Cryptocurrency Crisis in China – State Secrets Allegedly Sold for Cryptocurrency

The Chinese government has sentenced a civil servant, identified only as Wang, to life in prison for espionage after he was found guilty of selling state secrets to a foreign agent.

According to authorities, Wang, who incurred significant debt due to cryptocurrency investment losses, received over 1 million yuan in “spy funds” through digital currency transactions in exchange for confidential information.

The case began when Wang, struggling financially, posted on an online forum looking for part-time work and discussed his role as a government official. Shortly thereafter, a foreign contact offered him a significant payment for confidential information about his unit’s production tasks and research progress. Lured by the promise of high compensation, Wang initially hesitated but eventually agreed to share limited information. Over time, he began to provide increasingly sensitive documents and information, lured by the high payments.

Chinese national security authorities discovered Wang’s activities and found that he transferred classified government documents and top-secret information in exchange for digital payments. After the investigation, the People’s Court sentenced Wang to life imprisonment and permanently deprived him of his political rights.

The incident also exposed serious deficiencies in Wang’s department’s security practices. While official protocol calls for strict processes for handling classified information, such as document tracking, registration and secure locations, authorities found significant oversight failures. Wang’s superior reportedly gave him classified documents without following proper procedures and allowed Wang to keep sensitive materials unsupervised. A subsequent search of Wang’s office found improperly stored documents.

*This is not investment advice.