Shi Yongxin is a hidden pro in the crypto world, involved in Bitcoin Money Laundering.

According to Xiao Sa's lawyer team, recently, the news that Shi Yongxin, the abbot of Shaolin Temple, was jointly investigated by multiple departments, it is estimated that many people have heard of it. This case not only exposes personal corruption, but also pushes the regulatory blind spot created by the collision between religious sites and cryptocurrencies to the forefront. From a legal perspective, this article will deeply analyze the crypto asset compliance traps behind this collision between Buddhism and capital, and take old friends to see the legal boundaries of religious sites touching virtual assets. 1. The currency circle map of the Shaolin business empire: from the "CEO of Buddhism" to Bitcoin money laundering As soon as the official notice of Shaolin Temple came out on July 27, Shi Yongxin's criminal accusation of "misappropriation and embezzlement of temple assets" quickly rushed to the hot search. As the investigation deepened, an even more surprising detail was revealed: the abbot, known as the "CEO of Buddhism", actually came up with a set of cross-border capital flow methods with cryptocurrencies as the core. Combined with multiple information, the operation of Shi Yongxin's team in the currency circle is a typical money laundering. From 2016 to 2024, Shaolin Temple's "Special Account for International Dharma Propagation" transferred nearly one million yuan to an overseas company in the British Virgin Islands every month, adding up to a total of 130 million yuan. The money was laundered by underground banks in Hong Kong, and some of it was exchanged for bitcoin, and finally ended up in overseas real estate in London and New York. It is said that in the USB flash drive found by investigators at his residence, the keys to 18 Ethereum accounts were stored, corresponding to assets of more than $100 million; And a string of Buddhist beads engraved with a mnemonic phrase turned out to be the key to moving the "digital money bank". This method of hiding money is indeed secretive enough. In terms of business layout, Shi Yongxin's actions in the currency circle are in line with the "Shaolin IP Empire" he has built. By 2023, Shaolin Temple has registered nearly 800 trademarks, covering 45 categories, from convenience food to jewelry, etc., and the trademark licensing fee alone will exceed 100 million yuan a year. When the traditional business landscape encounters a bottleneck, cryptocurrencies have naturally become an ideal tool for transferring assets due to their advantages such as anonymity and convenient cross-border flow. But this "double-edged blade" still pushed him to the opposite side of the law after all. 2. The three major crimes that Shi Yongxin may have committed: the legal red line of cryptocurrency In this case, cryptocurrency is not only a payment tool, but also the key throughout the whole process of capital embezzlement, cross-border transfer, and asset hiding. Combined with Chinese law, his operation may be charged with three crimes, each of which is inseparable from the characteristics of virtual currency. Money laundering (Article 191 of the Criminal Code): According to the investigation, 80 million yuan of government subsidies were transferred to Singapore accounts under the banner of "construction of Dharma propagation bases in Southeast Asia", and were exchanged for bitcoin in less than 72 hours. This kind of operation of "turning RMB into cryptocurrency, and then relying on fake business to conceal the real use" fully meets the constitutive elements of the crime of money laundering of "covering up and concealing the proceeds of drug crimes, corruption and bribery crimes, etc., and the source and nature of the proceeds". In addition, it is worth noting the use of a coin mixer (CoinJoin). Shi Yongxin's team relied on this tool to mix multiple funds together for trading, cutting off the on-chain tracking path, and making it difficult to find out the ins and outs of the money. The tool itself is not illegal, but once it is used to conceal the proceeds of crime, it becomes an "accomplice" to money laundering. According to the Notice on Further Preventing and Dealing with the Risk of Speculation in Virtual Currency Transactions ("9.24 Notice"), virtual currency-related businesses are illegal financial activities, and the provision of exchange and trading services for them may be suspected of violating the law. Embezzlement (Article 271 of the Criminal Law): As a place of religious activity, the property of Shaolin Temple is public property or the common property of believers in accordance with Article 52 of the Regulations on Religious Affairs. However, by controlling Henan Shaolin Intangible Asset Management Co., Ltd., Shi Yongxin converted monastery funds into bitcoins and transferred them to private wallets, and the amount involved far exceeded the standard of "a particularly large amount", and he could face more than 10 years in prison or even life imprisonment. Evasion of foreign exchange (Article 190 of the Criminal Law): Shi Yongxin also exchanged funds for cryptocurrencies through offshore companies, thereby bypassing foreign exchange controls and flowing abroad, accumulating hundreds of millions of yuan. You must know that an individual can only exchange a maximum of 50,000 US dollars in foreign exchange per year, and his "ant moving" type of operation of transferring funds out of the country in batches, even if he is dressed in the cloak of religious exchanges, cannot hide the essence of illegality. 