China says the U.S. stole LuBian’s 127,000 Bitcoin – who does the stash actually belong to?

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Ah, the mysteries of the crypto world! What a twist! 🤔 So, did the U.S. swipe LuBian’s 127,000 Bitcoins? Or are we witnessing a dramatic play of finger-pointing? Let’s break it down, shall we?

Were the 127,000 Bitcoin seized by U.S. agents criminal proceeds? Or did they actually come from the famous LuBian mining pool? Buckle up, dear reader, we’re about to go down the rabbit hole. 🕵️‍♂️

at today’s price, those 127,000 BTC are worth more than $13.1 billion! To put that in perspective, it dwarfs the March 2025 Bybit hack, which was a mere $1.5 billion. So much for “small-time” thieves! 💸

But wait-this drama doesn’t end there. The stolen coins were chilling in hacker wallets for a solid four years before mysteriously being transferred to U.S. addresses. China’s Global Times and PANews are having none of it, calling this a “quarrel of thieves.” And China’s own CVERC insists the bitcoins were mined legally by LuBian before being stolen by U.S.-backed hackers. 😱

In the meantime, the notorious crypto investigator, ZachXBT, tweeted about it, too: “No likely someone hacked them for USG.” Oh really, Zach? Tell us more. 😏

The DOJ report

Fast forward to October 2025, when the U.S. Department of Justice finally gets involved, and surprise surprise-it turns out the “hack” was carried out by a criminal organization called Price Group, led by none other than Chen Zhi. How dramatic! 😱

The DOJ claims that Price Group was running a massive wire fraud and human trafficking scheme, using LuBian’s Bitcoin as a laundromat. The indictment even points to LuBian as one of the money laundering operations. Plot twist: Only 30% of the bitcoins mined by LuBian were actually legit mining proceeds. How much of it was really ‘dirty’? 🤨

The chain of events

The timeline of this heist reads like a crypto soap opera. Let’s break it down:

  • April 2020: LuBian starts mining Bitcoins and quickly gains a 6% share of the global hashrate. Not bad, right?
  • December 28, 2020: An unidentified hacker strikes, stealing 127,000 BTC. Brute force at its finest.
  • July 3, 2022: LuBian’s rep sends a cry for help to the hacker, begging them to return the funds. Kind of cute, don’t you think? 🤔
  • June 2024: The stolen coins start making their way to a new address. Suspicious? You bet.
  • October 14, 2025: The DOJ declares its victory, filing criminal charges and announcing the biggest forfeiture in history – a 127,000 BTC seizure. Cue the applause! 👏
  • November 9, 2025: China steps in, accusing the U.S. of state-level theft. Oh boy, here we go again.

Do these Bitcoins belong to the U.S.?

So now, the U.S. holds a staggering 326,000 BTC. But is it theirs? According to Arkham Intelligence, that’s what they’ve got, and it’s mostly based on their research. Who’s right? The Chinese? The U.S.? Or is it just a game of crypto poker? 🤷‍♂️

Some crypto influencers are already adding the 127,000 BTC to the pile. That would make the U.S. the second-largest Bitcoin holder globally! Take that, Satoshi! 💥

But here’s the real kicker: no one knows for sure how many BTC the U.S. actually holds. There’s been no audit or official report. So, are we supposed to trust this assessment? In a world full of hackers, who can say for certain? 😅

While President Trump has vowed that the U.S. will hold onto its crypto stash, the DOJ has a history of returning stolen assets to the victims. So, could these 127,000 BTC one day return to LuBian’s rightful owners? Only time will tell, but it’s looking like one big game of “keep the loot” for now. 🏴‍☠️

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2025-11-14 14:33