US Senator Cynthia Lummis (R-WY) on Tuesday praised the Trump administration’s coordinated crackdown on the Prince Group, a Cambodia-based conglomerate that US authorities allege ran forced-labor “pig-butchering” cyber-fraud compounds and laundered criminal proceeds through bitcoin at unprecedented scale.
A Win For The US Strategic Bitcoin Reserve?
Federal prosecutors in Brooklyn unsealed an indictment charging Prince Group chairman Chen Zhi with wire-fraud and money-laundering conspiracies, while the Justice Department filed a civil forfeiture complaint against roughly 127,271 BTC—about $14–$15 billion at current prices—now in US government custody. The Treasury Department, in parallel, designated Prince Group a transnational criminal organization and moved to sever the Huione Group from the US financial system.
“Another @POTUS win and a victory for human rights, financial integrity, and American leadership,” Lummis wrote on X. In a thread highlighting the size of the crypto takedown, she added: “The seizure of 127,000 bitcoin underscores two urgent priorities for Congress: first, passing clear digital asset market structure legislation to ensure law enforcement can act decisively against bad actors while protecting innovation… Second, codifying how seized bitcoin is stored, returned to victims, and safeguarded for future generations. Turning criminal proceeds into assets that strengthen America’s Strategic Bitcoin Reserve shows how sound policy can turn wrongdoing into lasting national value.”
The underlying case is sprawling. Prosecutors say Chen directed Prince Group’s network of Cambodian compounds where trafficked workers—detained and abused—were forced to run online investment and romance-bait frauds, siphoning billions from US and global victims. The EDNY filing describes the bitcoin cache as proceeds and instrumentalities of the schemes that Chen previously controlled via unhosted wallets; it calls the action “the largest forfeiture action in the history of the Department of Justice.”
The news ricocheted through crypto-forensics circles. Arkham, which tracks government-linked wallets, stated: “The US Government has submitted today a filing for the forfeiture of 127,271 $BTC… These Bitcoins are now confirmed to be under US Government control. It’s the largest forfeiture case of all time.” While on-chain analytics firms do not determine legal ownership, their confirmation that the assets moved to US-controlled addresses aligns with the Justice Department’s representations to the court and Treasury’s sanctions actions.
Does The US Government Have To Sell?
The immediate policy question for markets is whether the administration will sell—or hold—this bitcoin. Here, the answer is more constrained by law and process than by politics. The Trump White House’s March 6, 2025 executive order (EO 14233), “Establishment of the Strategic Bitcoin Reserve and United States Digital Asset Stockpile,” created a framework under which the reserve is initially capitalized with bitcoin “owned by the Department of the Treasury that was finally forfeited as part of criminal or civil asset forfeiture proceedings or in satisfaction of any civil money penalty.”
Under EO 14233, government BTC placed into the Strategic Bitcoin Reserve “shall not be sold” except when the Treasury exercises its lawful stewardship authority, when a court orders disposal, or when the Attorney General or another agency head determines the assets (or proceeds) should be returned to identifiable victims, used for law-enforcement operations, equitably shared with state and local partners, or released to satisfy statutory requirements
Thus, the legal sequencing matters. Tuesday’s 127,271 BTC is in government custody pending the outcome of the civil forfeiture case. Only after final forfeiture—through settlement or judgment—can the assets be disposed of or allocated under the EO’s hierarchy, which puts victim restitution first.
Politically, Lummis is pushing for Congress to lock in the policy architecture she outlined on X: market-structure legislation that empowers decisive action against illicit finance without kneecapping innovation, and statutes that “codify how seized bitcoin is stored, returned to victims, and safeguarded for future generations.” That second plank is the legislative counterpart to EO 14233’s administrative framework.
As for the market’s operative question—will the US under Trump sell this BTC?—the current signals point to restraint, not immediate liquidation. The DOJ has affirmed the bitcoin is in US custody while the case proceeds; the EO presumes reserve treatment for finally forfeited BTC after victim claims; and senior Republicans like Lummis are explicitly lobbying to embed that approach in statute. Until the court enters a final forfeiture order and victim restitution is addressed, there is nothing to sell. If and when those hurdles are cleared, the default, per the 2025 framework, is to treat the BTC as part of a Strategic Bitcoin Reserve rather than auction it—unless Congress or a court directs otherwise.
At press time, Bitcoin traded at $112,482.
Featured image created with DALL.E, chart from TradingView.com
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