Huobi Global, one of the leading crypto exchanges offering its services to mainland Chinese users, has just announced it intends to close all accounts for Chinese residents by the end of the year.
As reported by the platform through a press release shared yesterday, China-based users have been unable to open new accounts since last Friday, shortly after the People's Bank of China, the country's central bank, issued stricter measures to crack down on activities related to cryptotrading.
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According to the announcement:
"Huobi Global will gradually retire existing Mainland China user accounts by 24:00 (UTC+8) on Dec 31, 2021, and ensure the safety of users' assets. We will inform users of the specific arrangements and details through official announcements, e-mails, text messages, etc."
Notably, Huobi is one of the first major crypto platforms to take action following China's recent hardening of its stance on cryptocurrencies, as the country has now said it will treat all crypto-related transactions as illegal.
HT, Huobi's native token, has plummeted 15% an hour after the news broke.