A Sichuan court in China tried a case involving the use of virtual currency to resell foreign exchange, involving over 200 million yuan.

Mars Finance News, on July 30, the defendants Wan Mou Yuan, Chen Mou Wen, and Huang Mou Yuan conducted illegal foreign exchange trading activities outside the state-designated trading venues for profit from 2020 to 2021. Among them, defendant Wan Mou Yuan was responsible for contacting customers who needed US dollars and coordinating with Chen Mou Wen to contact Huang Mou Yuan, transferring corresponding RMB or USDT purchased with RMB to Huang Mou Yuan's RMB receiving account or USDT receiving address. Huang Mou Yuan used two Hong Kong company accounts to transfer US dollars to the receiving company account provided by Chen Mou Wen and send the US dollar transfer "water order" (remittance voucher) to Chen Mou Wen. After the transaction was concluded or US dollars were received, customers transferred the RMB used to purchase US dollars to Wan Mou Yuan's bank account or settled through other means, ultimately completing the transaction. According to an accounting firm's audit, from November 2020 to March 30, 2021, Wan Mou Yuan and Chen Mou Wen conducted illegal foreign exchange trading activities outside state-designated trading venues, collecting a total of 234.04 million RMB from customers for US dollar purchases. The case was initially handled by the Muchuan County People's Court in Leshan City, Sichuan Province. The court noted that the case involved determining the nature of foreign exchange trading using virtual currency as a medium, with differences in understanding virtual currency's legality across regions and divergent views on such behavior. Additionally, one defendant was a Hong Kong resident, and defendants repeatedly used virtual currencies as a payment method to transfer value between different currencies. Considering the case's novelty and high social attention, the court requested a transfer to the Leshan Intermediate People's Court in Sichuan Province. After trial, the Leshan Intermediate People's Court issued a ruling on August 28, 2024, (2023) Chuan 11 Xing Chu 24: Trading foreign exchange outside designated venues or using virtual currencies as a medium to convert RMB and US dollar values through the "foreign exchange-virtual currency-RMB" method constitutes illegal business operations that disrupt financial market order. Defendant Wan Mou Yuan was sentenced to six years in prison and fined 740,000 RMB for illegal business operations. Considering other crimes, the final sentence is thirteen years and six months in prison with a fine of 1.14 million RMB. Defendants Huang Mou Yuan and Chen Mou Wen were sentenced to five years and six months and two years and six months in prison, respectively, with fines of 710,000 and 250,000 RMB. After the first-instance verdict, defendants accepted the judgment, the procuratorate did not appeal, and the verdict has taken legal effect. (Red Star News)