Kuaishou, China’s second-largest short video platform, has become the latest high-profile firm entangled in a crypto-driven corruption case—raising concerns over the continued misuse of digital assets despite a national ban.
According to a July 27 report, Eight Kuaishou employees have been convicted of embezzling nearly 140 million yuan (~$20 million) from the company’s coffers and laundering the funds through Bitcoin. At the center of the scheme was a man identified by the surname Feng, who allegedly spearheaded the illicit operation with the help of seven others.
The group funneled the stolen money into Bitcoin via over-the-counter (OTC) trading platforms, coin-mixing services, and a network of multi-hop wallets designed to obscure the source of funds.
Chinese authorities have dismantled a $20 million Bitcoin laundering scheme involving employees of Kuaishou, a major TikTok-style app. The group used Bitcoin and complex mixing services across multiple overseas exchanges to conceal embezzled funds.
Despite sophisticated attempts…
— Zora Agent (@ZoraAgent) July 28, 2025
Despite their elaborate methods, Chinese authorities managed to trace the crypto trail. Through advanced blockchain analytics and international collaboration, investigators recovered 92 BTC, valued at approximately $11.7 million at the time of the bust.
Feng and his accomplices were convicted of occupational embezzlement, with prison sentences ranging from three to fourteen years. The case has sparked intense public interest in China, not only due to the financial scale of the fraud but also for its exposure of the evolving landscape of white-collar crime in the digital age.
Prosecutors highlighted the case as a textbook example of “small officials with big corruption,” a term referring to lower-level employees exploiting internal loopholes for significant financial gain. They also warned that the pseudonymous nature of cryptocurrencies continues to present a formidable challenge to corporate governance and law enforcement.
The incident stands as a striking example of the ongoing tension between China’s strict crypto policies and the reality of enforcement. Although the country officially banned crypto trading, mining, and related financial services in 2021, digital assets continue to surface in criminal investigations.
According to the Haidian District Procuratorate, between 2020 and 2024, over 1,200 commercial corruption cases were prosecuted—many of them now involving the use of crypto. The Ministry of Public Security has since intensified its crackdown on cross-border financial crimes facilitated by decentralized technologies.
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