In Qingdao, China, a man stole 107 BTC from an acquaintance while "helping register a wallet," and was sentenced to 10 years and 9 months in prison for theft.

On May 31, a high-profile Bitcoin theft case concluded in Qingdao, China, with a court upholding a lengthy prison sentence and clarifying how Chinese law classifies cryptocurrency, per local judicial dispatches. The Licang District Prosecutor’s Office in Shandong Province led the case, and the final ruling was affirmed on appeal. The defendant, identified as Zhang, gained access to an acquaintance’s cryptocurrency wallet mnemonic phrase while helping the individual set up their account. He later transferred 107 Bitcoin in multiple transactions—assets valued at over 50 million yuan (roughly $6.9 million) at the time of the crime. Zhang converted the stolen crypto to 660,000 yuan (about $91,000) in cash, but claimed his actions amounted to “protective control”—a defense rejected by prosecutors and judges. In its ruling, the court confirmed Bitcoin qualifies as property under Chinese criminal law. While China does not recognize cryptocurrency as legal tender, judicial authorities hold that crypto has tangible economic value: obtaining Bitcoin requires significant computing power and financial resources, and it is exclusively controlled via private keys and mnemonic phrases—core characteristics of property under criminal statutes. Because there is no official valuation framework for cryptocurrency in China, prosecutors used the actual proceeds Zhang received from selling the stolen Bitcoin instead of volatile market prices to calculate the theft amount, ensuring the sentence was proportional and fair. Zhang was first sentenced to 10 years and 9 months in prison plus a 100,000 yuan fine; the appellate court upheld the entire verdict in the second instance.