CCP official pleads guilty to helping Bitcoin miners

Between 2017 and 2021, Xiao Yi, the Communist Party secretary of the City of Fuzhou, provided financial support to Bitcoin miners.

The charges faced

Xiao Yi, the former Communist Party secretary of the City of Fuzhou, pled guilty to corruption charges at the Zhejiang Hangzhou Intermediate People's Court, according to a report (1) presented by state-owned daily news program Xinwen Lianbo on December 29. Yi was charged with collecting over 125 million Chinese yuan ($18 million) in bribes for development initiatives and illegal promotions while serving as director from 2008 to 2021.

Yi pled guilty to the offenses listed above and charges relating to his commercial dealings with Bitcoin. From 2017 to 2021, miners. It's not clear if the charges were connected as a group. According to Xinwen Lianbo: From 2017 until 2021, Xiao Yi supported cryptocurrency mining businesses by offering subsidies, finance assistance, and electricity assurance. This support was part of his duties as the Communist Party Secretary of the City of Fuzhou. These actions violated national laws and the principle of New Development, caused significant damage to public property, and had unfavorable effects.

What will happen next?

Yi will be sentenced in the subsequent session when the court adjourns. The Chinese government outlawed all cryptocurrency mining on September 24, 2021, citing the necessity to meet "carbon neutrality" goals and "high energy expenses." The legislation prohibits access to power and financial markets for bitcoin miners and contains a general investment restriction.

However, Due to the decentralized and peer-to-peer nature of cryptocurrency mining, the restriction has proven challenging to execute. Despite the restriction, it announced in May 2022 that China had reclaimed its position as the second-largest Bitcoin mining center in the world. As an alternative to shutting off power in the case of discovery, the legislation permits local governments to levy a cryptocurrency mining tax of 0.30 yuan ($0.0431) per kilowatt-hour of electricity consumption.