Life Imprisonment for Chinese Miner

Chinese official gets life imprisonment for Bitcoin mining and corruption Xiao Yi ran an illegal $329 million Bitcoin mining business.

A Chinese government worker named Xiao Yi has been given life in prison. He was involved in running a big Bitcoin mining company worth $329 million and did other corrupt actions.

Local news said that Xiao Yi, who used to be a big leader in the Jiangxi province, was sent to prison on Aug. 22 for corruption and misusing his power.

He took bribes from 2008 to 2021. Between 2017 and 2021, he helped a company in Fuzhou, called Jiumu Group Genesis Technology, by giving them money and cheaper electricity. This company had over 160,000 Bitcoin mining machines.

The court learned that Yi hid the true nature of this mining work. He told departments to change their records and showed that the company used less electricity than it really did. From 2017 to 2020, Jiumu used a big part (10%) of Fuzhou's electricity. But later, Yi admitted his mistakes, gave back the stolen money, and the court took away his bribes and their profits.

Now, in China, people cannot trade, buy or sell cryptocurrencies. But they can still own them. Recently, a Chinese court said that a Bitcoin deal worth $10 million was not allowed because of China's rules against Bitcoin. Another person in China was put in jail for nine months because he made $20 by helping someone buy a cryptocurrency called Tether.