Chinese resident goes to jail for mining cryptocurrencies

A Chinese court has handed down a life sentence to a former Jiangxi provincial government official who was a cryptocurrency enthusiast and mined bitcoin. According to the prosecution, Yi Xiao abused his authority and supported a large-scale digital asset mining operation.

According to the court, between 2008 and 2021, Xiao was able to receive more than 125 million yuan (approximately $ 17.1 million) in bribes. In addition, Xiao helped companies engaged in cryptocurrency mining, which «led to significant losses for state property, as well as national and people’s interests.»

As a result, Yi Xiao was sentenced to life imprisonment, stripped of his membership in the Chinese Communist Party, and all his personal property was confiscated. In an attempt to mitigate the charges, Xiao pleaded guilty and returned all the money he had received, but this did not help the man.

Currently, China has a complete ban on any activity related to cryptocurrencies, except for simple possession. This includes mining, exchange services, switching from fiat currency to digital assets, and conducting transactions.

However, effectively enforcing such prohibitions is a challenge. Data from the Cambridge Bitcoin Mining Map shows that China still accounts for 21% of the global BTC hashrate, making it the largest cryptocurrency mining country after the United States.

Earlier, the state-owned telecommunications company China Mobile proposed to introduce a social rating system and mandatory digital identification for all users of meta-universes.