China’s Supreme Court Declares Crypto Fundraising Is Illegal

China’s Supreme Court adds fuel to the fire after the Russian military attacks on Ukraine slipped the crypto market cap to 1.5 trillion.

The court declares crypto-fundraising illegal and determines jail time and fines for suspected persons.

To be clear, the new bill announced on Thursday is an amendment to previous legislative documents regarding cryptocurrency transactions, and it will come into force by 1st March.

Related Reading | Why Are The Chinese Wealthy Infatuated With CryptoPunks?

In this ruling, one of the amendments in section no. 8 of Article 2 identifies “illegal fundraising by way of online lending, investment in shares, [and] virtual currency transactions.”

China’s apex court has decided to ramp up its efforts to get rid of cryptocurrencies. Similarly, law changing paves the way for authorities to file a case and charge fines to offenders.

According to the court ruling, suspected of illegal fundraising will face prosecution per the country’s criminal law, Article 176. That means individuals involved in illegally handling public funds will face 3 to 10 years of jail time and penalties between 50,000 Yuan to 500,000 Yuan (7,900$ to 79,000$).

Persons involved in operating smaller amounts will face up to 3 years in prisons while the fines implied on them range between 20,000 Yuan to 200,000 Yuan (respectively $31,65 to $31,658).

China’s Regulators Tussle With Crypto Continues

China’s crackdown on crypto is not new. China had already banned crypto trading and mining since 2017, and recent amendments give powers to law firms to officially sentence criminals.

In September 2021, the People’s Bank of China and other significant agencies also said cryptocurrency transactions were illegal fundraising. While the latest ruling has made it a crime and issued penalties and jail time for those charged for illegally raising funds.

Similarly, China’s State Council ordered securities to start a crackdown on crypto trading and mining in May 2021. As a result, it led many crypto companies and mining firms to migrate. At the same time, the Bitcoin value slipped under 30K as a part of the market was severely affected.

NFT Fever 

Besides the strict policies of regulators that have been long attempting to ban crypto altogether, the NFT hype in China is not neglectable. Many tech firms from China have been entering the NFT space for some time now, and the interest rate has risen since giant companies such as Tencent have joined the market.

Moreover, the China-backed Blockchain Service (BSN) recently announced its plans to build a platform that typically supports NFTs. The upcoming platform aims to set a place for coders with the provision of programming interfaces to build NFTs regarding apps and manage users’ portals.

Related Reading | China’s State-Backed Blockchain Services Provider BSN to Integrate Findora

Notably, the project will have nothing to do with cryptocurrencies. Unlike the traditional market using digital assets, the BSN’s new platform will only allow the Chinese Yuan to pay for services and purchases.

Featured image from Pixabay and chart from TradingView.com