Beijing’s Haidian District has investigated the city’s first case involving the use of blockchain and virtual currency technology to facilitate a pyramid scheme. A tech company that provided outsourced services to a public blockchain was fined and had more than 930,000 yuan confiscated for facilitating recruitment-and-rebate schemes such as the “Atomic Plan” and the “Hathaway Plan.”

The nature of these schemes is not complicated: participants are first required to invest money to qualify for membership, then earn rebates by recruiting others. Blockchain is merely used for packaging and settlement. Notably, the company penalized was not just the scheme operator, but also an outsourcing firm that provided technical assistance—showing that “we only provide the technology and know nothing about the business” is not, in itself, grounds for exemption from liability.

For industry professionals, compliance reviews must go beyond white papers: clients’ funding models, tiered rebate structures, and promotional claims should all be included in risk controls. Ordinary users should be wary of the combination of “public blockchain + high returns + recruitment rewards”; technical terminology does not make an asset safe.

#区块链监管 #虚拟货币 #PyramidSchemeRisk