Two of the world's largest crypto exchanges have stopped registration on their sites for Chinese users and one has announced that all accounts belonging to users from mainland China will be closed by the end of December. Both the exchanges have taken these actions to comply with Beijing's latest crypto ban.
Exchange operators Huobi and Binance have prohibited new users from using mainland China mobile numbers for registering new accounts after the recent announcement by People's Bank of China on Friday in which the Chinese central bank said that all crypto-related transactions will be considered illicit financial activity henceforth.
Hong Kong users can still register for new accounts on both these platforms, but mainland China no longer appears as an option for new account creation. Huobi said in a statement that “To comply with local laws and regulations, Huobi Global has ceased account registration for new users in Mainland China. Huobi Global will gradually retire existing Mainland China user accounts by the end of December and ensure the safety of users’ assets.”
While a Binance spokesperson said that the company does not has any operations in China and blocks all users with Chinese Ips. The spokesperson said in an email that "Binance takes its compliance obligations very seriously and is committed to following local regulatory requirements wherever we operate.”
China's latest ban on cryptocurrency – announced by the Chinese central bank along with 9 other government agencies is a culmination of years of attempted crackdowns on the rise of Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies. The recent notice specifically mentions offshore exchanges that target Chinese users and effectively bans them from hiring locally for various roles ranging from marketing to payment settlement and tech.
China has told local crypto exchanges to stop making trades between fiat money and cryptocurrencies in 2017, forcing exchanges like Binance and Huobi to set up operations in friendlier jurisdictions such as Singapore and Malta. Although, Chinese users have still managed to access the services of such offshore exchanges including over-the-counter trading and crypto to crypto transactions.
Huobi had already banned Chinese users from trading in riskier products such as derivatives in June after China's cabinet called for another crackdown on crypto trading and crypto mining. Although, there is still no indication that Chinese users are barred from Binance and Huobi that are two of the three largest crypto exchanges with origins in China, along with OKEx.
OKEx continues to accept users who use mainland China numbers to register on its site.
Source: https://finance.yahoo.com/news/crypto-exchange-stops-taking-china-075036794.html
Source: Story.KISSPR.com
Release ID: 40443