China Urges Bribe Enforcement Involving Cryptocurrencies And Electronic Payments

China is starting to fight bribery using crypto. (photo: dock. pexels)

JAKARTA - The urge to crack down on bribes using cryptocurrencies and other forms of electronic payments has surfaced on China's Legal Daily website. The publication cited a number of law scholars participating in the annual meeting of the China Integrity and Legal Research Association, where penalties for the form of corruption are new topics.

The January 1 edition of Legal Daily, published by the Central Commission for Political and Legal Affairs of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), quoted professor of legal relations at Hebei University, Zhao Xuejun, as stating that virtual currencies and electronic gift cards have become "hidden channels" for bribes because digital cards and currencies are stored in "cold storage" devices that can be brought abroad for exchange.

Zhao melanjutkan bahwa CCP sedang melawan korupsi dengan "intensitas yang belum pernah terjadi sebelumnya."

Professor of Law at Wuhan University, Mo Hongxian, mentioned Bitcoin (BTC) and said that anonymity and difficulty tracking virtual currencies "provides natural comfort for illegal and criminal activities." Although not recognized in China, virtual currency transactions require legal attention, he added.

The article concludes: "We need to improve legal systems and regulations to punish a new type of corruption, expand the scope of bribery crimes [...] and strengthen surveillance information in areas where new types of corruption tend to occur."

This article comes less than a week after two state agencies - Supreme People's Procurate and State Administration of Foreign Exchange - issued warnings to officials regarding the use of stablecoin Tether (USDT) as intermediaries in foreign exchange transactions with yuan. Such transactions are considered illegal.

Despite the ban on cryptocurrencies, China has embraced blockchain technology for purposes such as identity verification. In addition, its central bank digital currency, e-CNY, although still in the testing phase, is already well developed. Despite its limited geographic distribution, digital yuan has been used in transactions worth nearly 250 billion US dollars (Rp 3,888 trillion) in China as of June 2023 and in international commodity sales