One of China’s most prominent crypto traders went on trial in the city of Hangzhou this week. He is accused of “assisting internet criminal activities” for his alleged role in the laundering of billions of dollars linked to online gambling and other criminal activities.
Zhao Dong, pictured in 2019 at a funding round for his crypto peer-to-peer lending and wallet startup, RenrenBit. (Image: CoinDesk)
Zhao Dong is the head of over-the-counter (OTC) crypto-lending platform RenrenBit, and has long been a key figure in the Chinese crypto community.
He was detained by police in late May last year, at a time when Chinese authorities began clamping down on bitcoin and altcoin miners. Beijing has vowed to block all domestic and foreign cryptocurrency exchanges and ICO websites.