Overview
- The Supreme People’s Procuratorate published the Qingdao case as national guidance, directing prosecutors to handle Bitcoin theft as property crimes and to use liquidation proceeds to measure loss.
- A defendant surnamed Zhang gained control of a victim’s wallet after memorizing most of a 12‑word recovery phrase and transferred 107 BTC before selling it for cash that investigators traced.
- Investigators used blockchain transaction records, linked IP data and electronic logs to follow transfers and identify more than 660,000 yuan in proceeds that reached an associate’s bank account.
- Local courts convicted Zhang of theft and imposed a prison term of ten years and nine months plus a 100,000‑yuan fine after appellate courts upheld the ruling.
- The guidance sharpens a legal split in China by protecting crypto ownership in criminal law while existing national rules continue to ban cryptocurrency trading and related services.