China’s central bank, The People’s Bank of China, declared its cryptocurrency crackdown a big success last Friday as the Chinese yuan now accounts for less than 1% of global bitcoin trades, according to the state-run news outlet Xinhua.
Whereas, the yuan’s share of bitcoin trading has hit a high point of over 90 percent of all global trades before the the authority mandated the crippling curbs in September,2017.
PBOC’s deputy governor Pan Gongsheng highlighted Chinese authorities’ tough stance on crypto trading and ICO activities again on Monday, alleging that China will continue to clamp down financial violations in cyberspace, including ICOs and various ‘disguised ICOs’ , cryptocurrency trading activities, as well as online forex trading platforms, in bid to combat scams and root out domestic financial risks,according to a Yicai report.
The Xinhua report revealed that the country had ensured a ‘zero-risk exit’ for 88 cryptocurrency exchanges and 85 ICOs platforms since last September, pushing the industry offshore. Since then, former-mainland exchanges like OkCoin, Huobi, and Binance has moved their operations to friendlier jurisdictions elsewhere.
But the central bank’s deputy governor added that even if some cryptocurrency exchanges have moved abroad , they are still providing service for Chinese citizens without the permission from Chinese government. Their activities are also illegal and should be completely banned.
Further, Chinese regulators are also reportedly stepping up their efforts to work with major online payment platforms like Alipay and Tenpay, requiring them to crack down on direct peer-to-peer tradings related to cryptocurrency. Alipay has so far disabled around 3,000 accounts.
Preventing and dissolving financial risks is a primary task for Chinese financial regulators now and in the future. “ China will take one to two more years to beef up regulation on the online finance sector and to establish an industrial regulatory system.” Pan said.
It’s safe to say that China is not likely to lift its ban on crypto trading and ICOs anytime soon.
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