Yao Qian, the former director of the Digital Currency Research Institute at the People's Bank of China (PBOC) and a key architect of the digital yuan, has been accused of accepting cryptocurrency bribes worth over $8 million. Chinese state media revealed the details this week in a documentary titled "Technology Empowering Anti-Corruption," which aired on state broadcaster CCTV on January 14.
The investigation, led by the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection and local supervisors in Guangdong, found that Yao used his senior regulatory positions to solicit bribes. Investigators discovered three hardware wallets in his office drawer, containing millions of yuan in cryptocurrency. "These three seemingly insignificant little wallets stored tens of millions of yuan," said Zou Rong, a staff member with the disciplinary commission.
The core of the scheme involved 2,000 Ethereum (ETH), valued at approximately 60 million yuan at peak prices, transferred from a businessman to Yao's personal wallet in 2018. The bribe was payment for Yao using his industry influence to help the businessman's company issue tokens and raise 20,000 Ethereum through an Initial Coin Offering (ICO).
Yao and his intermediaries, including longtime subordinate Jiang Guoqing, employed a complex network of shell bank accounts and blockchain addresses to conceal the illicit funds. Jiang confessed, "I set up a transfer address where people would send coins, then transfer them to Yao Qian's personal wallet." Despite these efforts, blockchain's inherent transparency allowed investigators to reconstruct the complete transaction history.
The traced funds were used for significant purchases, including a Beijing villa worth over 20 million yuan. A single 10 million yuan payment for the property was converted from digital assets through cryptocurrency exchanges.
Yao was expelled from the Communist Party in November 2024 and has been transferred for criminal prosecution. The case is noted as providing valuable experience for Chinese authorities in investigating virtual currency corruption.
Despite this high-profile scandal, China's central bank digital currency (CBDC) project, the digital yuan (e-CNY), continues to advance. The PBOC recently launched a new framework allowing commercial banks to pay interest on digital yuan wallet balances, aiming to boost adoption. As of November 2025, the e-CNY has processed 3.48 billion transactions worth 16.7 trillion yuan, though it still trails behind dominant mobile payment platforms Alipay and WeChat Pay.
