A court in Shandong, China, ruled in a case involving losses from entrusted investment in virtual currency that the plaintiff was solely responsible for their own losses.

According to Mars Finance, on March 18th, the Zhangqiu District Court of Jinan City, Shandong Province, recently disclosed a typical case: Liu entrusted his friend Zhang to invest in "Elfacoin," and the platform showed daily returns of several hundred yuan. After the investment, the platform became inaccessible, and Zhang informed him that the platform's manager was under investigation for suspected criminal offenses. Liu sued Zhang, demanding the return of his investment. The court held that investing in virtual currencies disrupts financial order and endangers financial security; therefore, the entrustment contract in this case was invalid. Zhang did not profit from the entrustment, and the investment loss was a risk of engaging in illegal financial activities, which should be borne by Liu himself. The judge reminded that the 2017 announcement by seven departments and the 2021 notice by ten departments both clearly state that virtual currency-related businesses are illegal financial activities, and investment losses are not protected by law. Even if someone else operates on your behalf, as long as it is essentially participating in virtual currency transactions, it is still not protected by law. (The Paper)