The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) Central Committee expelled a top municipal official after investigations revealed illegal involvement in crypto mining operations, among much other corruption and abuse.
Xiao’s dismissal was specifically correlated to his role in trying to introduce and assist businesses to engage in cryptocurrency mining operations. Furthermore, the Chinese communist party found Xiao guilty of violating his position to facilitate illegal revenue activities such as raising funds for development and building and accepting bribes. The following is from a translated version of the CCDI report:
Xiao Yi seriously violated the party’s political discipline, organizational discipline, integrity discipline, work discipline, and life discipline, and constituted a serious job violation and was suspected of taking bribes and abusing power.
The Central Commission for Discipline Inspection (CCDI) charged Xiao Yi, former vice-chairman of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference from Jiangxi province, with abusing his state-backed official authority in order to weaken the democratic principle of “two maintenance,” which refers to the CCP’s notion of solidly preserving the group’s authority:
[Xiao Yi] violated the new development concept, abused power to introduce and support enterprises to engage in virtual currency “mining” activities that do not meet the requirements of the national industrial policy.
As a consequence, Xiao Yi was fired from his role as a Chinese government employee, and his estate and criminal earnings were seized for investigating and prosecuting. In similar efforts, China’s biggest in-house crypto exchange, Huobi, has also acquired new licenses in Gibraltar.
The Gibraltar Financial Services Commission authorized the Chinese exchange to begin moving its spot-trading operations to affiliate Huobi Technology (Gibraltar) Co. According to Jun Du, CEO of Huobi Group:
The latest virtual currency prohibition in China has compelled the thriving virtual currency community — such as Bitcoin (BTC), crypto prospectors, and exchanges — to relocate to nations with crypto-friendly laws.
“The worldwide cryptocurrency sector is moving toward regulated growth. […] The business must recognize the significance of aligning its activities with the trend.”