A group of suspected money launderers has been arrested in the Chinese province of Fujian, local media report. They are suspected of offering illegal payment services for overseas gambling, internet fraud and other “criminal activities”.
Authorities speak of a “huge extent”. Specifically, 200 million yuan (almost 2.8 million US dollars) were laundered in 13 provinces of the country. What is special: The perpetrators used the national CBDC, the E-Yuan, for their operations.
The digital central bank currency is one of Beijing’s prestige projects, which China is taking a leading role in shaping. After testing at the Winter Olympics, the Southeast Asian country is testing the e-yuan in four more provinces. In general, citizens should be able to process payments more efficiently with the central bank currency. The People’s Bank of China has an overview of all transactions.