- A British entrepreneur accuses his wife of spying on his Bitcoin seed phrase and stealing 2,323 BTC.
- The value of the Bitcoins at the time of their disappearance was around $60 million, or around $172 million at today’s rate.
Husband Ping Fai Yuen claims that his wife Fun Yung Li, who is now separated from him, had the video surveillance system in the house they still shared at the time in 2023 Seed-Phrase for his Hardware-Wallet obtained and the Bitcoins transferred without his consent.
According to the lawsuit, Li is said to have installed several cameras in the house in August 2023. They were positioned so that they filmed Yuen handling his Trezor wallet and the associated seed phrase.
Shortly afterwards the 2,323 BTC sent to a total of 71 addresses. Yuen only noticed the loss when he wanted to reconstruct his wallet and no longer had access to his Bitcoins.
The investigation led to a search of Li’s home in December 2023. Police confiscated several hardware wallets and written notes containing seed phrases. However, the investigation was stopped for the time being due to a lack of further evidence.
At the same time, however, the private conflict escalated: a fight broke out in an argument in 2024, and husband Yuen was convicted of bodily harm.
Legal peculiarities
The responsible court decided that the case would continue to be heard, even though the classic property crime of embezzlement only applies to material goods in British law.
It made it clear that other circumstances could be met if Digital-Assets be withdrawn from the owner.
The process can now develop into a precedent under British law, the decision of which would then be decisive for the legal assessment of future, similar offenses.
The documents filed with the lawsuit include transcripts of audio recordings made by husband Yuen. In it, Li is said to have said, among other things, that the Bitcoin had been “transferred to her” and that she had discussed spending in Hong Kong.
The defense denies this and describes the content of the audio recordings as being taken out of context.
Encryption is powerless against simple espionage
The case highlights how useless it is too cryptographic Well-secured hardware wallets are when simple spying methods are not taken into account by today’s standards.
The seed phrase is the “master key” to a cold wallet. Anyone who has it can transfer the entire contents of a wallet to any other device at any time.
The court case will continue in the coming months. Observers expect the ruling to have far-reaching consequences for the legal status of cryptocurrencies in the UK.
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