On 24 Feb. 2022, China’s Supreme People’s Court (SPC) issued the “Decision to Amend the Interpretation of China’s Supreme People’s Court on Several Issues Concerning Specific Application of Law in the Trial of Illegal Fund-raising Criminal Cases” (hereinafter “the Decision”, 关于修改<最高人民法院关于审理非法集资刑事案件具体应用法律若干问题的解释>的决定), which improves the standard of conviction and punishment of illegal absorption of public deposits and fund-raising frauds stipulated in the original judicial interpretation established in 2010.
It’s noteworthy that the Decision includes raising public money through virtual currency as illegal fund-raising.
It suggests that certain virtual currency-related transactions are criminalized and also, virtual currencies would be subject to stricter supervision in China.
The newly-amended interpretation is promulgated to tie in with the significant changes regarding illegal absorption of public deposits and fund-raising frauds made by the“Amendment (XI) to the Criminal Law of the People’s Republic of China” which came into effect on 1 March 2021.
After the original judicial interpretation was promulgated in 2010, for more than ten years, the means of illegal fundraising has developed from offline to online, and the target of absorbing funds has expanded from young and middle-aged groups with strong investment intention to elderly people with abundant savings and risk aversion.
Therefore, the SPC explicitly clarifies through this judicial interpretation that any person who conducts fundraising regarding online loans, virtual currency trading, and senior care services may commit a crime.
Cover Photo by Cexin Ding on Unsplash
Contributors: CJO Staff Contributors Team
