The Intermediate People's Court of Xinxiang City, Henan Province, announced the first-instance verdict on May 29, sentencing former abbot Shifengxin (original name Liu Yingcheng) of Shaolin Temple for four crimes including embezzlement, combining multiple sentences to 24 years in prison and a fine of 3.5 million RMB.

The court's investigation revealed that he allegedly used Bitcoin cold wallets, Ethereum private keys, and a shell company registered in the British Virgin Islands to build a cross-border money laundering network.
According to Xinhua News Agency, the Intermediate People's Court of Xinxiang City, Henan Province, publicly announced the first-instance verdict on May 29, sentencing former abbot Shifengxin (original name Liu Yingcheng) of Shaolin Temple for embezzlement, misappropriation of funds, accepting bribes as a non-state employee, and giving bribes, with combined sentences totaling 24 years in prison and a fine of 3.5 million RMB.
Liu Yingcheng stated in court that he would accept the verdict and not appeal!
The court found that Liu Yingcheng, from 2003 to 2025, used his positions as abbot of Shaolin Temple and president of the Shaolin Charity Welfare Foundation to embezzle over 131 million RMB of the organization's assets; from 2012 to 2022, he misappropriated over 151 million RMB for personal use, which he did not repay for more than three months.
Since 2006, he received about 11.63 million RMB in assets, and since 1995, he bribed state officials with about 5.67 million RMB.
The criminal activities spanned over 30 years, and the court recognized the severe social impact and sentenced him strictly according to law.
Mnemonic phrase on Buddhist beads
What truly shocked the crypto community was the previous reports by multiple Chinese media exposing allegations of cryptocurrency money laundering.
Earlier reports indicated that police investigators found a string of Buddhist beads at Shifengxin's residence engraved with 24 English mnemonic words (seed phrase), corresponding to a Bitcoin cold wallet worth about $130 million.
Another USB flash drive contained private keys for 18 Ethereum wallets, with assets valued at over $100 million.
It is also claimed that the Shaolin Temple's underground vault stored Bitmain S19 Pro mining machines, reported as "religious cultural activity equipment," and that massive amounts of Bitcoin were mined during the 2021 bear market.
Bitcoin = incense money
The illegal fund channels previously used by the abbot are even more shocking. Prosecutors previously uncovered that Shaolin Temple's "International Propagation Account" regularly transferred funds monthly to a company registered in the British Virgin Islands called "Shaolin Cultural Communication Co., Ltd." (legal representative Liu Yingcheng), with a total transfer of over 1.5 billion RMB over eight years.
Funds were converted into Bitcoin through underground banks in Hong Kong and ultimately flowed into an apartment in Kensington, London, registered under his nephew's name.
Rents were then exchanged back into Bitcoin and flowed back to the Shaolin Temple's donation box, forming a complete cycle of "funds leaving the country, asset acquisition, and income returning."
However, it should be noted that the four crimes identified in the first-instance verdict do not include "money laundering" or crimes directly related to cryptocurrencies.
The cryptocurrency details above come from previous investigations by Chinese media and are not officially recognized as criminal facts by the court. The transfer of crypto assets may already be encompassed within the charges of embezzlement and misappropriation of funds.