#特朗普数字资产政策新方向 Recently, I’ve noticed a subtle but crucial shift in the judicial characterization of USDT over-the-counter (OTC) trading—a change that many industry participants may be underestimating in terms of real risk.

After working in the industry for ten years and discussing with several friends in the legal field, I found that: in the past, a large number of OTC trading cases were characterized as aiding information network criminal activities, but now more and more cases are skipping this charge and directly applying the crime of concealing or disguising criminal proceeds.

This shift is not just a change in terminology. The maximum sentence jumps from 3 years to 7 years, making the penalties significantly harsher.

Why is this happening?

The threshold for filing aiding information network crime cases has recently tightened, so small and infrequent transactions may not meet the criteria for prosecution. But the logic of the crime of concealment/disguise is different—it doesn’t depend on how many times you trade or the amount involved. As long as the nature of the funds is problematic and you participate in the transfer process, you could be held accountable.

The crime of concealment/disguise focuses on three aspects:

Whether you received funds of suspicious origin (“unaware” as a defense is often ruled as “should have been aware” in practice)

Whether you conducted complex operations (for example, immediately purchasing cryptocurrency after receiving funds, or transferring multiple times across platforms), as such behaviors are easily interpreted as “actively assisting in transferring illicit funds”

Your identity—if you are identified as a crypto industry practitioner, judicial authorities often presume you have a higher risk identification ability

Situations where ordinary people are most likely to fall into trouble:

Helping others collect and pay funds because of a “better exchange rate”

Frequently participating in small test transactions

Using personal bank cards to receive and pay funds, and immediately conducting crypto-to-crypto conversion

Here’s a real-life example: someone received a 20,000 yuan transfer, quickly bought USDT, and transferred it out. They are now cooperating with an investigation related to the crime of concealment/disguise.

If you’re still involved in OTC trading, keep these points in mind:

Try to verify the other party’s identity to avoid receiving large sums from unknown accounts

After completing the transaction, don’t immediately conduct rapid multi-address transfers on-chain

Fully save communication records from the transaction process; they may be needed to prove your intent if necessary

OTC trading itself is not illegal, but once there’s a problem with the flow of funds, the cost of proving your innocence can be extremely high. Those who survive long-term in this field never rely on how many channels they have, but on how strong their risk awareness is. $ETH