A court in China has handed a life sentence to Yi Xiao, a former member of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), for corruption charges, including facilitating crypto mining operations. Xiao was vice chairman of the Jiangxi provincial committee of the People’s Political Consultative Conference.
The court also found Xiao guilty of power abuse. He has been convicted of accepting more than 125 million yuan ($17.1 million) in bribes between 2008 and 2021. Moreover, during his time as the party secretary of Fuzhou City, Xiao helped companies that were engaging in crypto mining. Crypto mining is a banned activity in China. As per the court, Xiao’s actions led to “significant losses to public property, national and people’s interests.”
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As a result of his actions, Xiao was sentenced to life in prison. Xiao also lost all political rights for life and had all his personal property confiscated.
China’s relationship with crypto
China has always had a rough relationship with crypto. The country banned banks from conducting crypto transactions way back in 2013. In 2017, the country banned ICOs (Initial Coin Offerings). The aim was to help the yuan and stop funds from moving out of the country illegally. In 2019, the country shifted its attention to Bitcoin (BTC) mining. The National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) called BTC mining “undesirable.”
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In 2020, the country ramped up its efforts to tighten its grip on the budding industry. In August 2020, the People’s Bank of China (PBoC) revealed that it wanted to block over 100 foreign websites that offered crypto exchange services.
However, it was in 2021 that the Chinese ban on crypto mining took full effect. Prior to that, Inner Mongolia, Xinjiang, and Sichuan provinces were all major Bitcoin (BTC) mining hubs. The country was home to almost 50% of the global BTC mining power. The final blow came in September 2021, when the country decided to ban crypto mining altogether.