China State Daily Urges Aggressive Crackdown, Labels Crypto a Corruption Channel

Share IT

Key takeaways:

  • On China’s Legal Daily website, there is a call for a crackdown on bribery that involves the use of cryptocurrencies and other electronic payment methods.
  • “Unprecedented intensity” is being used by the CCP to combat corruption, Zhao added.

On China’s Legal Daily website, there is a call for a crackdown on bribery that involves the use of cryptocurrencies and other electronic payment methods. 

Several legal professors who attended the annual China Integrity and Legal Research Association meeting were quoted in the article. One of the main topics of discussion was the punishment of emerging types of corruption.ย 

According to Zhao Xuejun, an associate professor at Hebei University Law School, virtual currency and electronic gift cards have turned into “hidden channels” for bribery because they are stored in “cold storage” devices that can be taken overseas for redemption. 

This statement was made in the January 1 issue of Legal Daily, which is released by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) Central Commission for Political and Legal Affairs. “Unprecedented intensity” is being used by the CCP to combat corruption, Zhao added.

Prof. Mo Hongxian of Wuhan University Law School specifically brought up Bitcoin when he stated that the anonymity and hard-to-track nature of virtual currencies make them a convenient tool for illicit and bad behavior. 

He also said that transactions using virtual currencies need to be investigated by the courts, even though they are not recognized in China. The article’s conclusion read as follows:

โ€œwe need to improve the legal and regulatory system for punishing new types of corruption, expand the scope of bribery crimes from property and property interests to new types of corruption that seek other illegitimate benefits, and strengthen supervision information in areas where new types of corruption are prone to occurโ€

The Supreme People’s Procuratorate and the State Administration of Foreign Exchange, two state institutions, warned officials not to use the stablecoin Tether as a middleman in foreign exchange transactions using the yuan, and this article was published less than a week ago. Such transactions are illegal.

Blockchain technology is being used by China for uses like identity verification, even though cryptocurrencies are illegal there. 

Also, although being in its experimental stage, its central bank’s digital currency, e-CNY, is extremely advanced. The digital yuan, as of June 2023, had been utilized in transactions worth almost $250 billion in China and in foreign commodity sales despite its limited geographic range.

Share IT
Deep
Deep

Can’t find what you’re looking for? Type below and hit enter!