Caixin article about Bitcoin whale Qian Zhimin's new content, very interesting!

Interestingly, the value of the confiscated Bitcoin has far exceeded the losses of domestic pyramid scheme victims. If victims can also benefit from the appreciation, they might make a significant profit! But the UK Chancellor of the Exchequer says it will be used to help fill public finance gaps.

Qian Zhimin's defense lawyer stated that she first learned about Bitcoin in 2012, and her ambition was to hold 210,000 Bitcoins, which would account for 1% of the total Bitcoin supply. She nearly achieved this goal.

Qian Zhimin is a habitual offender in the pyramid scheme industry, born on September 4, 1978, in Rugao, Jiangsu, with an associate degree and a hobby of playing games.

She formulated a six-year plan from 2018 to 2023, with the core goal of retiring at 45 and rebuilding a digital empire. To support this arrangement, she anchored almost all large expenditures in Bitcoin.

She wrote in her diary: In 2018, based on an estimated price of about 6800 USD per Bitcoin, she planned to sell at least 4000 Bitcoins for immigration, purchasing a house, and building a team; in 2019, assuming the price rose to 8200 USD, she would sell no more than 1500 more; by 2020, she further raised her projected price to 9500 USD, reserving about 1750 for investments in exchanges and managing various interpersonal relationships. She bet in her diary that after entering 2021, the price of Bitcoin would remain long-term between 40,000 to 55,000 USD per coin, planning grand projects such as digital banks, family funds, and building her own kingdom based on this premise.

In 2017, Qian arrived in the UK, and in 2018, the UK police noted her money laundering clues and began monitoring her wallet. In 2018, Qian Zhimin wanted Wen Jian to publicly purchase two mansions in North London, but the funds for buying the houses had to be exchanged for Bitcoin. The home-buying plan failed due to an inability to provide sufficient proof of funding sources and explain the source of the Bitcoin, leading to an investigation by the London police. On October 31, 2018, the London police raided the residences of Wen Jian and Qian Zhimin; subsequent investigations uncovered 48 devices, including phones and laptops, as well as thousands of digital files, ultimately tracing to a digital wallet storing 60,000 Bitcoins. However, Qian Zhimin subsequently disappeared.

In February 2024, a Bitcoin wallet that had been silent for 5 years suddenly awakened, transferring out 8.2 Bitcoins. The UK police followed the clues and discovered these coins were transferred to a Binance KYC account under the surname Lin, with the clues leading to a short-term rental apartment in North Yorkshire, UK. In April 2024, the wallet again released Bitcoins in exchange for fiat currency. Due to these clues, Qian Zhimin, who had been hiding for 5 years, was arrested in York.

The value of these Bitcoins has greatly exceeded the 48 billion yuan compensation amount for victims. It remains to be discussed whether Chinese victims will ultimately only recover their principal or if they can also obtain appreciation. The UK Chancellor of the Exchequer stated that it would be used to help fill public finance gaps.

$BTC #钱志敏