Yadi Zhang

In a London courtroom this week, a Chinese national at the center of one of the most audacious financial frauds of the digital age admitted guilt. Zhimin Qian, also known as Yadi Zhang, pleaded guilty to acquiring and holding billions in stolen cryptocurrency—an amount prosecutors described as the largest digital asset seizure in the world.

Between 2014 and 2017, Qian masterminded a vast scam in China that lured more than 128,000 investors into what appeared to be lucrative ventures. Her promises of daily dividends and guaranteed profits, dressed up with the rhetoric of turning China into a global financial hub, …