Chinese Decision Calls for Anti-Corruption Drive Targeting Virtual Currencies and Blockchain
Key Facts
The Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party adopted a decision on October 29 calling for the fight against corruption conducted through the internet, virtual currencies, cross-border funds and blockchain, broadening the range of tools covered by the party’s disciplinary campaign. The decision followed the fifth plenum of the 20th Central Committee, held in Beijing from October 26 to 29. CoinDesk cited the text as calling to “resolutely combat corruption through the internet, virtual currencies, cross-border funds, blockchain and so on.” The text places these methods in the context of combating institutional corruption and does not announce new rules for digital asset markets. Reuters said the document sets out an updated framework for the party’s disciplinary and anti-corruption campaign, which has been underway for more than a decade.
The decision does not mention Bitcoin by name and does not address cryptocurrency trading, mining or stablecoins, according to CoinDesk. The text focuses on the use of various tools and technologies to commit corruption, rather than regulating the digital asset sector itself. It also calls for deeper scrutiny of new and concealed forms of corruption, including expected gains and agreed holdings of shares through proxies, as well as what it calls “white gloves” and a “revolving door” between government and business. This points to a broader scope for party oversight, encompassing officials’ links to commercial interests and methods of concealing benefits. The document places virtual currencies and blockchain alongside other channels that may be used in such practices.
The oversight measures reported by Reuters include closer monitoring of officials throughout their careers and reviews of their personal disclosures. They also include investigations when family assets or spending are inconsistent with lawful income, along with routine scrutiny of family members’ business activities. This approach reflects the decision’s focus on how officials’ financial and family interests are monitored, not only on digital transactions. The inclusion of virtual currencies, cross-border funds and blockchain among the methods the text calls on authorities to combat comes within this broader framework. The document links the fight against corruption to stronger internal discipline and oversight of officials’ conduct.
The reference to virtual currencies comes against the backdrop of China’s existing policy toward activities in the sector: on September 15, 2021, government agencies deemed commercial activities related to virtual currencies to be illegal financial activities and banned a number of trading and brokerage services. However, the current decision, as reported by CoinDesk, does not name Bitcoin or set new rules for trading, mining or stablecoins. Its focus remains on corruption that may use digital or cross-border financial methods, within the party’s disciplinary policy. The earlier regulatory context provides background for the focus on virtual currencies, but does not turn the decision into a new announcement of a trading ban. The document also covers traditional forms of conflicts of interest and concealment of benefits alongside technological methods.
The document comes amid a broad anti-corruption campaign launched in 2012; a Chinese official said inspection and discipline agencies had recorded 8.105 million cases and punished 7.922 million people since that year. In 2025 alone, 627,000 people were punished in cases of misconduct and corruption affecting residents’ direct interests, and authorities opened more than 500 cross-border corruption cases. Officials also said that 115 officials at ministerial level or above were placed under investigation in 2025. The plenum in October approved the expulsion of more than 30 senior officials from the party, according to the Associated Press. These figures show the scale of the disciplinary campaign for which the decision provides an updated framework.
The decision set the 21st National Congress of the Communist Party to convene in Beijing in the second half of 2027. This timetable places implementation of the disciplinary and anti-corruption framework within the political run-up to the next congress. Oversight of officials, their disclosures and their families’ assets is also part of the measures Reuters reported in connection with the decision. Combating cross-border corruption and the use of virtual currencies and blockchain also fall within the scope of work set out in the text. According to the published details, the decision does not announce a new timetable for regulating cryptocurrency trading or mining before then.