Beijing court rejects monetary compensation in Bitcoin mining contract plea

Published at: Dec. 16, 2021

A district court in Beijing has rejected monetary compensation in a Bitcoin (BTC) mining contract plea against a blockchain company.

The Chaoyang District People’s Court on Wednesday deemed the Bitcoin mining contract between the plaintiff and the blockchain firm “invalid,” the South China Morning Post reported on Dec. 16. The plaintiff in the case reportedly paid 10 million yuan ($1.6 million) to the blockchain firm for deployment of mining machines, but incurred losses on his investment.

The Beiijng based plaintiff claimed he earned only 18.5 Bitcoin on his investment and demanded an additional 217.17 BTC in compensation for his losses. The court rejected the plea and also directed the Sichuan branch of the National Development and Reform Commission to look into any illegal mining going on in the province. 

China started its crypto mining crackdown last summer, which resulted in the migration of some of the biggest Bitcoin mining companies from the country. China’s Bitcoin hash rate share fell from over 60% to near zero in the aftermath of the mining crackdown. However, even after eradicating crypto mining almost completely, Beijing announced a massive policy drive against crypto trading and mining again in September, prohibiting even small-scale operations at home and banning all foreign crypto exchanges.

The Beijing-led crypto crackdown policies have only become stricter with time. Even though Chinese traders have found ways to bypass crypto trading bans on numerous occasions, crypto mining is almost extinct in mainland China.

The latest court case regarding a Bitcoin mining contract highlights China’s stand on crypto-related activities. It sends a clear message to the public that the judicial system won’t protect or recognize crypto-related cases.

Tags
Bitcoin
Regulation
Asia
China
Cryptocurrencies
Law
Court
Related Posts
New petition asks SEC chair nominee Gary Gensler to drop Ripple lawsuit
The Ripple community has launched a new petition to “stop the war” on XRP. Crypto & Policy founder Thomas Hodge has started a Change.org petition directed at Securities and Exchange Commission chair nominee Gary Gensler, asking him to end the SEC’s lawsuit against Ripple once he’s confirmed as chairman of the commission. Announcing the news Wednesday, Crypto & Policy called on Gensler to investigate the potential motives of former SEC chair Jay Clayton and his SEC Director of Corporate Finance William Hinman for “favoring” Bitcoin (BTC) and Ether (ETH) while harming XRP. The petition alleges that Clayton and Hinman could …
Bitcoin / April 8, 2021
Japanese Judge Upholds Charges Against Mt Gox’s Mark Karpeles
A Japanese judge ruled in support of data tampering charges moved against Mark Karpeles — the CEO of now-defunct crypto exchange, Mt. Gox. At the end of March, Karpeles appealed his conviction on charges of having tampered with financial record data to harm his clients. Now, local news outlet Nikkei reported on June 11 that Tokyo District Court Judge Mariko Goto decided to uphold the previous ruling. Karpeles sentenced to over 2 years in jail The previous ruling sentenced Karpeles to two and a half years in jail for tampering with Mt. Gox data for February-September 2013 and depositing $33.5 …
Bitcoin / June 11, 2020
Chinese Supreme Court Favors Strengthening Cryptocurrency Property Rights
The Chinese Supreme Court believes that cryptocurrency property rights should be strengthened. In a document published on July 22, China’s Supreme Court calls for strengthening the protection of property rights pertaining to — among other things — “digital currency, network virtual property, and data.” The official court opinion aims to “promote the improvement of a modern property rights system with clear ownership.” The document also mentions the intention to strike against the “use of public power to infringe private property rights, illegal seizure [...] and freezing of private enterprise property.“ Furthermore, the court’s statement calls for the punishment of all …
Blockchain / July 22, 2020
Possession of Bitcoin still legal in China despite the ban, lawyer says
Despite enforcing a major cryptocurrency ban one year ago, the Chinese government still protects local crypto investors as crypto is recognized as virtual property protected by the law. One of the world’s most hostile countries toward Bitcoin (BTC), China has not yet banned the possession of cryptocurrencies, according to David Lesperance, founder of Lesperance & Associates law firm. Crypto holders in China are protected by the law in case of theft, misappropriation or breach of a loan agreement, Lesperance told Cointelegraph. He emphasized that crypto exchanges are still banned in China. The lawyer referred to a recent Chinese court case …
Bitcoin / Sept. 16, 2022
DeFi and DEX volumes soar amid China’s crypto ban and US regulatory risk
Last week, China’s heavy-handed crackdown on crypto trading briefly sent shockwaves across the market as Bitcoin (BTC) and altcoin prices saw a sharp drop following the announcement, but as is the case with all things crypto-related, the market bounced back as resilient traders found other ways to participate in the market. Part of China’s goal in limiting citizens' ability to trade cryptocurrency seems focused on discouraging the use of cryptocurrencies and the growing decentralized finance (DeFi) ecosystem, but these maneuvers appear to be having the opposite effect, as the token price and protocol activity for projects like Uniswap and dYdX …
Decentralization / Sept. 30, 2021