Review of Cryptocurrency Related Policies in Mainland China for 2024

December: Central Bank Pays Attention to Global Crypto Assets Development

In December 2024, the People's Bank of China released the "2024 China Financial Stability Report," which for the first time mentioned the latest developments in global Crypto Assets and related legislation. The report focused on the recovery of the Crypto Assets market and global development trends, and elaborated on Hong Kong's practices in the field of Crypto Assets. Furthermore, the report repeatedly referred to the central bank's attention to global stablecoins and objectively evaluated the legislative practices of various countries and government organizations regarding the regulation of Crypto Assets.

In the same month, some users discovered that the Alipay homepage featured advertisements promoting Crypto Assets funds, which attracted attention. The advertisement highlighted "global investment, starting from 10 yuan" as a selling point, promoting the Huabao Overseas Technology C Fund, which indirectly associates with Crypto Assets through investments in specific ETFs.

November: Senior Officials Investigated for Issues Related to Virtual Currency

In November, Yao Qian, the former director of the Technology Supervision Department of the China Securities Regulatory Commission, was expelled from the Party and public office for serious disciplinary violations and was handed over to judicial authorities for processing. Yao Qian was accused of abusing his power for personal gain, engaging in power-for-money transactions using virtual currencies, and involving multiple disciplinary violations. As an early participant in central bank digital currency, Yao Qian was deeply involved in research on financial technology and Crypto Assets.

At the same time, the Shanghai High People's Court published an article clarifying its legal stance on the holding of virtual currencies. The article stated that while individuals holding virtual currencies do not violate the law, activities related to virtual currencies are subject to strict restrictions, and there is a continued crackdown on speculative trading behaviors involving virtual currencies.

October: The First Web 3.0 Innovation Competition Linking Mainland and Hong Kong is Launched

On October 30, 2024, the 2024 Web3.0 Innovation Competition officially launched in the Xuhui District of Shanghai. This is the first blockchain competition that coordinates collaboration between the mainland and Hong Kong, focusing on key technologies such as blockchain and artificial intelligence, aiming to promote deep cooperation in innovation between Shanghai and Hong Kong. The competition promotes Web3.0 technological innovation and industrial ecosystem development through a global platform, empowering technological breakthroughs and application scenarios in the blockchain industry, and helping Shanghai enhance its industrial competitiveness and influence.

September: Call for Regulation of Virtual Currency Judicial Disposal

On September 3, 2024, an article published in the China Court Newspaper pointed out that the judicial disposal of virtual currencies faces challenges such as ownership identification, value assessment, and legal realization. The article suggests the introduction of comprehensive guiding opinions to clarify the legal status, compliance requirements, and disposal procedures of virtual currencies, in order to ensure a transparent, fair, and secure market environment. It also emphasizes the importance of cross-border regulatory cooperation to promote the healthy development of the digital economy.

On September 28, former Vice Minister of Finance Zhu Guangyao delivered a speech at the Tsinghua Wudaokou Forum, emphasizing that the digital economy is key to global development, especially against the backdrop of the AI-driven Fourth Industrial Revolution. He pointed out that Crypto Assets are crucial for the development of the digital economy and called for China to face the relevant issues directly and actively participate in the global development of digital currency.

August: Virtual Assets Included in Judicial Interpretation of Money Laundering Criminal Cases

On August 19, the Supreme People's Court and the Supreme People's Procuratorate jointly issued the "Interpretation on Several Issues Concerning the Application of Law in Handling Money Laundering Criminal Cases", which for the first time explicitly includes "virtual assets" transactions as a method of money laundering. The interpretation stipulates that transferring or converting criminal proceeds and their gains through virtual asset transactions or financial asset exchanges can be recognized as "concealing or disguising the source and nature of criminal proceeds and their gains" as stipulated by the criminal law.

In the same month, a blockchain company partnered with a certain group to launch the country's first Renewable Energy Charging Pile RWA project, completing a financing of 100 million yuan, opening up a new compliant path for the integration of traditional assets and the digital economy.

June: Shanghai Releases Web3.0 Industry Report

The "2024 Shanghai Web3.0 Innovation Ecosystem Construction Research Report" has been released, pointing out that Web3.0 is crucial for the information technology industry, and RWA (Real World Asset Tokenization) will become a future development trend. The report shows that with the maturity of policies and technology, global financial institutions are gradually accepting Web3.0 assets and technology. Shanghai has advantages in the development of the Web3.0 industry and plans to promote the construction of the Web3.0 ecosystem through policy support and innovative construction.

February: Progress of the Virtual Currency Pyramid Scheme Case

The Yuanshan District Public Security Bureau continues to promote the "Fox Hunting" special operation, successfully persuading two economic crime suspects to return. In 2022, the bureau cracked a pyramid scheme case involving a virtual currency platform with an amount of 2 billion yuan. After extensive investigations and inter-regional cooperation, the return measures ultimately prompted the two fugitives to surrender themselves. The case is still under further investigation.

January: Seven Departments Jointly Promote Innovative Development of Future Industries

The Ministry of Industry and Information Technology and six other departments jointly issued the "Implementation Opinions on Promoting the Innovative Development of Future Industries," emphasizing the exploration of blockchain as the core technology and data as the key element, to build the next generation of internet innovation applications and digital ecology. The opinions encourage accelerating software product research and development aimed at new generation mobile information networks, brain-like intelligence, and other fields, promoting the demonstration application of new products and stimulating the potential of information services.