New developments in the Bitcoin "mining" case——
Sichuan Development and Reform Commission cleans up multiple "mines"
Recently, the Chaoyang District People's Court of Beijing held a public hearing and pronounced a service contract dispute arising from the delay of Bitcoin "mining". Clues of virtual currency "mining" activities involved in the trial of the case.
On March 1, a reporter from Beijing Youth Daily learned that the Sichuan Provincial Development and Reform Commission wrote back to the Chaoyang Court, saying that it has dismantled multiple virtual currency "mines" in early 2022, and severely cracked down on virtual currency "mining" and trading.
It is understood that Fengfu Jiuxin Company signed a contract with Zhongyan Zhichuang Company, and entrusted Zhongyan Zhichuang Company to purchase and manage micro storage space servers (ie "miners"), carry out Bitcoin mining activities and pay income.
After the contract was signed, Fengfu Jiuxin Company paid a management fee of 10 million yuan to Zhongyan Zhichuang Company. Zhongyan Zhichuang Company purchased the "mining machine" and signed an entrustment contract with a third-party company. The "mines" in Luo and Shawan townships carry out bitcoin mining activities.
During the performance of the contract, Zhongyan Zhichuang Company only paid a small fee to Fengfu Jiuxin Company, and no other income was paid thereafter.
Fengfu Jiuxin Company sued to the court after repeated urgings to no avail, requesting the court to order Zhongyan Zhichuang Company to pay the rest of the expenses, and at the same time compensate for the loss of the server occupied by the micro storage space after the service expires.
After hearing, the Chaoyang Court held that the “mining” activities involved in the case have large energy consumption and carbon emissions, which is not conducive to the optimization of my country’s industrial structure, energy conservation and emission reduction, and is not conducive to my country’s goal of carbon peaking and carbon neutrality. Multiple risks such as false asset risks, business failure risks, and investment speculation risks derived from production and trading links are prominent, which are detrimental to social and public interests.
Fengfu Jiuxin Company and Zhongyan Zhichuang Company signed an agreement on behalf of “mining” even though they knew that “mining” and bitcoin transactions were risky, and the relevant departments clearly prohibited bitcoin-related transactions, and this agreement should be invalid. Therefore, the relevant property rights and interests arising therefrom shall not be protected by law, and the parties concerned shall bear the consequences caused by the above acts.
In the end, the court ruled that the contract between the two parties was invalid and dismissed all the claims of Fengfu Jiuxin Company.
After the sentence was pronounced, the Chaoyang Court sent a judicial suggestion to the Sichuan Provincial Development and Reform Commission, suggesting to investigate the Bitcoin "mining" project involved in this case, prohibit the company involved from continuing to engage in "mining" activities, and investigate the "mine" and local Other virtual currency "mining" projects and clean up.
After receiving the judicial suggestion, the Sichuan Provincial Development and Reform Commission attached great importance to it and conducted investigation and monitoring of the main company of the "mine" involved in the case.
It is reported that the company is entrusting a third party to carry out the deregistration work of the enterprise, and at the same time handling the finishing work of the previous “mining” activities, and it is expected to complete the deregistration in May 2022.
In addition, the Sichuan Provincial Development and Reform Commission sent a letter to the Liangshan Prefecture Development and Reform Commission as soon as possible, requesting to clean up and investigate the virtual currency "mining" activities of relevant regions and enterprises.
Recently, the Sichuan Provincial Development and Reform Commission wrote back to Beijing Chaoyang Court to provide feedback on the clean-up and investigation work. As of January 6, 2022, the location of the virtual currency "mining" project involved in the case is located in the Shuiluo River and Muli River Basin in Liangshan Prefecture, Sichuan Province. The centralized virtual currency "mining" sites have all stopped "mining" activities, the equipment has been cleaned up, and the workshops are also being dismantled.
"Through the trial of this case, the rectification of virtual currency mining activities has been effectively promoted, and the political effect, legal effect and social effect of the case have been unified." Li Zenghui, the presiding judge of the case, said.
Text/Li Tianjia, correspondent of Song Xia, correspondent of this newspaper