Chen’s Bitcoin through hacking techniques as early as 2020,” he said.
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Washington’s Silence
The Justice Department has not addressed China’s allegations. The DOJ indictment filed in the Eastern District of New York details Chen’s alleged crimes extensively—scam compounds, forced labor, money laundering—but says nothing about how investigators accessed his cryptocurrency.
Bitcoin requires private keys to move. Either Chen surrendered his keys, someone close to him did, or they were obtained through other means. Chen has hired Boies Schiller Flexner to challenge the seizure.
“Black Eating Black”
Chinese state media frames the case in stark terms. Beijing Daily described the seizure as “黑吃黑 (black eating black)“—criminals preying on other criminals.
“The US seized Chen Zhi’s Bitcoin without any mention of returning funds to global victims,” the paper wrote. “Behind the mask of ‘global police,’ they simply want to take a cut for themselves.”
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The Forgotten Victims
Lost in the US-China sparring are thousands of scam victims. Chen’s Prince Group allegedly ran at least 10 forced-labor compounds in Cambodia, coercing trafficked workers into “pig-butchering” romance scams. The Treasury Department estimates Southeast Asian scam operations stole at least $10 billion from American victims last year.
The seized $15 billion could, in theory, compensate many victims. But Washington has announced no restitution plan.
Cambodia revoked Chen’s citizenship in December 2025. His Prince Bank has been ordered into liquidation. The empire collapsed in months.
Whether China’s accusations prove accurate may never be established. But the questions will linger: about state-sponsored hacking, crypto security, and who controls the rules in the digital financial system.
Fifteen billion dollars sits traceable on the blockchain. The accused scam boss is behind bars. But the money remains with a government that, according to its rival, may have stolen it too.
