appConfigEntityId

bodyType

customContents

entityId

entityUuid

isVideo

articlePageQuery

article

articleSchemaContent

content

hooksArticlePageAdvertisementConfigArticle

hooksArticlePageFloatingButtonConfigArticle

appConfig

filter

json

liveArticle

Yuanyue Dang

Beijing has revealed how its graft-busters are investigating bribes paid in hard-to-trace cryptocurrencies by tracking the ways in which corrupt officials have been spending the proceeds.
A documentary shown on state broadcaster CCTV on Wednesday highlighted the case of Yao Qian, the former director of the digital currency institute at the People’s Bank of China.
Investigators became suspicious when Yao bought a villa in Beijing for more than 20 million yuan (around US$2.9 million) under the name of a family member.
They later concluded that he had been given 2,000 ether coins by the director of an unnamed digital currency firm he had helped to list on an exchange and had cashed in 370 of these digital tokens for 10 million yuan in 2021 – when the currency’s value peaked.
Investigators from the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection (CCDI) also found that he had been given a cash bribe of 12 million yuan by an unnamed information services company.
Yao, 56, led the team that developed the digital renminbi and also headed technology supervision at China’s securities regulator. The anti-corruption watchdog said he had used his influence within the crypto sector for his own gain.
Mainland China banned initial coin offerings in 2017, but a legal grey area meant that firms could continue to list on overseas exchanges.
Yao had tried to cover his tracks by using a “proxy account” to receive funds, investigators said, and had made four different blockchain transactions.
He was placed under investigation by the CCDI in April 2024 and expelled from the Communist Party in November that same year. He has also been convicted of undisclosed charges, but there is no official word about what sentence he has received.
According to the documentary, the investigation team attempted to reconstruct “the entire chain of transactions” for the virtual currency Yao had received.
They also seized three hardware wallets from Yao’s office that stored his cryptocurrency keys.
One of Yao’s subordinates, Jiang Guoqing, has also been placed under investigation. He told CCTV that he had helped Yao to evade scrutiny by providing a crypto wallet address to receive funds.
The CCTV documentary said that cryptocurrencies were “extremely difficult to regulate” because they existed as a “mere string of numbers online”.
But investigators told the programme that the details of blockchain transfers could be “accessed by anyone at any time” given the nature of blockchain and that any attempt to cash in these virtual currencies could be identified.
The investigation into Yao was a joint operation from the CCDI and disciplinary inspection personnel from Shanwei, a city in Guangdong province – a practice in line with China’s efforts to ensure that anti-corruption investigations are carried out impartially.
China was once the world’s largest cryptocurrency mining nation, but in September 2021, the authorities imposed a strict ban on virtual currency operations and banned Chinese citizens from trading on overseas exchanges.
Officials of Yao’s rank typically face strict restrictions on private overseas travel in an effort to prevent cross-border corruption and protect state secrets.
The documentary also featured the case of Li Yong, a former executive from the state-owned China National Offshore Oil Corporation who was jailed for 14 years for bribery last August.


The programme said 83 per cent of the bribes accepted by Li were from overseas, complicating the investigation, but added that Chinese law enforcement had worked with their international counterparts to obtain “crucial evidence” and establish “a complete chain of evidence both domestically and internationally”.
The episode also detailed how anti-corruption authorities in the eastern province of Zhejiang had been using big data and artificial intelligence to uncover corruption in the bidding process for municipal engineering projects.
Wednesday’s CCTV documentary coincided with the end of an annual CCDI meeting in Beijing, which called for “high-pressure deterrence” against corruption.
Its closing communique pledged to “intensify efforts to investigate cross-border corruption cases”.


People’s Daily rejects US claims of malicious AI distillation, warns of countermeasures

Will China’s new local surtax provide relief for its regions’ fiscal headaches?

Huawei’s US trial puts jury to the test amid China, Iran links

Beijing puts a total ban on drones in update to regulations after deadly tower crash

China’s Communist Party

How Chinese corruption busters are tracking down bribes paid in cryptocurrency

Yao Qian’s corruption case featured in a documentary broadcast on state television. Photo: Capco

China’s fight against corruption is a battle we can’t afford to lose, Xi Jinping warns

Chinese President Xi Jinping addresses the top anti-corruption watchdog. Photo: CCTV

China’s anti-corruption watchdog reveals how former banker fell in bribery scandal

Jiang Chaoliang is among the most prominent figures caught in the Communist Party’s decade-long anti-corruption campaign, which snared a record 65 high-ranking officials last year. Photo: CCTV

News

China

Politics

A documentary on state television highlights how a senior central bank official was bribed with a digital currency


A documentary on state television highlights how a senior central bank official was bribed with a digital currency.


How Chinese corruption busters are tracking down bribes paid in cryptocurrency

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}A documentary on state television highlights how a senior central bank official was bribed with a digital currency

A documentary on state television highlights how a senior central bank official was bribed with a digital currency