Taiwanese Crypto Exchange Platform Under Investigation for Money Laundering

Taiwanese crypto exchange platform and a member of the Virtual Asset Service Provider (VASP), Bitgin’s chief officer, was arrested by the authorities and is under investigation for money laundering. 

According to the Taiwan police’s report, the Bitgin crypto exchange platform is involved in the money laundering incident “Eighty-Eight Guild Hall.”  Taiwan’s police arrested the firm’s chief officer, Yuting Zhang, last week in the role of money laundering. Meanwhile, Taiwan has no formal licensing requirements for bitcoin exchanges. The Virtual Asset Service Provider (VASP) Preparatory Office was founded in September by Bitgin and other industry players to lobby legislators and practice self-regulation. The general counsel of Taiwan VASP Associated stated, “this time, a member of the preparatory group was involved in the investigation case. The preparatory group immediately held a meeting and issued a public response. The members involved in the case also took the initiative to suspend participation in the work of the preparatory group.”

Before that, Taiwan’s government arrested two businessmen, Zhemin Guo and Chengwen Tu, who were involved in running a multi-billion-dollar money laundering operation through unregistered crypto exchange and foreign exchange offices via international wire fraud. Tu faces additional accusations of deceiving the country’s tax authorities by purportedly selling video game credits overseas for a total of $9.28 million to obtain false export tax refunds.

The exchange denied all the allegations and stated that all operations are normal and users’ rights are not affected by their platform. They claim the platform provided a secure environment for users to trade cryptocurrencies and no involvement in the tax evasion accusations. They have also pledged to investigate the case and take appropriate action if necessary.

Bitgin stated that chief operating officer Zhang worked with companies connected to the Eighty-Eight Guild Hall money laundering event from late 2021 to March 2022. However, Bitgin claimed that after learning of the accusations of money laundering, Zhang cut off all contact with the lenders. Bitgin stated, “at present, Bitgin is fully cooperating with the investigating unit and actively providing all necessary assistance to ensure the smooth conduct of the investigation and hopes that the facts can be clarified as soon as possible.”

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