Authorities in China and the UK are working together to return $6.7 billion worth of stolen Bitcoins to their victims, but a dispute over compensation has emerged. Zhimin Qian, also known as Yadi Zhang, was convicted of running a fake investment scheme that duped 128,000 investors between 2014-2017. She stole more than 61,000 Bitcoins and converted them into property to hide her tracks.
The UK government is considering keeping some of the seized Bitcoin, with one option being to only compensate victims for the original value they lost, rather than the current worth of the coins. This has raised concerns about fairness and diplomatic relations with China.
The situation is complicated by the fact that the value of Bitcoins has skyrocketed since 2018, when the digital wallets were seized, from under $10,000 to over $110,000 today. The UK government may set up a compensation scheme for victims, but it’s unclear whether they will receive the original value or the current worth of the coins.
The decision on how to handle the returned Bitcoin has sparked debate, with some experts arguing that the government should keep any unsold amount and return only what was lost by the victims. Others have pointed out that if politicians were to justify keeping some of the Bitcoin as a form of compensation, it would be hypocritical given that the scammers initially demanded payment in Bitcoin rather than traditional currency.
As the process unfolds, it remains to be seen how much of the $6.7 billion will be returned to the victims and what the implications will be for diplomatic relations between China and the UK.
Source: https://www.tomshardware.com/tech-industry/cryptomining/chinese-and-british-authorities-work-together-to-determine-how-to-return-61-000-stolen-bitcoins-worth-usd6-7-billion-victims-expected-to-have-hard-time-recouping-losses-despite-seizure