Qingdao Court Sentences Man to 10 Years for Bitcoin Theft

A court in Qingdao, China, has sentenced a man to 10 years and nine months in prison for stealing 107 Bitcoin, a ruling that establishes Bitcoin as legally protected property under the country's criminal law despite a nationwide ban on cryptocurrency trading.

The defendant, identified only by the surname Zhang, was convicted of theft by the Licang District People's Court, which also imposed a fine of 100,000 yuan (approximately $13,800). According to case details published by China's Supreme People's Procuratorate, Zhang stole the cryptocurrency from an acquaintance, Feng, in July 2023 after memorizing the recovery phrase for Feng's digital wallet.

The theft occurred when Feng sought Zhang's help to cash out 117 Bitcoin. While Feng wrote down the new wallet's 12-word recovery phrase, Zhang watched closely enough to memorize 11 of the words and note the first letter of the final word. That same night, Zhang reportedly worked through possible combinations to deduce the full phrase, accessed the wallet, and transferred 107 Bitcoin. He later sold the stolen assets for 660,000 yuan (roughly $91,000).

Feng discovered the missing Bitcoin the following day and reported the theft. Police...