The post UK Man Claims Estranged Wife Stole 2,323 Bitcoin From His Hardware Wallet ⋆ ZyCrypto appeared on BitcoinEthereumNews.com.

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&nbsp Prefer Us On Google A U.K. man is suing his estranged wife for allegedly stealing 2,323 Bitcoin, worth approximately $172.6 million, from his hardware wallet.  The dramatic High Court case, filed earlier this month, exposes a tangled web of secret surveillance, alleged betrayal, and the legal gray zones of digital wealth, capturing the growing clash between cutting-edge cryptocurrency and centuries-old property law. The case centers on Ping Fai Yuen, a U.K. resident who alleges that his wife, Fun Yung Li, unlawfully gained access to his cryptocurrency holdings in 2023.  According to court filings, Yuen claims Li managed to obtain the recovery phrase to his hardware wallet by secretly monitoring him through surveillance cameras installed inside their home. Yuen alleges that Li captured the wallet’s 24-word recovery phrase using the home’s CCTV system and used it to reconstruct the wallet and move the funds without his permission.  Advertisement

&nbsp Notably, the alleged transfer occurred in August 2023, when the Bitcoin was valued at just under $60 million. Due to Bitcoin’s price appreciation since then, the same holdings are now estimated to be worth roughly $172 million. Additionally, court documents indicate that the funds were moved through multiple transactions before being distributed across 71 separate blockchain addresses.  Further, according to filings, the Bitcoin has not been moved since December 2023 and is reportedly not held on cryptocurrency exchanges, making it more difficult to trace or recover. Yuen initially attempted to pursue a claim based on “conversion,” a legal doctrine traditionally applied when someone wrongfully takes possession of another person’s physical property.  However, the judge determined that the concept does not directly apply to digital assets like Bitcoin under existing interpretations of English law. Despite this setback, the court allowed the lawsuit to continue under alternative legal grounds,…

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Filed under: News - @ March 17, 2026 1:29 pm