A Chinese government official has been sentenced to life in prison for running a $329 million Bitcoin mining enterprise and unrelated charges of corruption. Xiao Yi, a former member of the Jiangxi Provincial Political Consultative Conference Party Group and Vice Chairman, was found guilty of bribery from 2008 to 2021 and abuse of power from 2017 to 2021. Yi provided financial and electricity subsidies to Jiumu Group Genesis Technology, a firm based in the City of Fuzhou that operated more than 160,000 Bitcoin mining machines.Yi was found guilty of covering up the mining operation by instructing relevant departments to fabricate statistical reports and adjust the classification of electricity consumption. From 2017 to 2020, Jiumu’s electricity consumption accounted for 10% of Fuzhou’s total electricity consumption. The ruling magistrate of the Hangzhou People’s Court noted that Yi pleaded guilty and repented, and all the bribes and their profits have been seized.Currently, China bans all forms of cryptocurrency transactions, exchange operations, and fiat-to-crypto onboarding but has stopped short of prohibiting outright ownership. In an Aug. 3 decision, a Chinese court ruled that a $10 million Bitcoin lending contract was invalid based on the country’s Bitcoin ban with no possibility of legal debt recovery. On Aug. 14, a Chinese national was sentenced to nine months in prison for helping an acquaintance purchase Tether, profiting $20 from the transaction.

Information	Details
Geography	Asia
Countries	🇨🇳
Sentiment	negative
Relevance Score	9
People	Xiao Yi, Hangzhou People’s Court, Chinese National
Currencies	Chinese Yuan, Bitcoin, Tether, USDT, Ethereum
Securities	None