In the “match-and-swap” FX scheme, the on-chain traces can be wiped clean, but the backpack in the service area can’t be hidden.

According to Procuratorial Daily, police in Xiangyang, Hubei, previously seized an Audi sedan at a highway service area. Inside the car, 5 book bundles contained 9 million yuan in cash. The investigation found that the relevant persons, acting on instructions from an upper-level contact, collected RMB cash within the country and used virtual currency as a cross-border intermediary, paying foreign currencies such as Hong Kong dollars overseas, using a “wash trading” approach to bypass foreign exchange supervision. From August 2023 to June 2025, the group’s illegal exchange of currency totaled more than 5 million yuan. In February this year, the court sentenced the principal offender to one year in prison for the crime of illegal business operations; the other 3 people were sentenced to between 8 and 10 months, and were each fined, and the judgment has taken effect.