Dovey Wan, managing partner of global venture investment firm Primitive Ventures, has said the popularity of P2P cryptocurrency exchanges as well as paid KYC services has risen sharply in China as a result of the recent crackdown on the sector by the country's authorities.
Subscribe to our Telegram channel to stay up to date on the latest crypto and blockchain news.
The People's Bank of China, the country's central bank, along with nine departments, issued a statement in September classifying cryptocurrency transactions as illegal financial activities. Wan has said most Chinese crypto exchanges have "retroactively" closed access to local users. She has explained:
"But loophole exists since paid KYC (to bypass country’s restriction) is a common service already. So KYC hurdle will impact boomer retail who are not tech savvy (don’t know how to VPN) and can’t access paid KYC service due to language or other informational barriers (never use Dex before)."
There has been a surge in the popularity of P2P crypto exchanges following the introduction of restrictions on cryptocurrency trading in the country. Wan has noted market makers coordinate their activities on Telegram channels, arranging "self-organized OTC transactions."
Wan claims the tightening of regulation has had a major impact on centralized platform operators, however, it has little to no pressure on the teams behind decentralized products.