China imposes a complete ban on cryptocurrency. All cryptocurrency-related financial activities, including transactions, offering pricing services, and releasing new tokens, are unlawful, according to the People’s Bank of China (PBoC).
According to a notification on the central bank’s website, it will be illegal for Chinese citizens to buy cryptocurrencies from other countries or to engage in marketing or technical support for cryptocurrency enterprises.
The authenticity of the announcement has been confirmed by Sky News’ Beijing bureau, but it comes after a false announcement claiming that US retail giant Walmart would soon accept the cryptocurrency Litecoin, which was believed to have been perpetrated by people looking to artificially inflate the value of that cryptocurrency. According to researchers from the University of Cambridge, China is the world’s centre for Bitcoin mining. It accounts for 65 percent of the global total. Sky News visited a secret Bitcoin mining farm in China earlier this year, shedding light on the world’s centre for Bitcoin mining.
Bitcoin mining was not illegal at the time of the visit.
Chinese miners are attempting to make money as soon as possible before something happens,” Nishant Sharma remarked at the time.
“And that something is usually related to laws around Bitcoin mining,” added BlocksBridge Consulting’s Beijing-based founder, who specializes in mining.
Chinese miners are attempting to make money as soon as possible before something happens,” Nishant Sharma remarked at the time. “And that something is usually related to laws around Bitcoin mining,” added BlocksBridge Consulting’s Beijing-based founder, who specializes in mining.
Today’s categorization looks to make mining illegal for the first time.
It comes after China imposed another ban in May on financial institutions and payment companies that provide services related to cryptocurrencies, leading Bitcoin’s value to plunge by more than 20%.
A further slide for the infamously volatile cryptocurrency happened in June, sparked by China’s central bank urging the country’s largest banks and payment firms to crack down harder on trading in cryptocurrencies.
An automatic translation of the central bank’s announcement said cryptocurrencies have been “disrupting economic and financial order. It breeds illegal and criminal activities such as gambling, illegal fund-raising, fraud, pyramid schemes, and money laundering, [and] seriously endangering the safety of people’s property”.
The announcement added that the central bank had established a coordination mechanism to deal with the risks posed by cryptocurrencies.
