According to Bitcoin Magazine, on April 29, as reported by the web3 Radar public account, at midnight on New Year's Day 2025, the '1.01' virtual currency tobacco-related crime case in Liuzhou was solved, completely eradicating a criminal gang that had long used virtual currency 'Tether (USDT)' for illegal tobacco transactions. This marks a breakthrough in Guangxi's tobacco monopoly front in combating new types of concealed tobacco-related illegal crimes and is a typical case in combating illegal transactions of tobacco involving virtual currency, showcasing the new effectiveness of 'smart regulation'.
Data reveals: Blockchain tears apart hidden transactions.
On September 28, 2024, the monitoring screen at the Liuzhou Tobacco Joint Command Data Center flashed blue light, and the virtual currency cigarette transaction perception system scanned billions of data information on the dark web around the clock. Suddenly, an alert message indicated that there was a virtual currency transaction on a certain illegal website, raising the vigilance of the case handlers. "This is definitely not an ordinary transaction; there must be some intrigue!" Liu Yi, the head of the inspection team at the Liuzhou Tobacco Bureau, who has worked for many years in the frontline investigation, made a keen judgment that virtual currency, with its convenience, anonymity, and decentralization, has become a 'protective talisman' for concealing illegal transactions.
Immediately, the Liuzhou Tobacco Bureau, in conjunction with relevant departments of the Liuzhou Public Security Bureau, established a special investigation team to conduct further investigations into the case. Liu Feng, secretary of the party group and director of the Liuzhou Tobacco Bureau, emphasized the need to decisively launch a counterattack against illegal crimes involving virtual currency and tobacco with the determination to "dare to break the game and dare to show the sword."
To break through the 'fog', the special investigation team utilized blockchain intelligent node analysis technology to analyze 2 billion 'Tether' transaction data and 220 million wallet addresses on the Tron chain, deeply integrating multi-source heterogeneous data to establish a multi-dimensional, three-dimensional association with a data lake of hundreds of millions, using big data as a 'navigation tool' for case investigation. Intelligent algorithms acted like a precise surgical knife, accurately matching wallet addresses, transaction amounts, and open-source intelligence, identifying over 660,000 illegal software tobacco-related records, 19 illegal platform tobacco-related clues, and 88 tobacco-related wallet addresses, locking in a suspicious upstream smoke payment receiving address.
However, this is just the 'first step in a long march'. How to confirm the real identity behind the virtual address? How to link the flow of funds with cigarette transactions? Using the involved wallet address as a breakthrough point, the special investigation team monitored transaction flows and amounts in real-time, discovering that its fund transactions were unusually frequent, with total transaction flows accumulating over 30,000 'Tether', approximately 217,000 RMB.
Through association expansion, the case handlers identified 7 related wallets and locked in 2 key transaction hashes from related overseas exchanges (the unique identifiers for each virtual currency transaction). Thus, a core account of illegal operation surfaced. To solve the problem of real-name registration for anonymous wallet addresses, the special investigation team cleaned, denoised, and normalized the obtained virtual currency exchange data, constructing a structured dataset that ultimately bound anonymous addresses to real individuals.
"Investigate! Dig inch by inch from the funding chain to the logistics chain!" To uncover the criminal gang, Lin Huachun, deputy director of the Liuzhou Tobacco Bureau, decisively ordered. On October 24, the in-depth assault work on the case began, and the case handlers utilized spatiotemporal graph neural network technology to conduct full-link fund analysis. On the large screen of the Liuzhou Tobacco Joint Command Data Center, a visualized trading network structure diagram appeared: the funding chain flowed from Xie to Huang, and then into Qin's account.
With personnel information and funding chains clarified, the evidence chain was just one step away from closure. Relying on the 'blockchain + logistics' dual-track intelligent traceability system of the Liuzhou Tobacco Bureau, the special investigation team collaborated with multiple express delivery companies to cross-verify blockchain big data modeling with logistics data. The barrier linking virtual transactions and physical goods was cracked open! Thus, a criminal gang centered around Qin, spanning multiple regions, finally surfaced.
Ironclad evidence closure: Digital keys lock in the 'tumor'.
On November 30, 2024, the special investigation team identified the source den of the criminal gang and clarified the full picture of the case: a criminal gang composed of 12 individuals, including Wu and Qin, operated in a model of 'online matchmaking - virtual settlement - logistics delivery', forming a concealed chain of tobacco-related crimes. "Virtual currency transactions do not have physical accounts, and transaction amounts cannot be directly used as judicial evidence, making evidence collection and verification far more complex than traditional cases," admitted Li Jie, deputy head of the inspection team at the Liuzhou Tobacco Bureau. Although this was the first time handling a virtual currency transaction case, the Liuzhou Tobacco Bureau did not back down, focusing on 'anchoring evidence with on-chain data and judicial cooperation to achieve closure' and delivering a 'combination punch'.
Internally, the organization trained case handlers on the handling process of such cases and evidence fixation techniques to ensure that each evidence collection step was 'procedurally legal and evidentially conclusive'; externally, a joint meeting was held with relevant public security departments to clarify the standards for virtual currency value accounting, legal application, and other issues. With multi-department collaboration, after more than three months of meticulous investigation, the evidence chains regarding involved funding flows, logistics, and personnel relationships were fixed, and the timing for netting was ripe.
On January 1 of this year, the special investigation team arrested 12 local suspects involved in the Liuzhou case and seized 84,400 illegal cigarettes, with a transaction volume reaching 28,625 'Tether'. In the interrogation room, the suspect Huang regretted: "I thought using virtual currency would be seamless, but I didn't expect to be exposed so quickly." The evidence collection process of this case was legal, and the evidence content was conclusive, receiving high recognition from the procuratorial organs, achieving a 'breakthrough' in combating illegal crimes involving virtual currency and tobacco. From the abnormal jumps of virtual currency in the 'dark web' to accurately locking funds and logistics; from the fog of transaction data on the Tron chain to the clear presentation of fund penetration paths; from hidden addresses to accurately identifying real individuals...
In this silent 'chain network' tracking battle, every step is a confrontation between technologies. 'Smart regulation' ripped through the layers of disguise surrounding virtual currency crimes, demonstrating the powerful effectiveness of new quality combat capability. Technological iteration enables adaptability to change. Even in the hidden corners of the virtual world, monopoly regulation will not be 'absent'.
Technological iteration is changing daily. "Extraordinary and new breakthroughs are the themes of this year's tobacco monopoly regulation work. We will continue to actively explore and promote the deep integration and innovative application of digital technology with monopoly regulation and anti-counterfeiting and anti-smuggling efforts, continuously upgrading and iterating technical strategies to fully enhance the efficiency of monopoly regulation work," said the main person in charge of the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region Tobacco Monopoly Bureau.#内容挖矿 $BTC
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