A fortune of several billion dollars, six months of disappearance, the experience of a cryptocurrency mogul reveals the most secret corners of this industry.
With a remark from Mr. Bao saying, 'I have another old friend in the cryptocurrency circle who experienced a 'deep-sea fishing',' the entire crypto community erupted. Insiders understand without saying a word that this sarcastic term masks layers of fog involving cross-border law enforcement, asset freezing, and even personal control.
According to rumors, this time it may involve Bitmain co-founder Jihan Wu, with the amount involved reaching several billion dollars. He has reportedly been in turmoil for half a year and has only recently 'safely emerged.' In the cryptocurrency world, the speed of wealth accumulation is dizzying, but its instability is enough to cause one to fall from grace overnight.
01 Upgrading the Fishing Industry: The Dark Evolution of 'Deep-Sea Fishing' in the Crypto Space
'Deep-sea fishing' is no longer a new term in the crypto space. It initially referred to law enforcement actions across provinces for profit but has now evolved into cross-border regulatory actions.
The core of this phenomenon lies in the model of 'remote law enforcement + entrusting third parties'. After controlling the parties involved in cryptocurrency cases, law enforcement agencies will immediately obtain all of the parties' wallet private keys and then transfer the virtual currency through third-party institutions.
There are two reasons why virtual currency investors become ideal targets for 'deep-sea fishing': they possess a significant amount of assets but have relatively weak risk resistance. Unlike private entrepreneurs, most investors in the crypto space lack a solid legal backing and experience in dealing with criminal litigation.
02 Case Analysis: Janke Tuan's Clouds of Doubt and the Power Games of Bitmain
The vague revelations from Bao Er Ye quickly sparked a detective game, with KOLs in the circle almost unanimously pointing the finger at Janke Tuan, the co-founder of Bitmain.
The rivalry between Bitmain's two founders has long been an open secret. Janke Tuan and Wu Jihan, one a technical expert and the other a financial expert, have gone from fighting side by side to falling out, with a storyline akin to a business war blockbuster.
In 2019, Wu Jihan staged a 'return of the king' by suddenly dismissing all of Janke Tuan's positions; while Janke Tuan vowed to retaliate legally, even staging a farce of 'seizing business licenses'. Ultimately, the two reached a settlement by the end of 2020, forming a pattern of 'Janke controlling hardware, Wu managing finance'.
If Janke Tuan is indeed 'caught', the already delicate balance at Bitmain may be completely disrupted. Bitmain, without its technical brain, may struggle significantly on the path of AI transformation.
03 Global Fishing Net: Overview of International 'Deep-Sea Fishing' Model
'Deep-sea fishing' is not a phenomenon unique to China. The U.S. Department of Justice's accusations against Chen Zhi of the Cambodian Prince Group in October 2025 serve as a model of the international version of 'deep-sea fishing'.
The United States confiscated more than 120,000 bitcoins from Chen Zhi, valued at approximately $15 billion, claiming these bitcoins were obtained through fraud. However, upon closer inspection, the amount of these bitcoins almost matches the number of bitcoins stolen from the Lubian mining pool in 2020.
This has sparked a disturbing speculation: did the U.S. government first obtain bitcoins through hacking and then use legal means to 'legalize' their confiscation? This operation has been referred to by the author Si Ma Ping Bang as 'American-style black eats black'.
The European Union is also not falling behind, launching the 'Crypto Dome' plan, which mandates cross-chain bridges to connect to a regulatory AI system and implements a 48-hour delay for transactions across jurisdictions.
04 Self-Protection Strategies: Compliance Survival Guide for Crypto Players
Against the backdrop of increasingly tightening global regulations, crypto players urgently need to adjust their strategies. The following points are worth considering:
Clearly defining the boundaries between legality and illegality is key. Simply holding cryptocurrency is usually not illegal, but participating in trading and speculation may cross the red line.
Investors should properly safeguard the evidence of asset sources, as this is an important basis for proving legality. For high-net-worth individuals, considering tax residency planning is also very important.
In the face of regulatory investigations, proactive cooperation is often the best strategy. At the same time, ensuring that one's actions do not involve illegal activities such as money laundering is the bottom line.
A lawyer suggests that investors should 'enhance their knowledge reserves' and understand basic legal knowledge in order to protect their legitimate rights and interests when facing law enforcement.
05 The Future of Transparency: Trends and Challenges in Global Tax Compliance
Global tax transparency has become an irreversible trend. As of March 2025, 126 countries and regions around the world have signed and implemented the CRS, and over 250 million financial account information exchanges occurred through this mechanism in 2024, recovering over $80 billion in taxes.
Chinese tax authorities, relying on the Golden Tax Phase IV and CRS system, have constructed a regulatory closed loop of 'domestic data penetration + foreign information return'. This means that offshore assets and income are almost nowhere to hide.
The OECD launched the 'Crypto Asset Reporting Framework' in 2022, aiming to incorporate cryptocurrency transactions into the global automatic exchange network for tax information. The feasibility of traditional tax avoidance arrangements is significantly decreasing.
On blockchain explorers, the Bitcoin network continues to blink with newly generated blocks, and the transaction list is constantly refreshing, with transfers worth millions of dollars completed in seconds. However, behind this glamorous on-chain data, an invisible war over compliance and regulation is quietly unfolding globally.
In the future, as the EU's 'Crypto Dome' plan is implemented and the new SEC regulations in the U.S. take effect, cross-border regulatory cooperation will become increasingly close. Those profit models relying on information asymmetry and regulatory vacuums will find their space for survival shrinking.
Technology may ideally be decentralized, but regulation is always tightening. The future of the crypto space will belong to those who can find a balance between innovation and compliance.
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