BlockBeats News, May 23rd - Recently, the People's Procuratorate of Cangshan District, Fuzhou City, Fujian Province, China, filed a public prosecution in a case of Bitcoin theft and illegal gains. In this case, Wang approached Lin at the end of 2020, entrusting him to cash out his Bitcoin holdings and agreeing to pay a certain reward upon success. However, what ensued was a carefully planned "thief guarding the thief" scenario. Lin had access to Wang's Bitcoin wallet hard drive and laptop. Unable to resist the temptation of high profits, the greed of taking what was not his silently grew in Lin's heart. Holding onto the mentality of "virtual assets are hard to trace, and even if stolen, may not be discovered," Lin stole the "private key" and related data of Wang's Bitcoin wallet, transferred 4 Bitcoins to his own account, and illegally gained around 900,000 yuan. It wasn't until 2024 that Wang discovered the Bitcoin was missing when checking his assets and promptly reported it to the police.

The prosecutor of Cangshan District, Fuzhou, stated that although cryptocurrency does not have the same legal status as fiat currency, financial institutions and non-bank payment institutions are not allowed to provide services such as account opening, fund transfer, and clearing for cryptocurrency-related activities. However, Bitcoin has the characteristics of manageability, transferability, and value, which are general features of property under criminal law. It is the object of property crimes, and related infringements will not escape criminal liability due to Bitcoin's non-legal tender nature. The Cangshan District Procuratorate prosecuted the defendant Lin for theft, and after trial, the Cangshan Court sentenced him to twelve years and seven months in prison, along with a fine of 300,000 yuan. Lin appealed the judgment, but the Fuzhou Intermediate Court ruled to reject the appeal and uphold the original verdict.