Chinese police say cryptocurrency being used to launder drug money

Cryptocurrencies were listed for the first time as a means to launder and transfer money related to the drug trade by the China Ministry of Public Security on Thursday. See related article: China explores ways to classify cryptocurrency crimes. According to the China Drug Crime Report 2021, police solved 5,000 drug trafficking cases involving online transactions last year, or about 9.2% of all the drug-related cases. "The circulation of drug funds has expanded from online bank transfers to cryptocurrency and in-game currency," the report said. In mid-2020, the Hangzhou Intermediate People's Court published a verdict that an executive with a Chinese e-commerce platform used Bitcoin to buy methamphetamine on the dark web in 2018, according to a Chinese media report. A research report in January showed that despite China's ban on cryptocurrencies, 5,137 criminal cases involving crypto were registered in 2021. See related article: The SEC is building a SWAT team to combat crypto crime.