ChainCatcher news, according to a report by Poster News, on November 6, the police in Leshan, Sichuan disclosed a case of illegal operation, dismantling a major cross-regional underground bank crime network involving 13 provinces across the country, with an amount involved exceeding 38 billion yuan. Recently, the Leshan Intermediate People's Court made a ruling, sentencing three defendants to fixed-term imprisonment ranging from two years and six months to thirteen years and six months for the crimes of illegal operation and issuing false value-added tax invoices.It is reported that the case involved virtual currency transactions and cross-border fund transfers, with the operational information being complex and mixed, amounting to over 20 million pieces of data. According to the police officers in the special case team, a total of 37 cases have been filed by public security organs nationwide, and 176 criminal suspects have been arrested, successfully dismantling this major cross-regional underground bank crime network involving 13 provinces and an amount exceeding 38 billion yuan. Currently, relevant cases are being further investigated and tried in various places. Among them, the principal offender in this case has been sentenced to thirteen years and six months of fixed-term imprisonment by the Leshan Intermediate People's Court.

ChainCatcher news, the Shaanxi High Court has released typical cases of cracking down on illegal fundraising crimes, which pointed out that the defendants Shi and Zhu set up an office in Xi'an, using a self-built BRTR platform to issue and trade USDT, QC, and BRTR currencies. They boasted about their company's strength to the public, fabricated a bright prospect for investing in virtual currencies, and used guaranteed principal with high interest and the enjoyment of luxury car usage rights as bait to attract public investment. According to the audit, as of the occurrence of the case, a total of 114 fundraising participants reported the case, with a total fundraising amount of over 6.34 million yuan, of which over 5.16 million yuan has been returned.The court held that the defendants, by issuing and trading virtual currencies, disguised their actions as public fundraising, disrupting the financial order. Their actions constituted the crime of illegally absorbing public deposits, and they were sentenced to four years in prison and fined.

ChainCatcher news, the Deputy Secretary for Financial Services and the Treasury, Chen Haolian, urged investors to participate in virtual currency trading preferably through licensed exchanges.Chen Haolian stated that the Hong Kong government is working hard to build the entire ecosystem. Currently, the Invest Hong Kong is actively promoting relevant enterprises to expand their business in Hong Kong. The virtual asset ecosystem is not limited to exchanges; it also includes virtual asset exchange-traded funds and central bank digital currencies (CBDC) among other products. The consultation on the regulation of stablecoins has been completed, and preparations for the relevant legislation are underway to submit to the Legislative Council for review.

ChainCatcher news, the Jiangsu High Court's official WeChat account published "2023 Typical Cases of Foreign-related Commercial Trials in Jiangsu Courts," which disclosed that Tian XX, Pan XX, and a third party signed a "Cooperation Agreement" to jointly operate the "MFA Blockchain Project." Pan XX transferred a total of 15.74 million yuan to Tian XX and the third party for the purchase of the MFA virtual currency as stipulated in the agreement; Tian XX subsequently transferred 10.6 million yuan to Pan XX. Tian XX claimed that MEXC (a Singapore trading platform) delisted the MFA/USDT spot trading in September 2020, and the virtual account involved in the case was locked and could not be traded, resulting in a total loss of investment. Pan XX filed a lawsuit, requesting the return of the remaining funds and payment of interest.The Yancheng Intermediate People's Court ruled that the virtual currency trading behavior was invalid, thus dismissing Pan XX's lawsuit. Pan XX was dissatisfied with the ruling and appealed. The Jiangsu Provincial High Court, in its second instance, held that foreign virtual currency exchanges providing services to residents in China via the internet also constitute illegal financial activities, and the relevant civil legal acts are invalid, with the resulting losses to be borne by the parties themselves. The court thus dismissed the appeal and upheld the original ruling.

ChainCatcher news, according to Legal Network reports, the People's Court of Yuanjiang City, Hunan Province recently heard a dispute case arising from the buying and selling of virtual currency.In this case, Zhou approached his friend Dai, hoping to help him purchase the encrypted virtual currency BZZ for investment. Consequently, Dai, entrusted by Zhou, purchased BZZ virtual currency from Zheng and sent the virtual currency to Zhou's imtoken wallet. However, after some time, Zhou sued Zheng in court, demanding the return of the funds he used to purchase BZZ virtual currency, amounting to 76,518 yuan, and payment for the funds' occupation fee.After hearing the case, the court held that civil subjects engaging in civil activities must not violate legal provisions and must not go against public order and good customs. BZZ is a type of network virtual currency similar to Bitcoin, which does not have legal tender status and should not and cannot be circulated as currency in the market. Activities related to virtual currency are considered illegal financial activities, and citizens participating in virtual currency transactions must bear their own investment risks. The entrusted transactions, management, and related refund actions concerning BZZ among Zhou, Zheng, and Dai are currently not protected by law in our country, and the consequences of such actions should be borne by themselves. Zhou's request for Zheng to return the funds used to purchase BZZ virtual currency, amounting to 76,518 yuan, and to pay the funds' occupation fee lacks factual and legal basis, thus the court ultimately ruled to dismiss Zhou's lawsuit.

