63 people arrested by Chinese police for laundering $1.7B through crypto

A gang of 63 people were arrested by Chinese police for allegedly laundering as much as 12B yuan (US$1.7B) using cryptocurrency in the wake of Beijing's crypto crackdown, according to a recent statement by the Public Security Bureau of Inner Mongolia’s Tongliao. The criminal group, starting from May 2021, allegedly used the proceeds from pyramid schemes, fraud and gambling, Chinese authorities said. They then converted those funds into tether ( USDT-USD ), a stablecoin pegged to the U.S. dollar. Moreover, the gang recruited people around the country to open crypto accounts in an effort to help launder the funds. Those people, in turn, would receive a commission based on how much they laundered, the statement read. About 130M yuan of illegal income have been confiscated from the gang. Major cryptos such as bitcoin ( BTC-USD ), -1% , and ethereum ( ETH-USD ), -1.7% , fell slightly in afternoon trading. The huge money laundering case in China adds to a growing list of illicit crypto-related activities that have been flagged by regulators in recent months. For instance, two Estonians were charged last month for allegedly running a $575M crypto fraud.