China targets cryptocurrencies, online game coins in intensified money-laundering crackdown
- China’s highest judicial bodies on Monday made 13 revisions to its money-laundering law
Cryptocurrencies, online game coins and tipping during live streaming would be considered money laundering in China, according to the highest judicial bodies, marking the first instance of Beijing revising its laws to target the use of virtual assets.
The Supreme People’s Court and the Supreme People’s Procuratorate said on Monday that the 13 revisions would take effect from Tuesday.
The transfer and conversion of criminal proceeds and their benefits through virtual asset transactions and financial asset exchanges would be covered under regulations that prohibit “covering up and concealing the source and nature of criminal proceeds and their benefits by other means”, the Supreme People’s Court said on Monday.
In recent years, there has been growth of online platforms being used for money laundering through virtual rewards via live streaming and gaming.
Virtual currency, game coins, internet platforms and payments through live streaming have become new money-laundering channels, showing more complex and hidden networking and chainlike characteristics, the statement said.
In February, authorities in Shanghai charged four live streamers with money laundering after they exchanged virtual gifts and rewards that were found to be part of an illegal fundraising scheme totalling 1.2 billion yuan (US$168 million).