ChainCatcher news, the Public Security Bureau of Wuhua County, Anhui Province, made precise judgments and took swift actions, successfully cutting off a chain that used virtual currency trading platforms as a cover while actually engaging in money laundering activities through score running. Three suspects have been brought to justice. This score running gang took advantage of the public's vague understanding of virtual currency investment, using virtual currency trading platforms as a cover to seemingly engage in legitimate investment speculation while actually participating in illegal score running and money laundering activities. The amount involved in this gang reached tens of millions, posing an immeasurable threat to financial order and social security.The score running gang manipulated highly concealed score running software, utilizing bank accounts or third-party payment platforms, and through fictitious transactions and dispersed transfers, "laundered" the illegally obtained funds, making them appear as legitimate income. Currently, the three suspects have been subjected to compulsory measures in accordance with the law.

ChainCatcher news, Hong Kong Yao Cai Securities Executive Director and CEO Xu Yibin stated that there is still uncertainty regarding the custody of virtual assets in the United States, as the current virtual asset custodians are not licensed by the same major government official agency.He emphasized that he is not being pessimistic, as Yao Cai also needs to ensure the safety of client assets, and mentioned that if there are recognized official institutions such as exchanges handling related custody, they would consider development (Note: Currently, two cryptocurrency exchanges have been licensed by the Securities and Futures Commission, and the regulatory rules have clear requirements for asset custody, but it has been pointed out that the trading volume of these two exchanges is not as active as major overseas platforms).

ChainCatcher news, Futu Hong Kong has officially launched virtual currency trading services regulated by the Hong Kong Securities and Futures Commission today. The investment threshold for customers is HKD 80 or USD 10, including four spot trading pairs: BTC, ETH, and USD, HKD, allowing direct purchase of virtual currencies using HKD and USD at real-time exchange rates.In addition, Futu also offers spot ETF trading for Hong Kong and US stocks, futures ETF trading for Hong Kong and US stocks, as well as related investment categories such as blockchain concept stocks.

ChainCatcher news, according to a report by Cointelegraph, Binance has appealed a CAD 6 million (approximately USD 4.4 million) fine imposed by the Financial Transactions and Reports Analysis Centre of Canada (FINTRAC) in a document submitted to the Canadian federal court system on June 5, alleging that the FINTRAC director did not comply with anti-money laundering and counter-terrorism financing (CFT) regulations.In May of this year, FINTRAC fined Binance CAD 6 million (approximately USD 4.4 million) for failing to register as a foreign money services business and for not reporting virtual currency transactions exceeding CAD 10,000. In its appeal, Binance stated that it did not provide services directly to Canadian residents and announced its exit from the Canadian market in May 2023.

ChainCatcher news, the Shenzhen Municipal Bureau of Local Financial Supervision issued a "Risk Warning on Virtual Currency Trading Speculation" on June 2, reminding the public that virtual currency trading carries legal risks and may involve illegal financial activities and fraud. It calls on citizens to enhance their awareness of risk prevention, be cautious of becoming victims of illegal fundraising and other fraudulent activities, and suggests that those who have participated in virtual currency trading should withdraw as soon as possible and report to the relevant authorities.

ChainCatcher news, Hong Kong Customs reported the successful investigation of a major money laundering case involving an amount as high as 1.8 billion HKD. Preliminary investigations revealed that a criminal group consisting of 3 members processed over 1,000 suspicious transactions between June 2021 and July 2022 by setting up multiple shell companies and bank accounts, including a large amount of suspicious fund transfers from virtual currency trading platforms. This indicates that criminals are attempting to launder illegal proceeds by exploiting the anonymity of virtual currencies. Currently, Customs has arrested 3 key members of the criminal group, sealed the involved companies, and confiscated a large number of criminal tools, including mobile phones, company seals, and bank cards. The case is still under further investigation, and more suspects may be arrested. This case serves as a warning, reminding the virtual currency industry to remain vigilant and strictly adhere to anti-money laundering regulations.

ChainCatcher news, the Baise Intermediate People's Court has released a case involving the provision of virtual currency platform accounts to assist in the transfer of criminal proceeds and their profits. The relevant accounts were used for receiving and selling Tether, helping to transfer criminal proceeds and their profits, and then receiving the funds from the sale of virtual currency through Alipay accounts, which were then cashed out through withdrawal, transfer, and other means.From February 2020 to May 2021, the criminals received a net amount of 1.313 million Tether through the involved accounts, cashing out 205,000 Tether, with a cash amount of 1.46 million yuan.

