Official statement: Are virtual asset transactions considered money laundering?

Let's first look at the process of money laundering using virtual currency. Generally speaking, the process of money laundering using virtual currency can be roughly divided into three stages:

Phase 1: Placement.

Criminals purchase virtual currency and inject illegal funds into the channels to be "laundered".

In actual cases, other methods may be used to confuse the source of virtual currency.

This stage is actually very common in many money laundering methods. As long as criminals transfer stolen money to a third-party platform (merchant) for money laundering, the process can be called placement.

Phase 2: Cultivation.

Money launderers exploit the anonymity of virtual currencies to conduct multi-layered and complex transactions, thereby concealing the nature and source of criminal proceeds.

Stage 3: Integration.

After continuously transferring and laundering illegal proceeds, the virtual currencies held by criminals have become basically unrestricted and relatively safe.

At this point, they only need to integrate all the laundered virtual currencies into a certain address and finally withdraw them, which basically completes the money laundering operation.

In actual cases, the three stages are sometimes clearly distinguished, sometimes overlapped, intersected, or combined, making it difficult to separate them completely. In some cases, only some of the stages are used to complete the money laundering.

On August 19, 2024, the Supreme People's Court and the Supreme People's Procuratorate jointly held a press conference and issued the "Interpretation of the Two High Courts on Several Issues Concerning the Application of Law in Handling Criminal Cases of Money Laundering" (hereinafter referred to as the "Interpretation"), which will come into effect on August 20, 2024.

One of the points involved virtual asset transactions, which was identified as money laundering, with the amount of money laundering exceeding 5 million yuan, and multiple acts of money laundering;

Refusing to cooperate with the recovery of property, resulting in the inability to recover stolen money and property; causing losses of more than 2.5 million yuan; or causing any other serious consequences shall be deemed as "serious circumstances".

The rest of the content does not involve virtual assets, which we can understand as virtual currency. The content involved here can be divided into three sections:

1. Funds obtained through criminal means such as underground casinos, drug trafficking, fraud, etc. are laundered through virtual currency. If you participate in it, you are breaking the law (in China).

For example: If someone gives you stolen money to buy virtual currency such as BTC from you, you are breaking the law. If you are selling BTC or USDT and receive money from these channels, you are also breaking the law.

The sentence is based on the severity of the complex. You just got it without participating in the secondary trading of the exchange.

2. If you make money through trading on the exchange, this money belongs to your personal income. It is normal to make gains and losses in investment.

The difference between this and the first case is that you can submit transaction records and inform the police that you were not aware of the money in question. There may be no criminal prosecution.

But also be careful not to receive this part of the money.

3. If you earn money on the chain, such as mining, airdrops, or even on Dex, and receive black money when you withdraw it, it is different from the second situation. You cannot submit transaction records to prove that you earned it through transactions, and you are likely to be identified as an accomplice to money laundering.

4. If you buy and sell U, that is, a U merchant that provides OTC services, and make a huge profit from it, you may be prosecuted on the grounds of illegal gains.

at last:

For most of us who conduct normal investment transactions, we can understand that virtual currency is a way of money laundering, but those who launder money through virtual currency will be subject to legal liability.

It is not the case that touching virtual currency means money laundering. For example, killing someone with a knife is illegal. Knife is one of the ways to commit a crime, but it does not mean that I am breaking the law if I get it. $BTC $ETH $SOL #新币挖矿TON #美联储何时降息？