The United States might still secure an additional $2 billion in Bitcoin associated with the now-defunct LuBian mining pool, even after announcing the largest cryptocurrency seizure to date.
On October 15, blockchain investigator Sani reported that around 16,237 BTC, valued at approximately $1.8 billion at current prices, is in circulation across addresses related to LuBian.
These wallets include:
- bc1qvrwzs8unvu35kcred2z5ujjef36s5jgf3y6tp8: 13,107 BTC
- bc1q42ltpxsc6s8fne0jz474tvuvyq2sqw26ud80xy: 2,129 BTC
- bc1q4c9q0nva573jgs7vxu9hf0qyfqqtzy8awn77s0: 1,000 BTC
Interestingly, these wallets were excluded from the 25 addresses listed in the US forfeiture documents, which detail approximately 127,000 BTC that the government aims to seize.
This gap doesn’t imply that federal agents overlooked any assets. Some addresses might be sealed by court order, while others could belong to intermediaries involved in the laundering operation.
These coin transfers indicate that investigators have not yet fully mapped out the network’s control framework.
Strategic Bitcoin Reserve
Should the US government retrieve the extra 16,237 BTC alongside the seized 127,000 BTC, its total Bitcoin reserves would escalate to around 343,000 BTC. This figure would constitute about 1.6% of the total supply of BTC.
Such holdings would firmly establish the US as the largest national holder of this leading cryptocurrency.
Additionally, this stash would put the US just behind the Michael Saylor-led Strategy (formerly MicroStrategy), which has corporate holdings of roughly 640,000 BTC, or over 3% of Bitcoin’s total supply.
Furthermore, the LuBian incident serves as the first substantial test for the Strategic Bitcoin Reserve (SBR), a program initiated under President Donald Trump’s executive order in March 2025 to oversee seized digital assets.
Senator Cynthia Lummis emphasized that the Bitcoin seizure illustrates the need for Congress to “pass clear digital asset market structure legislation to ensure law enforcement can act decisively against bad actors while fostering innovation.”
She added:
“Establishing clear procedures for storing seized bitcoin, returning it to victims, and safeguarding it for future generations. Transforming criminal proceeds into assets that enhance America’s Strategic Bitcoin Reserve shows how effective policy can convert misconduct into enduring national value.”
How LuBian Fell
Once among the top six Bitcoin miners globally, LuBian controlled approximately 6% of the world’s hash power through its operations in China and Iran.
The company’s decline began in late 2020 when a flaw in its key-generation algorithm enabled attackers to siphon off 127,426 BTC, then worth $3.5 billion, from its wallets. Arkham Intelligence initially uncovered this theft in August 2025.
In a bid to recover the stolen funds, LuBian sent hundreds of on-chain messages urging the hacker to return the coins, even offering a reward for their recovery.
Later, blockchain analysis firm Elliptic estimated that the company spent more than $40,000 on those embedded messages before vanishing from the network in early 2021.
On October 14, US authorities unsealed an indictment linking the stolen assets to a fraud network connected to the Prince Group, a Cambodian conglomerate led by Chen Zhi.
Authorities revealed that Chen’s associates funneled proceeds from “pig-butchering” scams—massive online investment frauds—into crypto-mining operations like LuBian.