3. Supervision dilemma: When the incense money meets the Bitcoin Shi Yongxin case, it is not only personal corruption, but also a regulatory blind spot caused by the collision between religious sites and cryptocurrencies. The formation of this situation reflects several deep-seated problems: It is difficult to manage the purse bag of faith: According to the Regulations on Religious Affairs, the property of a place of religious activity belongs to the place or the religious group to which it belongs. However, in practice, the incense money in the merit box and the "electronic merit" paid by scanning the QR code may become the abbot's personal money. Shi Yongxin set up a "Shaolin Cloud" APP, which directly exchanged the money donated by believers by scanning the code into USDT, and poured more than 200 million yuan a year, but did not leave formal financial records. This kind of "digital incense" bypasses traditional audits, and even the tax department is difficult to find. The immutable nature of the chain was originally a technical advantage, but now it has become a ledger for recording crimes. Investigators relied on analyzing on-chain data from 18 Ethereum wallets to restore the complete path of funds flowing from Shaolin Temple to overseas properties. Methods such as coin mixers and dark web transactions still cost a lot of judicial resources for fund tracking, which shows the practical dilemma that technology is ahead of regulation. Religious signboards become tax shields: Religious sites are supposed to be away from the smell of copper, but they are being used as a money-making tool. China implements a religious policy of "protecting the lawful and stopping the illegal", and when religious activities are tied to commercial activities, how to define the boundaries of compliance has become a problem. Shi Yongxin's team disguised the mining machine as "religious and cultural equipment" to import, taking advantage of the preferential tax policy for the import of religious goods, which exposed the lack of cross-departmental supervision and coordination. However, this is not the first time we have seen religious chaos. The black gold scandal of Japan's "Unification Church" and the embezzlement of tens of millions of baht by monks in the "Golf Lady" incident in Thailand are all reminders that when faith is stained with the stench of copper, sacred places may become places outside the law. Now, Shi Yongxin's case further reflects the urgency of cryptocurrency regulation in the religious sector. As the Buddhist Association of China demonstrated when it canceled Shi Yongxin's precepts, religious sites must adhere to the precepts and respect the law, of course, this warning also applies to the field of virtual currency. 4. Take the case as a lesson: The legal red line of cryptocurrency compliance Shi Yongxin case has sounded the alarm for all those who are involved in and want to get involved in crypto assets, whether it is a religious site or an ordinary investor, they need to keep in mind that the legal red line must not be touched: virtual currencies must not be used to transfer illegal funds: Whether it is stolen goods embezzled in the course of duty or funds evading foreign exchange control, the cross-border transfer through cryptocurrencies may constitute the crime of money laundering. The on-chain tracking technology of the regulatory authorities has been upgrading, and even if a coin mixer is used, it is not absolutely impossible to find it, so don't take chances. Virtual currency mining is still a forbidden area for supervision: China's overall attitude towards virtual currency mining is still resolute. The operation of the mining machine in the Shaolin Temple violated the 2021 Notice on Rectifying Virtual Currency "Mining" Activities issued by nine departments including the National Development and Reform Commission, and the relevant equipment will be seized in accordance with the law. Offshore structures can't be a safe haven: For example, Shi Yongxin, which relies on BVI companies, Swiss banks, and cryptocurrency exchanges to build capital channels, has now become a key target of international anti-money laundering cooperation. In June 2025, the FATF plenary meeting changed Recommendation 16 of the standard (referred to as the "travel rules" when it comes to virtual assets), and the new rules make payment message information more uniform, the identity of both the sending and sending of funds clearer, and the room for offshore tax avoidance is getting smaller and smaller. NFTs and other forms are still subject to legal constraints: Shi Yongxin's team once wanted to issue "digital rosary NFTs" in an attempt to tokenize religious IPs, but according to Chinese regulations, NFTs cannot be used as token financing tools, and transactions must comply with the principle of "physical anchoring and value stability". Any illegal fundraising and money laundering in the name of NFTs will face legal liability. Conclusion: The particularity of Shi Yongxin's case lies in the fact that it combines two seemingly unrelated things, "faith" and "code", and what we see is not only the degradation of individuals, but also the loss of traditional organizations in the wave of technology. Cryptocurrency itself is not a flood beast, but its anonymity and cross-border nature require a stricter compliance framework to constrain it. For religious sites, it is necessary to return to the true nature of "pure heart and few desires" and stay away from the game of capital in order to rebuild their credibility; For all market players, it is important to remember when integrating into the new wave of technology: no matter how powerful the code is, it cannot cross the red line of the law. Just like the Bodhidharma Patriarch who has been facing the wall for nine years, he has realized "clear insight, pointing directly to the hearts of the people", in the puzzle of virtual currency, only by sticking to the original intention of law and morality can we achieve steady and far-reaching results. In the final analysis, whether in the currency circle or in reality, compliance is always the most reliable talisman.