The purchase of a virtual currency "mining machine" was breached and the court ruled that the contract was invalid

According to The Paper, in April 2021, Hang bought a "mining machine" platform and 64 hard disks from Chen through WeChat for a total of 429,000 yuan. After paying the full amount, Hang asked Chen about the equipment configuration, but Chen shirked his obligation to deliver. Later, Hang asked the other party to return part of the payment of 180,000 yuan and continue to send 64 hard disks. After Chen returned 180,000 yuan, he still did not deliver the goods. Hang filed a lawsuit with the court, requesting the court to order the defendant Chen to return the payment of 249,000 yuan and pay interest losses. The court believes that the focus of the dispute in this case is whether the contract is valid and whether the defendant should return the corresponding amount and interest losses. Upon review, the content of the WeChat chat between Hang and Chen can prove that the two parties are in a sales relationship and the sales contract is established. On September 3, 2021, the National Development and Reform Commission and other departments jointly issued the "Notice on the Rectification of Virtual Currency "Mining" Activities", clarifying that such "mining" activities have large energy consumption and carbon emissions, which is not conducive to the optimization of the national industrial structure, energy conservation and emission reduction, and is not conducive to the realization of the carbon peak and carbon neutrality goals as scheduled, and should be comprehensively rectified. On September 15, 2021, the People's Bank of China, the Central Cyberspace Affairs Commission, the Supreme People's Court and other departments issued the "Notice on Further Preventing and Dealing with the Risks of Virtual Currency Trading Speculation", which defined virtual currency-related business activities as illegal financial activities. Any legal person, non-legal person organization and natural person who invests in virtual currency and related derivatives violates public order and good morals, and the relevant civil legal acts are invalid, and the losses caused by this shall be borne by themselves. Therefore, Hang Mou purchased a "mining machine" from Chen Mou and calculated the "mining" activities of producing virtual currency. The contract involved in the case is an illegal financial activity, which violates public order and good morals and should be deemed invalid, so Chen Mou should return the payment. The court then ordered Chen to return the payment of 249,000 yuan to Hang within 30 days from the date the judgment came into effect. Chen appealed the judgment. The court of second instance held that: the original judgment that the sales contract relationship between the two parties was formed was not improper; the legal sales contract relationship is protected by law, but the contract in question violated public order and good morals, and did not conform to the basic principles of saving resources and protecting the environment, and should be an invalid contract. Chen should return the payment of Hang's goods based on the invalid contract. The judgment of first instance determined that the facts were clear and the law was correctly applied, so the court dismissed the appeal and upheld the original judgment.