Beijing: US "state-level" hackers seized USD1.5bn bitcoin from now suspected scam centre kingpin
發佈日期: 2025-11-12 22:41
TVB News
The US announced last month it had seized over 120,000 bitcoins from Chen Zhi, a Chinese-Cambodian businessman suspected of running a transnational fraud network.
Beijing claims those bitcoins had already been stolen by hackers as early as 2020.
In Beijing's technical tracing report on the hacking incident, it says a bitcoin mining pool operating mainly in China and Iran was hacked in late 2020.
The report says the bitcoins belonged to Chen Zhi, chairman of Cambodia's Prince Group.
At the time, the assets were worth 3.5 billion US dollars but their value has since risen to around 15 billion US dollars.
Investigators say the stolen bitcoins remained untouched for four years in digital wallets -- behaviour inconsistent with typical profit-driven hackers, but more like a "state-level, precision cyberattack".
The report alleged that US government hackers may have carried out the theft themselves.
American media, citing official responses,
say the seizure was a lawful action targeting criminal proceeds.
