Lawyer Guo Zhihao: Attention! Virtual currency quantitative arbitrage, suspected of "assisting trust crime" has been investigated in large numbers

Recently, all major blockchain media have been flooded with news about a case in which the Honghu Public Security Bureau in Hubei Province uncovered a case of assisting information network criminal activities by using BTC to "launder money" on exchanges.

In particular, a group of quantitative traders are asking Lawyer Guo if they can continue to trade in the future. In response to this question, Lawyer Guo made five points of analysis (the last point is the core content).

1. 2021 is the first year that people were convicted of aiding and abetting a crime for moving bricks

The crime of aiding and abetting actually existed as early as the promulgation of the "Criminal Law Amendment No. 9" in 2015. However, according to incomplete statistics from Lawyer Guo, as of now, the courts have published 16 cases of suspected aiding and abetting crimes due to BTC arbitrage, including 6 cases in Henan Province, 4 cases in Guangxi Province, and 1-2 cases in other provinces. Among them, there were 4 cases in 2020, and the other 12 cases were all concentrated in the first half of 2021.

From this, we can conclude that the crime of aiding and abetting trust is beginning to spread to cases in the blockchain field.

2. What is the crime of aiding others?

According to Article 287-2 of the Criminal Law: "If a person knowingly provides Internet access, server hosting, network storage, communication transmission and other technical support, or provides advertising promotion, payment settlement and other assistance to others for committing crimes through information networks, and the circumstances are serious, he shall be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of not more than three years or criminal detention, and shall also be fined or fined alone."

3. Will moving bricks definitely lead to the crime of aiding and abetting?

Arbitrage itself does not involve the crime of aiding and abetting. According to the existing cases, an important prerequisite for the crime of aiding and abetting is that the suspect knows that the counterparty is a criminal and the BTC or funds traded are illegal gains. So how to judge the standard of "knowingly"?

According to Article 11 of the Interpretation of the Supreme People's Court and the Supreme People's Procuratorate on Several Issues Concerning the Application of Law in Handling Criminal Cases Such as Illegal Use of Information Networks and Assistance in Information Network Criminal Activities, "If a person provides technical support or assistance to others in committing a crime, and has any of the following circumstances, it can be determined that the person knew that others were using information networks to commit crimes, unless there is evidence to the contrary:

(1) continuing to carry out the relevant conduct after being informed by the regulatory authorities;

(2) Failure to perform statutory management duties after receiving a report;

(3) The transaction price or method is obviously abnormal;

(4) Providing programs, tools, or other technical support or assistance specifically used to commit crimes;

(5) Frequently using covert Internet access, encrypted communications, data destruction, or using false identities to evade supervision or circumvent investigation;

(6) Providing technical support or assistance to others to evade supervision or circumvent investigation;

(VII) Other circumstances sufficient to prove that the perpetrator was aware of the act.

From the above regulations, it can be seen that there are still many legal reasons for knowing whether it is a platform or a brick-moving party. Therefore, if you brick-moving parties do not want to be implicated in the crime of aiding and abetting, the most effective way is to stay away from "unknown funds and unknown BTC". If the source of funds is not clearly identified, then after receiving any form of reminder, the transaction with the counterparty should be immediately cut off. Do not lose your way for the sake of immediate interests.

4. Will you be suspected of aiding and abetting a crime if you do arbitrage in mainstream exchanges such as Huobi?

The answer is "yes". If you don't believe it, you can refer to the judgment of Hunan Province (2021) Xiang 0481 Criminal First Instance No. 107. The party conducted the transaction on Huobi.com. He was still sentenced to the crime of aiding and abetting. Therefore, the focus of the crime of aiding and abetting is not the size of the platform you are on, but whether you know that it is "problematic funds" as mentioned by Lawyer Guo in the previous article.

5. What should I do if I am mistakenly identified as a suspect of aiding and abetting a crime?

The simplest way is to provide evidence to prove that you did not "know" that the counterparty was a criminal or that the transaction funds were obtained illegally. For example, it was your first time trading with the counterparty. If you do not have evidence, you need to see whether the evidence in the hands of the prosecutor is sufficient to prove that you "knew".

Finally, Lawyer Guo wants to say: Under the double blow of the central bank's comprehensive ban on OTC and the public security, procuratorial and judicial organs' aiding and abetting of trust crimes, either the cards will be frozen or people will be arrested. Brick-moving parties should carefully consider what to do next.

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