TechFlow reports that on October 8, the WeChat account of the Jiangsu Provincial High Court released "Typical Cases of Jiangsu Court's Foreign-Related Commercial Adjudication in 2023," which includes a contract dispute case involving the "MFA blockchain project," reaffirming the invalidity of virtual currency transactions under China's legal framework. The case involves a cooperation agreement signed in November 2019 between two Chinese citizens, Tian某某 and Pan某某, to jointly operate the "MFA blockchain project."
Details of the case show that Pan某某 transferred a total of 15.74 million RMB to Tian某某 and a third party to purchase MFA virtual currency, while Tian某某 returned 10.6 million RMB to Pan某某. However, after MEXC (a Singapore-based trading platform) delisted the MFA/USDT spot trading pair in September 2020, the relevant virtual accounts were frozen, resulting in a total loss of investment.
In its second-instance ruling, the Jiangsu Provincial High People's Court stated that according to the notice issued in September 2021 by the People's Bank of China and nine other government departments, activities related to virtual currency fall under illegal financial activities and are strictly prohibited. The court emphasized that even if overseas virtual currency exchanges provide services via the internet to residents within mainland China, such activities are also considered illegal financial activities.
