The Chinese government is reportedly moving to block domestic access to overseas websites that offer services for cryptocurrency trading and ICO investments, the South China Morning Post reported, quoting the Financial News, a publication affiliated with the People’s Bank of China (PBoC).
“To prevent financial risks, China will step up measures to remove any onshore or offshore platforms related to virtual currency trading or ICOs,” the report reads.
The Chinese government banned ICOs in September last year, and followed that with a decree outlawing cryptocurrency exchanges. And just a few weeks ago the Bitcoin mining industry was told that it was no longer welcome either.
However, ICOs and virtual currency trading did not completely withdraw from China following the official ban, with many businessmen relocating to Hong Kong or Japan while still raising funds from mainland investors.
“After the closure of the domestic virtual currency exchanges, many people turned to overseas platforms to continue participating in virtual currency transactions.”
“Overseas transactions and regulatory evasion have resumed … risks are still there, fuelled by illegal issuance, and even fraud and pyramid selling,” the article said.
Following reports of the latest crackdown, advertisements for cryptocurrencies have stopped appearing on Baidu (TIKER: BIDU.NASDAQ), China’s biggest search engine, and social media platform Weibo (TIKER: WB.NASDAQ).