China’s top cybersecurity agency has accused the United States of being involved in one of the biggest Bitcoin thefts ever. According to China’s National Computer Virus Emergency Response Center, the US government may have played a direct role in stealing 127,000 Bitcoin that were taken from a Chinese mining pool called LuBian back in 2020.
In a new report, China claims this wasn’t just a normal police seizure but part of a long-term cyber operation. The stolen Bitcoin, now worth about $13 billion, had not moved for nearly four years. But in mid-2024, the coins were suddenly transferred into wallets that blockchain trackers linked to the US government.
The LuBian mining pool was active during China’s early crypto boom. It was hacked quietly in 2020, and attackers drained 127,000 Bitcoin. At the time, the event went mostly unnoticed because the stolen coins remained untouched. That changed when blockchain analysis company Arkham spotted the Bitcoin being moved into new wallets. Later, the US Department of Justice confirmed it had taken control of those coins as part of a criminal investigation.
The DOJ said the Bitcoin was connected to Chen Zhi, the head of Cambodia’s Prince Group, who was accused of running a major crypto scam. According to the US, the funds were seized as part of that case.
However, China’s new report tells a very different story. It argues that the 2020 LuBian hack showed signs of advanced cyber tools and tactics that are usually seen only in government-backed operations. The report suggests that whoever carried out the hack may have kept control of the stolen Bitcoin all along and later made the transfer look like a legal seizure.
China’s cybersecurity experts claim the US may not just have taken advantage of the situation but might have been behind the hack itself. They suggest the US could have used its intelligence networks and technology to pull off the theft, then later covered it up by presenting it as a law enforcement action.
The report also questions how transparent blockchain really is. While every transaction can be seen on the blockchain, the identities behind them often remain hidden. Arkham’s analysis linking the wallets to the US was based on transaction patterns, which can be open to interpretation. China argues that this traceability could have been used to disguise a covert operation as a legitimate one.
If true, this would raise major questions about how blockchain analysis is used by governments and whether it can be trusted as evidence in international cases.
This accusation goes beyond cryptocurrency. It touches on the growing link between digital assets, cybersecurity, and global politics. Both China and the US are now using technical arguments to support political claims. The US says its actions were lawful and part of a fraud case. China insists it was a state-led theft dressed up as justice.
Neither side is backing down, and this is shaping up to be one of the most serious clashes yet involving Bitcoin, national security, and the power struggle over control of digital money.