As the Chinese government continues to bolster its stance against decentralised cryptocurrency, more than a thousand individuals have been arrested in connection with a cryptocurrency related money laundering syndicate.
More specifically, China’s Ministry of Public Security made it known that it had successfully carried out an operation that targeted 1100 individuals who are alleged to have exchanged their client’s ill-gotten funds in digital assets – with fees said to range between 1.5% and 5%.
Interestingly, Chinese officials have yet to report on the exact amount of money that has passed through this unofficial operation, as is the case with regards to exactly which digital assets exchanges were used and for how long the syndicate has been running.
However, the Ministry of Public Security was willing to share that the funds being laundered were illegal proceeds from “telephone and internet related” scams. Furthermore, Chinese officials stated that these arrests were part of a broader crackdown on cryptocurrency related speculation – which they have been working to stop since 2017.
In more recent times, the Chinese government’s increasingly hostile stance towards digital assets has had negative effects on the price of Bitcoin and the broader cryptocurrency market. This is due to the fact that a significant volume of mining activities are traditionally based in China – which puts a heavy strain on investor confidence in Bitcoin.
