Money Heist Case New Suspicions: The whereabouts of over 120,000 bitcoins are unknown, with 20,000 of them claiming to be "lost passwords."

BlockBeats News, November 28, China Newsweek published an article titled "Can China Recover the $40 Billion Bitcoin Taken Away by Qian Zhimin?", in which it was pointed out that when Qian Zhimin arrived in the UK in September 2017, he had about 70,000 bitcoins worth £3.05 billion. In October 2018, the London police conducted the first search of his residence in Hampstead, finding an additional £163,000 in cash and evidence of the transfer and conversion of over 18,800 bitcoins, gradually tracing clues to about 61,000 bitcoins.

A special audit shows that from August 2014 to July 2017, Blue Sky Grid received a total of over 40.2 billion yuan in funds, all of which were controlled and managed by Qian Zhimin. From April 2014 to August 2017, Blue Sky Grid refunded over 34.1 billion yuan to 128,409 people, with an additional 1.14 billion yuan used to purchase bitcoin. Documents obtained from the UK court also show that Qian Zhimin bought 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 very likely bitcoin that has not been discovered or confiscated. In an interview with the British media, Detective Joe Lane of the London Police revealed that Qian Zhimin claimed to have a wallet with 20,000 bitcoins that he has "lost the password" to. At the latest conversion rate, just these "lost" bitcoins are worth about 12.5 billion yuan.

In this case, the 61,000 bitcoins locked by the British police, as described in UK judicial documents, were mainly purchased with the proceeds from Qian Zhimin's criminal activities in China. According to the plan, the UK Supreme Court was supposed to hold another hearing on November 17 to discuss the disposal decision of the 61,000 bitcoins, but it was later announced that it would be postponed until January 2026.