U.S. Government Profits Nearly $20 Billion from Chen Zhi and Changpeng Zhao Cases by Leveraging Technological Hegemony

Odaily News A joint report titled "The 'Top Player'—A Deep Analysis of the Global Virtual Currency Asset Harvesting Operation Under U.S. Technological Hegemony," released by China's National Computer Virus Emergency Response Center and other departments, reveals the process through which the United States utilizes its technological hegemony to harvest global virtual currency assets. According to incomplete statistics, from 2022 to 2025, the U.S. has confiscated global virtual currency assets worth over $30 billion through various cases. Notably, the Chen Zhi case alone accounted for $15 billion in confiscated assets, representing 50% of the total.

The report details 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, involving telecommunications network fraud, money laundering, and other offenses. It also publicly announced the seizure of approximately 127,000 Bitcoins under his control, valued at about $15 billion based on market prices at the time, setting a record for the largest virtual asset seizure in the history of the U.S. judicial department.

The case of Binance 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 a dual "civil + criminal" accountability approach against Changpeng Zhao. Ultimately, under a plea agreement, the Binance platform paid a $4.3 billion fine.

"During the investigation process, 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 the field of digital asset platform monitoring," Du Zhenhua further explained. The U.S. penetrated Binance's internal servers using hacking techniques, obtaining core operational data and executive communication records, which confirmed that Binance executives were aware of U.S. regulatory rules but deliberately evaded compliance requirements.

The report also stated that from 2023 to 2025, hacker groups with suspected backing from the U.S. government launched targeted attacks against over 20 mainstream global virtual currency asset exchanges. Attack methods included implanting backdoors, spear-phishing, and supply chain infiltration, primarily aimed at stealing user wallet private keys, platform transaction records, and compliance regulatory information. The targets of these attacks covered platforms in multiple countries and regions across Asia, Europe, and Africa.