U.S. Exposed Cambodian Chen Zhi ‘Pig Butchering Scam’: $15B BTC Seized

Imagine a crypto empire making millions every day, running across countries, hiding billions in stolen Bitcoins—and then suddenly losing it all. This is the story of Chen Zhi, Cambodia’s famous “pig-butchering scam kingpin,” and how the U.S. seized $127K BTC worth $15B

What Was the Massive Pig Butchering Scam Behind Chen Zhi?

As per Wu Blockchain latest X post , Chen Zhi, the boss of Cambodia’s Prince Holding Group, acted like he ran a normal business in real estate, finance, and other industries in 30+ countries.

But U.S. authorities say he secretly ran one of Southeast Asia’s biggest criminal networks, doing the well-known pig butchering scam to cheat people all over the world. Since 2015, he and his team have run at least ten “fraud industrial parks” to trick people into fake crypto investments.

Prosecutors call the chairman of prince group the mastermind of a cyber-fraud empire. He allowed violence against workers, bribed officials, and spent stolen money on yachts, private jets, and Picasso paintings.

Being a crypto expert following Cambodia crypto scam news for a long time now, the latest sources say that Kingpin crypto Chen is still free, protected by the U.K.–Cambodia citizenship and political connections, so it’s unclear when he could be caught.

How the Cambodian Prince Scam Laundered Billions?

Huione Group, a fintech and e-commerce system including HuionePay and Telegram marketplaces, was the main way to clean stolen money.

From August 2021 to January 2025, at least $4 billion went through Huione. This included money from North Korea cyber thefts , pig butchering fraud, and other crimes.

The U.S. Treasury cut off Huione’s access to U.S. banks, stopping Chen’s Cambodian Prince scam network from using the financial system.

US Government Seized Bitcoin Worth $15B From KingPing Crypto

The 127,000 BTC (~$15B) that were seized came from Pig Butchering scam, as he was laundering massive cryptocurrencies secretly.

• He held the coins in non-custodial wallets, controlling the private keys.

• To hide where the money came from, he sent the stolen money into bitcoin mining operations, especially the Lubian pool, which at one point controlled 6% of all $BTC mining.

• By turning stolen money into new coins, Chen Zhi's Cambodian team tried to make the assets seem “clean” and hide links to the victims.

For the US government , finding the addresses was only part of the job—they needed the private keys to access the coins. Investigators found that Lubian’s key-generation system was weak and predictable.

The U.S. probably used these flaws, along with other offline methods like recovering mnemonics or social engineering, to take control.

The $15 billion worth coins are now fully in U.S. government custody, marking a huge success for crypto law enforcement.

The Mysterious 2020 Lubian “Theft” That Hid the $BTC

In December 2020, Lubian said a huge 127,426 BTC (~$3.5B) was stolen. The pool closed in February 2021, and the coins disappeared for years. On-chain tracking showed the BTCit was moved into a few main wallets.

In July 2024, all the assets were combined in one big transfer. Analytics platforms like Arkham found these addresses and linked them to Chen Zhi network. This proved that the coins came from the pig butchering fraud.

Why Does This Pig Butchering Scam News Matters to Everyone?

Chen Zhi $15B worth Bitcoin seizure is a big deal for crypto rules and enforcement. It shows that:

• Huge scams like the Chen Zhi fraud can be caught using blockchain tracking.

• Even old, inactive coins can be recovered with smart analysis.

• $BTC is not truly anonymous; criminals can’t hide forever.

The prince may still be free, but his digital gold is gone—This US government’s quick action comes as a warning to anyone trying cryptocurrency scams.