According to TechFlow, on October 8, the Jiangsu High Court’s official account released (Typical Cases of Foreign-Related Commercial Trials in Jiangsu Courts in 2023), which disclosed a contract dispute case involving the “MFA Blockchain Project” and once again clarified the invalidity of virtual currency transactions under the Chinese legal framework. The case involved a cooperation agreement signed by two Chinese citizens, Tian and Pan, in November 2019, agreeing to jointly operate the “MFA Blockchain Project”.
The case details show that Pan transferred a total of RMB 15.74 million to Tian and other persons outside the case to purchase MFA virtual currency, and Tian returned RMB 10.6 million to Pan. However, when MEXC (Singapore trading platform) shut down MFA/USDT spot trading in September 2020, the relevant virtual accounts were locked, resulting in the loss of all investments.
The Jiangsu Provincial High People's Court pointed out in its second-instance judgment that according to a notice issued by the People's Bank of China and ten other ministries in September 2021, virtual currency-related business activities are illegal financial activities and are strictly prohibited. The court emphasized that even if overseas virtual currency exchanges provide services to residents in China through the Internet, they are also illegal financial activities.