争议核心不是金额而是取得方式。布鲁克林联邦法院现有数十方主张对该批 Bitcoin 拥有权利，包括声称自己或家人为恐怖攻击受害者、并主张这些代币于伊朗开采的人士；Chen Zhi 本人也要求返还资产，并要求政府说明其如何取得私钥或控制权。检方指控 Chen Zhi 涉及电汇诈欺共谋与洗钱，且称其曾把巨额 Bitcoin 存放于 25 个由其亲自持有密钥的钱包；其律师则于 2026 年 3 月 10 日声请驳回没收案，主张多项指控明显失实且政府未能将代币与具体犯罪行为连结。
此案的重要性还在于其揭示加密犯罪与地缘政治风险的交会。中国官方曾于 2025 年 11 月指称 2020 年窃案可能是美国主导的「国家级」骇客行动；伊朗因素亦因制裁规避与恐怖主义赔偿判决而被纳入诉讼。数据上，LuBian 被指曾是全球第六大 Bitcoin 矿业平台；遭窃代币自 2020 年 12 月后长期静止，至 2024 年 6 月才转入新钱包。更广泛地看，Chainalysis 指出受制裁实体在去年收到的加密货币价值激增近 700%，推动非法加密资金流总额升至 1,540 亿美元；北韩相关骇客同年窃取约 20 亿美元，较 2024 年高约 50%，说明各国执法机关为何抗拒公开追踪与扣押方法。
The case centers on more than 127,000 Bitcoin seized by the US government, a trove worth about $15 billion when forfeiture was announced in October 2025 and roughly $9 billion after Bitcoin prices fell. In December 2020, the same holdings were worth about $3.5 billion and were taken in what has been described as the largest crypto hack on record; nearly five years later, their value had risen to more than four times that amount. US prosecutors say the tokens are proceeds from a criminal empire tied to Chinese tycoon Chen Zhi, making the forfeiture the largest financial takedown in American history.
The central dispute is not only ownership but acquisition. In federal court in Brooklyn, dozens of parties are asserting rights to the Bitcoin, including claimants who say the coins were mined in Iran and should help satisfy terrorism judgments, while Chen Zhi himself is also seeking the assets and demanding that the government explain how it obtained them. Prosecutors accuse Chen of wire fraud conspiracy and money laundering, and say he controlled a staggering Bitcoin stockpile across 25 wallets with keys he personally maintained; his lawyers moved on March 10, 2026 to dismiss the forfeiture case, arguing that key allegations are demonstrably false and that the government failed to connect the tokens to criminal conduct.
The case matters because it links crypto enforcement to broader geopolitical and sanctions risks. Chinese authorities publicly suggested in November 2025 that the 2020 theft may have been a US-led state operation, while Iran has entered the case through claims about mining origin, sanctions evasion, and terrorism liability. Numerically, LuBian was described as at one point the world’s sixth-largest Bitcoin mining platform; the stolen coins stayed dormant from December 2020 until movements to new wallets began in June 2024. More broadly, Chainalysis reported that the value of cryptocurrencies received by sanctioned entities jumped almost 700% last year, helping drive total illicit crypto flows to a record $154 billion, while North Korea-linked hackers stole about $2 billion, roughly 50% more than in 2024, underscoring why authorities resist revealing seizure methods.