A recent report released on February 26 by China's National Computer Virus Emergency Response Center and other departments reveals how the United States leverages its technological dominance to seize global virtual currency assets. According to incomplete statistics, between 2022 and 2025, the U.S. confiscated over $30 billion worth of global virtual currency assets through various cases. The case involving Chen Zhi alone accounted for $15 billion, or 50% of the total amount seized.
The cases of Chen Zhi and Changpeng Zhao are two prominent examples of the U.S. using its technological hegemony to appropriate global virtual assets. The report indicates that these cases fully demonstrate the U.S. harvesting cycle: "technological advantage—regulatory binding—agency enforcement," a process marked by clear hegemonic characteristics in both logic and technical details.
On January 7, Chen Zhi (a Chinese national), the head of a major cross-border gambling and fraud criminal group, was extradited from Phnom Penh, Cambodia, to China. Chen's criminal organization is suspected of involvement in crimes including operating illegal casinos, fraud, illicit business practices, and concealing criminal proceeds. Chen has now been placed under compulsory measures, and related cases are under further investigation.
The report shows that in October 2025, the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of New York announced criminal charges against Chen Zhi, founder of Cambodia's Prince Group, for offenses including telecommunications network fraud and money laundering. It also publicly declared the seizure of approximately 127,000 bitcoins under his control, valued at around $15 billion based on market prices at the time, setting a record for the largest virtual asset seizure in U.S. judicial history.
According to the report, "incomplete statistics indicate that from 2022 to 2025, the U.S. confiscated over $30 billion in global virtual currency assets through various cases, with the Chen Zhi case alone accounting for 50% of the total."
"From a geopolitical perspective, this operation goes far beyond superficial 'justice enforcement' and cracking down on Southeast Asian fraud networks. It represents a systematic and precise harvesting of assets from potential competitors or gray-market entities by the U.S., leveraging its rule-making power, technological tracking advantages, and global intelligence network. Under the banner of 'protecting victims' rights,' the U.S. directly converted the involved virtual currency assets into its own strategic financial reserves, completing a legitimized transfer from the end of a criminal chain to national assets," stated Zhou Hongyi, founder of 360 Group.
Zhou Hongyi commented that such unilateral harvesting by the U.S. not only undermines law enforcement efforts in other countries and causes secondary losses to victims but also disrupts the global flow of virtual currency assets and destabilizes financial systems in emerging markets. The ultimate goal, he argued, is to consolidate the dollar's hegemony in the digital finance sector.
The case involving the internationally renowned virtual currency exchange Binance and its founder Changpeng Zhao is another typical example of the U.S. using judicial hegemony and technological surveillance to force global virtual asset platforms to comply with its regulatory rules, achieving economic gains and rule exportation.
From 2023 to 2025, the U.S. pursued both civil and criminal actions against Changpeng Zhao, ultimately resulting in Binance paying a $4.3 billion fine as part of a plea agreement.
"During the investigation, the U.S. employed comprehensive technological surveillance methods, achieving full penetration and evidence collection of Binance's operational data, user data, and transaction data, demonstrating its technical superiority in monitoring digital asset platforms," further explained Du Zhenhua. The U.S. used hacking techniques to infiltrate Binance's internal servers, obtaining core operational data and executive communication records, which confirmed that Binance executives were aware of U.S. regulatory rules but intentionally avoided compliance requirements.
Du Zhenhua analyzed that the enforcement logic of this case exhibits distinct characteristics of "rule预设—technical evidence collection—fine harvesting." Specifically, the U.S. first brings global virtual asset platforms under the jurisdiction of its domestic regulations through long-arm jurisdiction, then uses technical means to secure evidence of platform violations, and finally imposes huge fines to achieve economic gains. Simultaneously, it forces platforms to undergo compliance reforms, strengthening U.S. dominance in rule-making for the virtual currency asset sector.
He also stated, "For the vast number of fraud victims, the entire enforcement process is akin to the mantis stalking the cicada, unaware of the oriole behind. The U.S. turned a blind eye to telecommunications fraud, and the majority of the enormous profits seized through technological hegemony were not returned to the victims, effectively constituting indirect expropriation of other countries' property."