The People's Bank of China continues the cryptocurrency war

The People's Bank of China has declared war on foreign ICOs trying to attract local investors. The country is becoming a closed territory for all crypto projects.

China declared war on cryptocurrency in late 2017, banning initial coin offerings (ICOs) and cryptocurrency transactions in the country. It would seem that the country's authorities should celebrate the victory, declaring that cryptocurrency activities have ceased. But, despite all the efforts of the government, citizens still find a way to engage in prohibited cryptocurrency trading.

At a meeting of the working group on financial transformation on the Internet, Pan Gongsheng recalled that ICOs, including their disguised versions, are banned in the country and are considered illegal forms of raising financing and issuing securities. The Vice Governor of the People's Bank of China had to once again threateningly declare the authorities' determination to fight initial coin offerings, ICOs, organized in foreign jurisdictions, but trying to attract local investors.

Thus, Pan Gongsheng threatened with immediate liquidation all foreign financial products that do not comply with current legislation and violate the ban on cryptocurrency activities in the country. The government does not specify measures to combat violators of the cryptocurrency veto. But the stern tone leaves no doubt about the seriousness of the intentions to limit the access of crypto projects to the Internet space of China. 

Previously, the authorities managed to enforce the ban from popular local services and web resources. In China, access to foreign applications and Internet resources is limited. Facebook and Twitter do not work; a proxy is required for Google or Skype. Therefore, it is not difficult for the authorities to put pressure and control local Internet resources.

So the online forum Zhishi Xingqiu, “Planet of Knowledge” (literally translated). was a fairly popular platform for cryptocurrency transactions. Foreign traders used the platform to connect with Chinese retail investors. After tough government measures, the forum administration announced that it was monitoring content and blocking access to the platform for users trying to use it to conduct cryptocurrency transactions or find investors for ICOs.

WeChat messenger, the Chinese version of WhatsApp, also had to take action and ban cryptocurrency trading in the application.. WeChat, practically the only option for fast communication in the country for tourists and businesses, has limited support for payment functions for users trading cryptocurrencies.