October 31, 2025
By Our Correspondent
A Beijing court has sentenced five individuals to prison terms ranging from two to four years for operating an illegal foreign-exchange network that moved more than $166 million through cryptocurrency channels.
Regulators described the case as one of China’s largest crypto-enabled financial crime convictions to date, underscoring authorities’ intensifying crackdown on digital-asset activity.
Details of the judgment were disclosed at the 2025 Financial Street Forum on October 28, highlighting Beijing’s growing sophistication in tracing and prosecuting cross-border crypto transactions amid broader warnings about stablecoins threatening global financial stability.
According to prosecutors, the group processed approximately 1.182 billion yuan ($166 million) between January and August 2023 by converting client funds into USDT stablecoins to facilitate illicit overseas transfers.
The Beijing Municipal People’s Procuratorate said the defendants used virtual currency as a “bridge” to disguise underground foreign-exchange dealings, with individual participants handling between 149 million and 469 million yuan.
Under the direction of unidentified superiors, ringleader Lin Jia coordinated the scheme alongside accomplices Lin Yi, Xia, Bao, and Chen. The group cycled funds through multiple personal bank accounts, purchased USDT across trading platforms, and executed cross-border transfers while profiting from each exchange.
