China’s top judicial bodies, the Supreme People’s Court and the Supreme People’s Procuratorate, jointly issued a new judicial interpretation today, specifically targeting money laundering activities involving virtual assets.
The “Interpretation on Several Issues Concerning the Application of Laws in Handling Criminal Cases of Money Laundering,” effective August 20th, 2024, explicitly lists virtual asset transactions as a method of money laundering. This landmark move underscores China’s commitment to combatting financial crimes in the rapidly evolving digital landscape.
The Interpretation clarifies that the transfer and conversion of criminal proceeds through virtual asset transactions and financial asset exchanges can now be legally recognized as attempts to “cover up and conceal the source and nature of criminal proceeds and their proceeds.” This directly addresses a key challenge in tracing illicit funds within the often-anonymous realm of virtual currencies.
This development is expected to have significant implications for the cryptocurrency industry in China, where regulatory scrutiny has intensified in recent years.
