Authorities of the Chinese government have frozen the bank accounts of thousands of cryptocurrency traders who were suspected to be engaging in money laundering.
Chinese publication 8btc reported on Monday that about 4,000 such bank accounts have been frozen since June 4 on the suspicion of being involved in illicit activities, including money laundering.
The police in China’s Guangdong province have been freezing bank accounts of over-the-counter (OTC) cryptocurrency buyers and sellers in the country.
Chinese police have frozen some accounts without any trading activities for several months. According to the publication, the authority claims that tether (USDT) is frequently used in illicit activities.
News.bitcoin.com reports that the police are presently learning about blockchain and on-chain analysis to understand how to trace crypto assets, adding, ” One investor unexpectedly found that his bank account had been frozen after using yuan to buy cryptocurrency on a major crypto exchange a week ago, the news outlet conveyed.”
It added that recently, a major scam allegedly using cryptocurrencies for money laundering was busted. According to local police in Guangzhou, a city in Guangdong province, the scammers created a fake Huobi website to defraud investors and transferred illegally obtained money to an overseas account.
The frozen accounts could, however, be unfrozen if the authority eventually finds no evidence of illicit reactions against them.
China, however, maintained that cryptocurrencies are legal in the country as several Chinese courts have ruled.