Prosecutors in Taiwan have indicted 14 people linked to Bixiang Technology, the island’s largest virtual currency exchange, for allegedly helping a fraud ring turn victims’ cash into crypto.
Authorities said the group laundered NT$2.3 billion in just one year, leaving more than 1,000 people out of pocket.
The Shilin District Prosecutor’s Office wrapped up its investigation today, charging the suspects with fraud, money laundering, and running a criminal organisation. Three suspects, including ringleader Shi Qiren, were sent to court for trial.
Search and arrests
The investigation kicked off last month when prosecutors and criminal investigators deployed teams island-wide. Within days, officers detained 14 suspects, among them Shi Qiren, and towed away NT$64.5 million in cash, 640,000 USDT and a trove of other digital and tokenised property.
Conviction would lead to NT$1.275 billion in crime proceeds facing court-ordered forfeiture. Funds of interest are believed to be linked to a single trading platform. Leading the inquiry,
Chief Prosecutor Luo Weiyuan explained that Shi and his associates had operated unregistered virtual-asset outlets, routing order flows through the offshore platform CoinW and a network of unsupported storefronts.
Taiwan’s Financial Supervisory Commission had never recognised the activity. A combination of the scheme’s advertisements and a deliberate disregard for terrorism-financing safeguards confirmed the absence of legitimate registration.
Luo outlined how recruits, lured by guaranteed market returns, unwittingly became conveyor belts for a larger, cross-border fraud network.
How the scheme worked?
Investigators found that Shi, his wife Ms. Lin, business director Yang, and others began operating in 2024. They used the names CoinW and Bixiang Technology to open more than 40 outlets across Taiwan. Each branch collected large franchise fees, totalling over 1 million yuan.
The group worked with security firms to set up deposit machines that collected victims’ money. The cash was exchanged for cryptocurrency and moved abroad to buy USDT. The funds were shifted through multiple accounts to break the trail and disguise the source.
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The group misled customers by claiming they were the only entity authorised by the Financial Supervisory Commission. This false claim helped them gain more investors.
By April this year, at least 1,539 people had been defrauded, with losses reaching NT$1.275 billion. The money laundering total stood at NT$2.3 billion.
Additional deception
The probe also uncovered that Shi and his team had tricked themselves. A man surnamed Gu told them he could secure anti-money laundering approval for their operation. In return, he charged 3 million yuan in “processing fees.” Prosecutors said this was also a scam.
Shi, Yang, a shareholder surnamed Wang, and 11 others now face charges under the Criminal Law for fraud, money laundering under the Anti-Money Laundering Act, and forming a criminal group under the Organised Crime Prevention Act. Gu has also been indicted for fraud, bringing the total to 14 defendants.
Prosecutors argued that Shi showed no remorse and refused to admit guilt, even after the scale of harm became clear. They said his actions caused heavy financial and emotional damage to thousands of victims.
The prosecution asked the court to impose a 25-year sentence on Shi and to confiscate assets linked to the crime.
Seized assets include 640,000 USDT, Bitcoin, TRX, more than NT$60 million in cash, two luxury cars, and bank deposits. Authorities said the total seized assets exceed 100 million yuan, with the rest to be recovered later.
Wider context
UnoCrypto earlier reported that the U.S. debt crisis may spill over into crypto markets worldwide. Taiwan, with its high level of U.S. dollar reserves, could face fresh instability if global confidence in the dollar weakens.
Cases like the Bixiang probe highlight how fragile parts of the island’s digital asset system already are, and why oversight is becoming more urgent.
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