China Links 2020 LuBian Mining Pool Hack to State-Level Operation Targeting Cambodian Tycoon
A Chinese technical report alleges the U.S. government covertly controlled Bitcoin stolen in a 2020 hack of LuBian Pool, tying the funds to Cambodian tycoon Chen Zhi’s case.
China’s National Computer Virus Emergency Response Center (CVERC) released a report alleging that the U.S. government may have been involved in or benefited from the 2020 theft of over 127,000 BTC from the LuBian mining pool, valued at around $15 billion. The stolen Bitcoin remained dormant in a single wallet for four years before moving in June 2024 to addresses identified by Elliptic and Arkham Intelligence as U.S. government-controlled. On October 14, 2025, the U.S. Department of Justice announced it had seized 127,000 BTC from Chen Zhi, chairman of Cambodia’s Prince Group, in connection with financial crimes. Blockchain analysis referenced by CVERC indicates that all wallet addresses in the DOJ indictment match those from the 2020 hack, fueling Chinese claims that Washington may have controlled the coins well before the public seizure announcement.
- BTC (Bitcoin): A decentralized digital currency that operates without a central bank, using blockchain technology to record transactions.
- Mining Pool: A collective group of cryptocurrency miners who combine computational resources to increase the chances of solving a block and sharing the resulting rewards.
- Blockchain Analysis: The process of examining blockchain transactions to trace the movement of crypto assets and identify patterns, entities, or illicit activities.