In Brief:
- Chinese authorities seized crypto assets worth 400 million yuan.
- The seizure happened after a crackdown on an alleged Filecoin miner Ponzi scheme.
- The scheme is said to be associated with Filecoin miner maker IPFS Union.
Following a crackdown on a Filecoin miner Ponzi Scheme, Chinese authorities confiscated crypto assets worth 400 million Yuan, or approximately $62.5 million. The system is linked to IPFSUnion, a Filecoin miner based in Shanghai.
The Chinese police arrested 31 people in the city of Xuzhou on suspicion of running Ponzi schemes in collaboration with the IPFS Union. Local authorities also seized several crypto assets, including FIL and USDT, as part of the crackdown.
According to a local news report, the suspects were captured by police officers in several cities, including Shanghai, Wuhan, and Shenzhen, but it was unclear whether they were all IPFS Union employees or distributors.
As per the statement issued by IPFS Union, customers using illegal funds purchased Filecoin mining equipment from the company. And now the employees are assisting the police with their investigation.
IPFSUnion is one of the top ten Filecoin mining firms in terms of total effective storage power, and it also sells miners and computing power directly to end-users or through distributors.
It’s also unclear whether IPFSUnion is held responsible for being directly involved in a Ponzi scheme or of allowing its distributors to oversell machinery that doesn’t exist.
The seizure of crypto assets is happening rampantly in every country. In August the Victoria Police confiscated AUD 8.5 million ($6 million) worth crypto on dark web drug trafficking. The capture was reported to be Australia’s largest crypto seizure to date.
