China Accuses US Government of ‘State-Level Hack’ to Seize $13B in Bitcoin

China has accused the U.S. government of conducting a “state-level hack” to seize 127,000 Bitcoin, an amount valued at roughly $13 billion. The allegation, from China’s National Computer Virus Emergency Response Centre (CVERC), claims the assets were originally stolen from China’s LuBian mining pool on December 29, 2020.

The organization claims that the stolen funds remained dormant for nearly four years (from 2021 until mid-2024), before being transferred to the US-linked wallets and then formally seized by the US Department of Justice in October 2025 as part of a case against Chen Zhi, a crypto individual operating from Cambodia.

CVERC contends that this unusually long period of inactivity points to the work of a government-backed operation, not just random criminals taking advantage of the situation.

It was reported that Chen Zhi tried to negotiate by posting public messages on the blockchain offering to pay a ransom to get the coins back, but the hackers never responded to his offers.

China argues that about 17,800 BTC originated from legitimate mining, 2,300 BTC from mining pool distributions, and 107,100 BTC from mixed sources, countering the US claim that the coins were purely proceeds from fraud.

CVERC maintains that the timing and movement of the funds don’t look like a normal law enforcement seizure. Instead, they believe it suggests the US government may have had access to the Bitcoin earlier than it claimed, and might have even been directly involved in the original hack.

The US DOJ denied all allegations, stating the coins were lawful criminal proceeds seizures tied to international crypto fraud.

Moreover, the department has in large criminal operations (including pig butchering and money laundering), which demonstrate that US authorities are strengthening their ability to tackle crypto-related crime.

Interestingly, the fact that Chinese authorities tracked the coins using blockchain data back to payments from a mining pool shows how advanced digital forensics has become. This means that individuals or entities holding large amounts of crypto now face a much greater chance of being identified and having their transactions monitored.

In the end, if China’s government officially acts on the claim through legal or diplomatic channels, it could make investors see Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies as much riskier, potentially lowering their prices.