According to Liao Jinrong, a senior official at the Ministry of Public Security China, illegal gambling operators use cryptocurrencies to facilitate the transfer of at least 1 trillion yuan ($145.5 billion) worth of funds from China into foreign casinos, every year, a local news source, SCMP reported today. The fact that these gambling gangs transferred funds in crypto, made it difficult for investigators in China to trace the source of the funds, Jinrong, said.
According to him, the Ministry worried that these gambling operators would conspire with “foreign powers against China,” which would disrupt China’s economic security. The official did not disclose the type of crypto used by these alleged operators, in the report.
Gambling and casinos are illegal in mainland China, and in August, China’s exchange regulator, the State Administration of Foreign Exchange (SAFE), planned to thoroughly oversee the foreign exchange market. SAFE also wanted to curb “underground banks” and cross-border gambling, which are considered as criminal activities in China.
So far, China’s laws have banned cryptocurrency trading and deemed ICOs as illegal activities. However, China’s central bank has been developing its own CBDC, the digital yuan, which has no official launch date yet.
