China: 15 arrested over alleged online gambling network

The group allegedly built a platform named Biggame on the EOS blockchain network and earned nearly US$10m.

China.- Officers from Yancheng city in Jiangsu province have arrested 15 people for alleged involvement in an online gambling operation built on the EOS blockchain network.

According to media reports, the police started to investigate the business in October 2020 while analysing millions of transactions associated with a gambling platform called Big game.

Two months later, in December, police conducted raids in different cities and seized nearly US$3.8m in EOS and BTC digital currencies.

The police in Yancheng had previously targeted a business named PlusToken, seizing US$4.2bn in BTC, Ether and EOS virtual coins.

In 2020, the Chinese police investigated more than 17,000 cross-border gambling cases and arrested 110,000 people.

Earlier this year the Ministry of Culture and Tourism announced it was going to add new overseas gambling destinations to the country’s blacklist of destinations to which cross-border transfers are controlled.

China tests development of virtual yuan

China’s central bank is testing a virtual yuan, which would allow authorities to trace the movement of money as a way of fighting against money laundering and tax evasion.

Macau and Hong Kong have been selected by Chinese authorities to test the use of a virtual currency.

The news alerted junket operators as the new implementation could render them unnecessary since a virtual currency could aid the flow of money for mass and premium mass play.