The FT reports from a trial in London where Jian Wen, 42, is accused of laundering bitcoin on behalf of her former employer, who is a fugitive from Beijing authorities.
The report says that in 2018, UK police seized four separate devices containing more than 61,000 bitcoin in a safety deposit box. At the time, that was worth $1.8 billion but at today’s prices it would be worth more than $2.6 billion.
That’s a not-insignificant sum. For context, the largest bitcoin ETF so far holds (IBIT) holds $2.67 billion.
The trial traces back to Zhimin Qian, who allegedly stole roughly $6 billion from more than 128,000 investors, mostly in China. She then fled to the UK and remains at large.
Police say Wen had copies of the keys to access the bitcoin.
Bitcoin is down slightly today after some decent gains over the past week. Presumably this bitcoin will be liquidated (assuming a conviction) and the cash eventually returned to investors who might end up coming out ok.
Bitcoin daily