Fri. Mar 29th, 2024

The Chinese police have frozen thousands of bank accounts connected to cryptocurrency traders as it suspects illicit activities on the part of the traders.

China’s Police Freezes Crypto Bank Accounts

Several thousands of bank accounts held by cryptocurrency traders in China have reportedly been frozen by the country’s police force. This comes as a result of an extensive crackdown on illicit activities in the country. However, the frozen accounts are not necessarily involved in wrongdoing, and if that is ascertained by the police, the said accounts will be unfrozen.

Chinese publication 8btc reported on Monday, May 8, that the police in China’s Guangdong province froze bank accounts of OTC cryptocurrency sellers and buyers in the country. The publication revealed that the police department has frozen about 4,000 such bank accounts since June 4, as they suspect some of them are involved in illegal activities, such as money laundering.

Authorities in China have been increasing their efforts in cracking down on crimes, such as telecom fraud, cryptocurrency scams, and gambling. This effort is the reason why the bank accounts of the cryptocurrency market participants have been frozen. Interestingly, some of the frozen accounts have not seen any trading activities for months. The authorities also revealed that Tether (USDT) is the most used cryptocurrency for illicit activities. To help understand how cryptocurrency trading works and to combat cryptocurrency scams, the police officers are learning about on-chain analysis and blockchain technology.

Better Safe Than Sorry

Despite the accounts being frozen, they are not necessarily involved in any wrongdoing. The authorities revealed that the accounts that are not involved in anything illegal, will be unfrozen once an investigation confirms the position. One investor reported that his bank account was frozen immediately after using the yuan currency to purchase cryptocurrency on a major cryptocurrency exchange last week.

The authorities have been cracking down on cryptocurrency scams lately. This comes after a major scam, involving using cryptocurrencies for money laundering, was busted. The police department in Guangzhou, a city in Guangdong province, revealed that the scammers created a fake Huobi website, which was used to defraud investors and they then moved the illegally obtained funds to an overseas account.

The People’s Bank of China (PBOC), which is the apex bank in China, has been boosting its effort in cracking down money-laundering operations in the Asian country. The publication highlighted that several cryptocurrency startups operating in China had been investigated by local police and bureaus. Since the apex bank shut down cryptocurrency exchange operations in September 2017, Chinese residents have resorted to using peer-to-peer OTC (over the counter) trading to exchange between the yuan and cryptocurrencies.

Despite the crackdown on cryptocurrency companies in China, cryptos are legal in the country as various Chinese courts have ruled in favor of this. According to the ruling of the Shanghai No.1 Intermediate People’s Court, Bitcoin is an asset that is protected by the law. The Shenzhen Futian District People’s Court also ruled that ETH is a legal property in the country and has economic value. Furthermore, China passed its Civil Code regulation in May, protecting cryptocurrency inheritance in the country.

By Dov Herman

Dov is a Blockchain and Forex trading enthusiast, who spends most of his time trading and examining software who are related to cryptocurrencies and forex trading. You can follow on Dov’s reviews and articles here on TrustedBrokerz and across the web.