Analyst says $1.8B in BTC wallets tied to major laundering case found

On-chain analyst Specter said additional Bitcoin wallets likely tied to the so-called Qian Zhimin case, which allegedly involved large-scale money laundering between China and the UK, have been identified, holding a combined 28,555 BTC worth $1.8 billion. Specter said a wallet that had been dormant since 2017 moved 1,020 BTC several weeks ago and then split the funds across multiple addresses, a pattern resembling the kind of dispersion seen in money laundering. Tracing those transfers led to addresses that UK investigative authorities had linked to the Qian Zhimin case, Specter said, adding that most of the addresses have remained largely dormant since June 2021. Specter added that on-chain evidence alone cannot determine whether the wallets are still under the control of the same entity, have been transferred to another custodian, or are already under law enforcement control. Separately, Qian Zhimin was sentenced in the UK to more than 11 years in prison on charges of laundering Bitcoin proceeds from an investment fraud in China that targeted around 130,000 people. UK police previously seized 60,000 BTC in connection with the case.