An investor in Shanghai, China invested 1.05 million RMB in a cryptocurrency, encountered withdrawal issues on the platform, and sued for compensation. The court dismissed the claim.

**Shanghai Court Rejects Virtual Currency Investor’s Lawsuit, Orders Self-Bearing of Losses** A Shanghai court has ruled that a woman who lost over 1 million yuan (≈$146,000) to virtual currency (VC) trading will bear all her losses, rejecting her bid to recover funds via an unjust enrichment lawsuit. In November 2019, Ms. Wu was lured by a live-stream financial anchor to download an unregulated VC trading app. She invested a total of 1.05 million yuan, including an 80,000-yuan (≈$11,200) transaction with a man surnamed He. Later, she was locked out of the app and unable to withdraw her VC assets. In 2024, Ms. Wu reported the case to local police and filed a civil lawsuit against Mr. He, seeking the return of the 80,000 yuan. Mr. He countered that he was a member of a digital exchange, sold the VC USDT via open orders, never registered on Ms. Wu’s app, and the transaction was fully completed with no unjust gain. The Jing’an District People’s Court cited China’s Civil Code, emphasizing that VC (including USDT) has no legal status equivalent to fiat currency, and VC-related business activities are classified as illegal financial activities. Ms. Wu’s trading disrupted national financial regulatory order, violated public order and good customs, and constituted an invalid civil act—thus, all resulting losses are her responsibility. The lower court rejected Ms. Wu’s claims in full. Her appeal was later dismissed by a higher court, upholding the original ruling. The final judgment serves as a warning to investors tempted into VC hype by unrealistic promises: they may bear full losses if their activities violate regulatory rules.