The biggest crypto seizures on record each involve more than 50,000 bitcoin, and every case ended in a different way. Some coins went back to a hacked exchange, some were sold, and others rem
The biggest crypto seizures on record each involve more than 50,000 bitcoin, and every case ended in a different way. Some coins went back to a hacked exchange, some were sold, and others remain in custody as courts decide who should be paid.
This guide covers five major cases and explains where the funds went, building on earlier coverage of crypto exchange hacks.
Five of the largest known cases, ranked by coin count, start with Prince Group at 127,271 BTC and Bitfinex at 94,643 BTC. Next come a Silk Road hacker known as Individual X at 69,370 BTC, a UK fraud case at more than 61,000 BTC, and James Zhong at 50,676 BTC.
A seizure puts coins under government control, while forfeiture is the court step that makes the transfer permanent. Two of the five cases, the Prince Group and UK matters, remain unresolved in court as of November 2026.
On October 14, 2025, federal prosecutors in Brooklyn charged Chen Zhi, chairman of Cambodia-based Prince Holding Group, and moved to forfeit 127,271 BTC, then worth about $15 billion. The Justice Department called it the largest forfeiture action in its history, according to its official press release. Prosecutors say the coins came from forced-labor compounds that ran pig butchering scams, long cons in which fraudsters win trust and then push fake crypto investments.
By coin count, Prince Group tops the biggest crypto seizures, and the coins are in US custody. The coins had sat in unhosted wallets, which owners control with their own private keys instead of an exchange. Chen was arrested and sent to China in January 2026. He remains under US indictment, and the forfeiture case continues in federal court in Brooklyn.
On September 25, 2026, Judge Rachel Kovner rejected claims from nine alleged victims because their filings did not plausibly link lost funds to the seized wallets. The order did not finalize the forfeiture. It pointed instead to victim remission, a Justice Department process that lets eligible victims ask for payment from forfeited property, shared in proportion if losses exceed the funds.
Three older cases have clearer endings. The Bitfinex coins were ordered back to the exchange, the Individual X coins were cleared for sale, and part of the James Zhong coins were sold in 2023. Bitfinex is the clearest of the biggest crypto seizures to end with a return.
Hackers took 119,754 BTC from Bitfinex in August 2016, worth about $71 million then. US agents seized 94,643 BTC in February 2022, valued near $3.6 billion then, after arresting Ilya Lichtenstein and Heather Morgan. Lichtenstein received a five-year sentence on November 14, 2024, and Morgan received 18 months. In 2025, a federal court said the coins should return to Bitfinex in kind, meaning as bitcoin instead of cash.
Another of the biggest crypto seizures began in November 2020, when a Silk Road hacker known only as Individual X agreed to forfeit 69,370 BTC. On December 30, 2024, Chief Judge Richard Seeborg refused to block that forfeiture, which cleared the Justice Department to sell coins then worth about $6.5 billion.
James Zhong pleaded guilty to wire fraud for tricking the Silk Road payment system into releasing extra bitcoin in 2012. Agents found 50,676 BTC at his Georgia home on November 9, 2021. On March 14, 2023, the government sold about 9,861 BTC for roughly $216 million, and filings said the rest would be sold in batches later that year.
London police seized devices used to access more than 61,000 BTC during searches in October and November 2018, in a case involving Zhimin Qian. The coins are tied to a Chinese investment fraud, and court records identify at least 128,409 investment contracts. Qian pleaded guilty to money laundering and received 11 years and eight months in November 2025.
In the High Court in London, a civil recovery case now decides who gets the coins. Civil recovery is a legal route that lets prosecutors go after property linked to crime. On October 12, 2026, Justice Mark Turner ruled that Chinese law decides whether victims hold property rights in the bitcoin, which reports valued near $5 billion. The ruling did not settle ownership, and Fieldfisher, the law firm representing many claimants, has said it is pursuing an appeal.
Some victims say a UK redress plan could cost them gains in the coins' value, so this remains one of the biggest crypto seizures still in dispute.
Courts usually pick one of three paths: return the coins to a victim, sell them and share the money, or keep them in custody. The choice depends on whether a claimant can link losses to specific coins, which is why the Bitfinex and Prince Group cases have gone in such different directions. Proof of ownership, more than size, shapes how the biggest crypto seizures end.
On March 6, 2025, Executive Order 14233 created a Strategic Bitcoin Reserve funded by Bitcoin the Treasury holds after final forfeiture.
Coins deposited there cannot be sold, according to the Federal Register text. An executive order is not a law passed by Congress, so a later president could change it.
From the editorial perspective, the biggest crypto seizures show that blockchain records cut both ways. Investigators can trace coins for years, yet courts still struggle to decide who counts as a victim. Bitfinex was cleared to recover its coins, while victims in the Prince Group and UK cases are still waiting.
Headline dollar figures also need care, because seizure-day values and current values can differ by billions. Taken together, the biggest crypto seizures read best as legal stories first and price stories second.
Readers following the biggest crypto seizures should watch three items through 2027. These are whether the Brooklyn court finalizes the Prince Group forfeiture, how the High Court rules on victim rights under Chinese law, and what the Treasury does with coins in the reserve. Court rulings can change on appeal.
Disclaimer: This article is for information only and is not financial, legal, or investment advice. Crypto is volatile and risky, so readers should do their own research before making any decision.
