Chinese police recover USD 160M in break-up of international crypto gambling ring

After a two-year investigation, Chinese authorities have recovered USD 160M worth of crypto in an operation in Hubei Province; the recovered crypto has a turnover value of USD 56B. Authorities say that the recovered crypto is just the first of many.

By the ACN Newsdesk with insights from other media organizations

The People’s Republic of China has outlawed gambling since 1949. The main suspect of the organized gambling ring, Qiu Moumou, and accomplices will now face trial in the People’s Court of Shayang County, Hubei Province.
“Preliminary investigation of this online gambling case: the server was set up overseas, the method of fund laundering used the most difficult virtual currency, and the main backbone of the case may be overseas,” Chinese authorities said.
The case came to light when Xiong Xong, a citizen from Shayang County, Hubei Province, reported his involvement in mobile phone gambling to the Jishan police station on July 28, 2021. What began as innocent mobile gaming took a dark turn as Xiong witnessed his colleagues amassing significant sums of money.

Intrigued, Xong downloaded the game app and started winning thousands of yuan. However, his fortunes reversed as his bets increased, resulting in losses exceeding 100,000 yuan ($14,000 USD).

During their investigations, Chinese police discovered an extensive international crime organization that used cryptocurrency to conceal its behavior.
Chinese authorities made cryptocurrency trading illegal in September 2021, having initially banned it in 2019, however, many Chinese still use crypto currency. China is still the second biggest crypto nation in the world, with 58M users.
Hong Kong, on the other hand, has been making headways with its recent developments on allowing crypto businesses in the city. Even international bank HSBC has recently rolled out crypto services..
In addition, Hong Kong’s Securities Future Commission (SFT) has also outlined guidelines for crypto trading.. These developments have gained the

tacit approval of Beijing.

This story was written with insights from Asia Gaming Brief and beincrypto.com. To read their reports of the seizure, visit: style=”color: #f7931d; ” https://agbrief.com/news/china/19/07/2023/chinese-authorities-break-up-160-million-cryptocurrency-gambling-ring/ or https://beincrypto.com/chinese-police-crypto-cross-border-gambling-ring/