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BlockBeats News, May 23. Recently, the People's Procuratorate of Cangshan District, Fuzhou City, Fujian Province, China, filed a public prosecution for a case involving the theft of Bitcoin and illegal gains. In this case, Wang, at the end of 2020, approached Lin and entrusted him to cash out his Bitcoin holdings, agreeing to pay a certain reward upon success. However, what followed was a carefully planned "theft by entrusted party." Lin, after gaining access to Wang's Bitcoin wallet hard drive and laptop, succumbed to the temptation of substantial profits and allowed his greed to take over. With the mindset that "virtual assets are hard to trace, and even if stolen, may not be discovered," Lin stole the "private key" and related data of Wang's Bitcoin wallet, transferring 4 Bitcoins to his own account and illegally gaining approximately 900,000 yuan. It wasn't until 2024 that Wang discovered the missing Bitcoins when checking his assets and promptly reported the incident to the police.

The prosecutor of Cangshan District, Fuzhou, stated that although cryptocurrency does not have the same legal status as fiat currency, financial institutions and non-bank payment institutions are not allowed to provide services such as account opening, fund transfers, and settlement for cryptocurrency-related activities. However, Bitcoin possesses the characteristics of controllability, transferability, and value, aligning with the general features of property under criminal law. It is considered an object of property crime, and actions involving infringement will not escape criminal responsibility due to Bitcoin's non-legal tender nature. The Cangshan District Procuratorate filed a public prosecution against the defendant Lin on charges of theft. After trial, the Cangshan Court sentenced him to twelve years and seven months of imprisonment and imposed a fine of 300,000 yuan. Lin appealed the decision, but the Fuzhou Intermediate Court ruled to reject the appeal and uphold the original verdict.