China’s Supreme People’s Court announced it will develop new judicial rules for virtual currency and cross-border finance cases. The move aims to clarify how courts handle disputes in the digital economy, including those involving artificial intelligence and data rights. This follows China’s sustained ban on cryptocurrency transactions and recent high-profile enforcement actions, such as the U.S. seizure of $15 billion in Bitcoin linked to a suspected scam operator.
China’s Supreme People’s Court (SPC) said it will study new adjudication rules for virtual currency and cross-border finance cases. This effort is part of a broader push to clarify how courts handle digital economy disputes.
“We will conduct in-depth research on the adjudication rules for new cases such as virtual currencies and cross-border finance, formulate judicial interpretations on civil compensation involving insider trading and market manipulation as soon as possible,” said Judicial Committee member Liu Guixiang. The court also plans to study judicial protection rules for artificial intelligence cases and data property rights.
The guidelines aim to draft clearer internal judicial standards for crypto and AI-related lawsuits. The promised rules may improve the court’s consistency in the growing number of such cases.
The comments come months after a high-profile lawsuit involving Chen Zhi, the Chinese-born founder of Cambodia’s Prince Group. Zhi was arrested and extradited to China, where he faces charges related to operating pig butchering scam compounds. In October 2025, the U.S. Department of Justice seized about $15 billion worth of Bitcoin from Zhi’s suspected operations.
Mainland China has had a rocky relationship with the cryptocurrency industry. The People’s Bank of China (PBOC) first banned financial institutions from offering Bitcoin-related services in December 2013.
In September 2021, ten Chinese agencies issued a blanket ban on all crypto transactions, Bitcoin mining, and initial coin offerings. In February, the PBOC banned the issuance of unauthorized offshore Chinese yuan-pegged stablecoins and tokenized real-world assets.
The latest ban came shortly after the Chinese government approved commercial banks to share interest with clients holding the digital yuan. The development signals the PBOC is doubling down on launching its own central bank digital currency.
