On August 22nd, the Hangzhou City People’s Court sentenced Yi Xiao, a former deputy chairman of the Communist Party committee of the Huitong Political Consultative Conference in Jiangxi Province, to life imprisonment. He was also deprived of political rights for life and had all of his personal assets confiscated. This was due to his involvement in corruption and abuse of power to facilitate cryptocurrency mining activities.
Specifically, Yi Xiao accepted bribes totaling over 125 million Chinese yuan (approximately $17.1 million) from 2008 to 2021. From 2017 to 2021, he also abused his power to support a cryptocurrency mining company worth $329 million in activities involving finances and electricity. This resulted in “significant damage to state-owned assets, national interests, and the people.”
In contrast to Hong Kong’s open policy towards the cryptocurrency and Web3 industry, China has banned all cryptocurrency transactions within its territory since September 2021. Moreover, cryptocurrency mining activities in the country have been strongly suppressed.
Recently, a local court in Guangxi Province conducted a trial involving Shenzhen Shikongyun Technology, one of the largest Filecoin mining companies in China. The company was accused of operating a $83.3 million multi-level fraud scheme.
On August 14th, a Chinese citizen was sentenced to 9 months in prison for assisting an acquaintance in purchasing USDT with a $20 commission.