ChainCatcher News, the Financial Stability Bureau of the People's Bank of China published a column article titled "Effectively Preventing and Resolving Financial Risks, Firmly Upholding the Bottom Line of Preventing Systemic Risks." The article points out that under the strong leadership of the Party Central Committee and the State Council, the People's Bank of China closely focuses on three tasks: serving the real economy, preventing and controlling financial risks, and deepening financial reform. Following the basic principles of "stabilizing the overall situation, coordinating comprehensively, implementing differentiated policies, and precisely defusing risks," it resolutely fights the tough battle against major financial risks, improves the system and mechanism for financial stability work, and orderly addresses a number of prominent risk points that are significant, urgent, and systemic, effectively safeguarding the national economic and financial security and the overall stability of the financial system.In addition, the article notes that a comprehensive cleanup and rectification of the financial order has achieved good results in the special rectification of internet financial risks. All P2P lending institutions have ceased operations, and the rectification work in areas such as internet asset management, equity crowdfunding, internet insurance, virtual currency trading, and internet foreign exchange trading has been basically completed. The article emphasizes the deepening of risk rectification for local financial asset exchanges, "pseudo-gold exchanges," and third-party wealth management companies, as well as a severe crackdown on illegal fundraising and a firm curb on domestic virtual currency trading speculation. Efforts to increase the investigation and handling of money laundering cases continue to be intensified.

ChainCatcher news, according to a report by Sina Weibo Finance, in order to implement the corporate主体责任, strictly enforce the "People's Bank of China Law," "Commercial Bank Law of the People's Republic of China," "Securities Law of the People's Republic of China," "Cybersecurity Law of the People's Republic of China," "Telecommunications Regulations," "Regulations on Preventing and Dealing with Illegal Fundraising," "State Council's Decision on Cleaning Up and Regulating Various Trading Places to Effectively Prevent Financial Risks," and "Implementation Opinions of the General Office of the State Council on Cleaning Up and Regulating Various Trading Places" related management regulations.The Sina Weibo platform actively investigates and addresses user complaints, concentrating on handling information related to illegal virtual currency trading and speculation. According to relevant regulations, a total of 80 accounts have been closed this time. The violating accounts are shown in the image below.

Chain Catcher news, in March this year, the Chaoyang Court provided relevant clues discovered during the case trial to the People's Bank of China and the Beijing Local Financial Supervision and Administration Bureau, and sent judicial recommendations for clearing virtual currency trading platforms. After receiving the judicial recommendations from the Chaoyang Court, the People's Bank of China communicated with the court multiple times and actively coordinated with relevant central and local functional departments to carry out disposal work.On September 13, the People's Bank of China replied to the Chaoyang Court, stating that it had transferred the relevant clues to the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, coordinating relevant departments to block and dispose of websites and apps, resulting in the blocking of 10 virtual currency exchange app download addresses, 1 virtual currency trading app, and 32 related domain names.On September 21, the Beijing Local Financial Supervision and Administration Bureau replied, stating that it had interviewed the operators of the involved websites, ordering them to remove the illegal content immediately. At the same time, under the guidance of the People's Bank of China, it conducted investigations and disposal of 227 enterprises suspected of violating regulations in the virtual currency field across the city, working with the Municipal Communication Administration, the Municipal Cyberspace Administration, and other departments to shut down 23 mainstream media websites related to virtual currency, 440 self-media accounts involved in virtual currency promotion and trading, removed 13 virtual currency trading apps, and controlled 25 keywords suspected of virtual currency speculation. Under the guidance of the Beijing Banking and Insurance Regulatory Bureau, 6 banks in the jurisdiction conducted investigations on the personal accounts of 2 suspected over-the-counter virtual currency traders and implemented control measures such as restricting non-counter transactions and account closures. (Source link)

Chain Catcher News, the People's Bank of China published an article titled "Preventing and Resolving Financial Risks and Improving the Long-term Mechanism for Financial Stability." The article mentions that efforts to continuously combat domestic virtual currency trading speculation have led to a significant decrease in China's share of global Bitcoin trading volume. The cleanup and rectification of financial asset trading venues have achieved positive results, effectively curbing the momentum of disorderly expansion and reckless growth, with a substantial reduction in quantity, business scale, and the number of participants, leading to a noticeable convergence of risks. (Source link)

Chain Catcher news, the Hengyang Public Security Bureau announced the breaking of a major money laundering case "9.15", where the criminal gang is suspected of laundering up to 40 billion yuan through virtual currency transactions. Currently, over 300 related fraud cases have been connected. The "2021.9.15" special investigation team of the Hengyang Public Security Bureau started with Liu, who was defrauded of 7.8 million yuan, conducting in-depth analysis and meticulous investigation. They carried out net-seizing operations in Hainan, Guangdong, Fujian, Jiangxi, and other places, completely dismantling the money laundering criminal group led by Hong, arresting 93 criminal suspects, dismantling more than 10 money laundering and score-running dens, seizing over 100 related mobile phones and computers, and freezing 300 million yuan of involved funds, recovering 7.8 million yuan in economic losses for the victims.Investigations revealed that since 2018, the criminal gang led by suspect Hong has successively contacted collection and payment points in multiple cities across the country, converting criminal funds related to fraud and gambling into virtual currency, then cashing it out into US dollars for laundering. Finally, they used multiple domestic companies to illegally remit the funds quickly and safely to other financiers, extracting illegal profits from it. (Source link)