The founder of Gongxinbao, a high-risk cryptocurrency community, was convicted of opening a casino and responded by claiming he was implicated.

(Correction: Because the original title "Three Executives of GXB" was not accurate enough, WeChat could not modify the title, so it was deleted and reposted. Tu Guojun was the VP in GXB's white paper, but GXB said he had resigned and was a former executive, and Shu Qi was an executive of its partner, BiDe)

Wu said blockchain learned that according to the latest information disclosed on the Judgment Documents Network, Huang Minqiang, the founder of Gongxinbao, was sentenced for the crime of opening a casino. Wu said blockchain learned that the recent charges against the exchange by Shanxi Province are also related to the crime of opening a casino. Industry insiders pointed out that the connection between cryptocurrency and the gambling industry has become the focus of the public security organs' crackdown on the encryption industry, and industry insiders must be vigilant.

The judgment document states: The People's Procuratorate of Xihu District, Hangzhou City, charged that: From April 2018 to September 12, 2019, Zheng (on the run, the legal person and actual controller of a certain technology company in Hangzhou) and others established a certain technology company in Hangzhou at Room XX, Block X, No. XX, XXX Road, Xihu District, this city. The company developed the "BiDe" applet for the purpose of illegal profit. The games such as treasure hunting, PK, and guessing in the "BiDe" applet use public credit coins as chips for gambling, and the company makes a profit by collecting handling fees. Zheng met the defendant Huang Minqiang, the actual controller of Hangzhou XX Data Technology Co., Ltd., through a classmate. After negotiation, the two sides decided to put the "BiDe" applet on the Block City app developed by the company. After November 2018, the company charged a 1% handling fee for each public credit coin recharged to BiDe through Block City.

After electronic inspection, the total amount of public credit coins recharged from Block City in a certain company's database was about RMB 2.8631 million, and the total amount after December 2018 was about RMB 1.1592 million. After investigation, the public credit coin recharge fee collected by a certain company was about RMB 10,654.52. The defendant Tu Guojun invested in a certain company and received corresponding dividends while knowing that a certain company used the "BiDe" applet to open a casino for profit. The defendant Shu Qi was the vice president of a certain company. Knowing that the company used the "BiDe" applet to open a casino for profit, he participated in the company's operation and management, and provided technical support for the development of the "BiDe" applet and received remuneration. After electronic inspection, the gambling funds involved in the treasure hunting, PK, and guessing projects in the database of a certain company's "BiDe" applet were equivalent to about RMB 5.3732 million, and the company's profit from the PK and guessing projects was equivalent to about RMB 1.0459 million.

The court held that the defendants Tu Guojun, Shu Qi, and Huang Minqiang used the Internet to open a casino, which was a serious case, and their actions constituted the crime of opening a casino. The charges of the public prosecutor were established. The defendant Tu Guojun surrendered himself, so his punishment was mitigated. The defendants Shu Qi and Huang Minqiang played a minor role in the joint crime and were accomplices, and the defendant Huang Minqiang had meritorious service, so his punishment was mitigated. The defendants Tu Guojun, Shu Qi, and Huang Minqiang voluntarily pleaded guilty and accepted punishment, and have all withdrawn their personal illegal gains. This court will give them lenient punishment at its discretion. The sentencing recommendations of the public prosecutor are appropriate and should be adopted.

1. The defendant Tu Guojun was convicted of the crime of opening a gambling house and sentenced to two years and ten months in prison and a fine of RMB 60,000;

2. Defendant Shu Qi was convicted of the crime of opening a gambling house and sentenced to one year and ten months in prison and a fine of RMB 50,000;

3. The defendant Huang Minqiang was convicted of the crime of opening a gambling house and sentenced to one year in prison, suspended for two years, and fined RMB 3,000;

4. The gambling funds involved in the case shall be recovered according to law. The illegal gains totaling RMB 1,338,654.52 returned by the defendants Shu Qi, Huang Minqiang and their co-defendants, the stolen money of RMB 260,000 frozen in the Agricultural Bank of China card with card number 6228××××6870 in the name of the defendant Tu Guojun's wife Cheng, and the computers, memory cards, online banking shields, USB flash drives and other items used in the crime seized by the public security organs from the office of a certain technology company shall all be confiscated.

In September 2019, the media reported that the door of Hangzhou Cunxin Data Technology Co., Ltd., the main operating company of Gongxinbao, was sealed by the Hangzhou Gudang Police Station. It was rumored that it was related to its data crawling business.

In March 2020, Huang Minqiang, the founder of GXB, announced his return, posting on WeChat Moments: "Once the agreement is made, nothing can stop us. We will resume work and production and continue to pursue our dreams."

According to the second paragraph of Article 303 of the Criminal Law of the People's Republic of China, the crime of opening a casino refers to whether there is an objective act of gathering people to gamble, opening a casino, and gambling as a business. Once the casino begins formal business and someone actually uses it, this crime is considered to be completed, regardless of whether the operator actually makes a profit. If the person who opens the casino participates in gambling himself and makes gambling his business, this crime and the crime of gambling can be considered to be punished together. According to the second paragraph of Article 303 of the Criminal Law of the People's Republic of China, the crime of opening a casino shall be punished with fixed-term imprisonment of not more than three years, criminal detention or control, and a fine; if the circumstances are serious, a fixed-term imprisonment of not less than three years but not more than ten years and a fine.

In other words, if there are supervisors involved in promoting gambling activities on a public chain or exchange, they are likely to be suspected of opening a casino.

GXChain responded that the relevant departments have completed the investigation and announced the results of the "911 investigation storm" of GXChain in 2019. According to relevant documents, Block City, a subsidiary of GXChain, previously listed the Dapp "BiDe" operated by a third party, and the games such as treasure hunting, PK, and guessing in the "BiDe" applet used GXChain coins as chips for betting. The relevant responsible persons were convicted of opening a casino. Huang Minqiang, the founder of GXChain, was implicated because GXChain provided traffic for applications within the ecosystem. This investigation has nothing to do with GXChain's main business such as blockchain and data. The team and founder Huang Minqiang are working normally and actively promoting the development of GXChain.

The shareholders of Hangzhou Cunxin Data Technology Co., Ltd. include Huang Minqiang, Tu Guojun, Li Xiaolai and ZhenFeng. Regarding Tu Guojun, who invested in BiDe, he is still the second largest shareholder and supervisor of Hangzhou Cunxin Data Technology Co., Ltd. Gongxinbao responded that Tu has resigned but the shares cannot be forcibly recovered. The other party does not agree to the share repurchase. Tu is not a shareholder of GXChain Singapore Foundation and the domestic entity of the trusted computing business (Arithmetic Power). Hangzhou Cunxin Data Technology Co., Ltd. will be deregistered later.