Many Bitcoins have been confiscated in the past and the government has taken control of all Bitcoins. Till date, there is no known case of any confiscated Bitcoin being returned to the person who confiscated it. However if there is a legal battle and the person who confiscated it wins the battle, then the government may be able to return the Bitcoin to him. But I do not know of any history of any person winning against the government's seizure case. However, as far as I know, China has kept all the Bitcoins it has confiscated so far with the Chinese government. Similarly, the US government controls all the Bitcoins it has confiscated in the United States. Just like in all the countries in the world, the government has controlled all the Bitcoins that have been confiscated in this matter.

The government, of course, gains control of the coins once they are confiscated.

The way Bitcoin works remains the same, whether the coins are stolen or seized by the authorities. Whoever controls the private keys can move or spend the coins as they choose.

In a way, we all wish that when the government or authorities recover stolen coins, they would return them to their rightful owners. I  have rarely seen this happen. Instead, the coins usually remain in the government's possession.

We should also consider the many victims who have lost their money. It can be almost impossible to trace every victim and identify the rightful owners, making it difficult to return all the recovered coins to them.

Anyone that have the key to spend it and if the criminal doesn’t give it up till he dies, then it becomes lost forever unles someone else do have access to it.

That’s not an implication, and it is not complicated. When someone is arrested they will be forced to give up the keys holdimg the Bitcoins. So if you're asking who should get the keys, then that's another another topic which should be left to the parties involved to handle it, the person who gave it up wouldn't have a say obviously.

What direction? You want the criminal to keep the keys?

Some of the victims invested in this scam with fiat. Those who used crypto to transfer the money invested might not have access to the wallet they used between 2014 and 2017. It would be better for the victims to provide wallet addresses they can access.

China is an authoritarian nation where citizens don't enjoy freedom. I am afraid that the victims of this scam might not get a fair deal if the Chinese government is given custody of the confiscated funds. Maybe the UK government should appoint a third party that would handle the repayments.

Government haves the control after seizing them, but returning to the victims of the scam don't happen all the time, sometimes it can take years or they never return at all which isn't a reason to question the self custody because even if you have a central authority for bitcoin then it is going to be the government and they have the final say in it, so it is better to be decentralized and people learn to be aware of avoiding the scams.

A direct answer to your question would be 'who ever has the key'.

Why does it matter for BITCOIN who controls what was seized?  Ideally it should work just like any other Asset that is seized.  There is what I would like when it comes to control of my own money, and then there is what normally should happen when fraud money is seized by authorities.  That is their plan, their frame work and it has no thing to do with Bitcoin.

LOL, how will they lay their hands on it?  A bitcoin is intangible.  The law of “not your keys, not your coins” is superior to every country’s law—and it is a double-edged sword.  If the state does not have the keys, the coins are not theirs, no matter what any official says about it.

When bitcoins are “seized”, it means either they were on a CEX, or the cops somehow obtained access to the private keys.  However, there is no guarantee that they can.

The state’s only power is violence, the power of dumb brutes...


...but that violence can only be directed against a human.  Not against mathematics.  If the human cannot be located, or if the human adequately resists the violence, then the violence is impotent; moreover, in some jurisdictions, there may be legal limits on coercion.

I shake my head whenever I hear about bitcoins being “seized”.  The same applies to Tor dot-onion domains.  If the owner is both competent, and deadly serious about preventing seizure, then the cops never can seize it, no matter what; they may as well reach up into the sky and seize the moon and the stars.


State violence is not above the laws of mathematics.

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Sometimes, I wish that Bitcoin would not have any mass-adoption.  The masses can’t wrap their heads around the concept that cryptography is immune to state violence; they use KYC CEX on the one hand, and on the other, they mouth virtuous platitudes about the sanctity of human laws.

Dare you imagine a scenario in which the state is powerless?

Chinese government are very greedy and brutal so they have tried to maximize exploitation on citizens so far with their regime existence. It's very unrealistic to think that the Chinese government will treat their citizens fairly, and it's hopeless that they will distribute seized bitcoins to victims as it should be. You can be one of victims but living in a nation like China, if you are not careful with your decision, then action against the government, you will be imprisoned.

It's risky to do that in China, especially with things that are valuable in view and assessment of the government, they will not easily let it go back to you. Big or small amount of bitcoin you lost, you must be superb carefully with any action related to the government there.

We have the same sentiment here, but in this case it's the greediness of the government that is prevailing. the debate now is over who will own the seized bitcoin, China where the crime was originally committed, or the UK where the bitcoin was seized, and the UK's claim is that the scammers used it for money laundering which under their law gives them the right to claim it. 

So at the moment the UK government control all confiscated coins until they get handed over to the Chinese authorities then it will be in their control and I'm expecting them to deal with it according to their laws and regulations, it would be nice if it was given back to the owners though it's still very likely that they will just keep holding on to it with no plans for it till maybe sometime in the future when/if they country's treatment of bitcoin improves.