October 8, 2021

More than 20 cryptocurrency companies announced their withdrawal from China

More than 20 cryptocurrency companies announced their withdrawal from China

Following a new wave of crackdowns on the cryptocurrency industry launched by Beijing on Sept. 24, 2021, more than 20 companies announced their withdrawal from the Chinese market, the China Securities Journal estimated.

In a joint notice by the People's Bank of China and nine government agencies, commercial transactions with virtual currencies are classified as illegal financial activities with the prospect of criminal prosecution, the publication pointed out.

For the first time, among the institutions that signed the central bank's statement on cryptocurrencies were the Supreme Court, the People's Procuratorate and the Ministry of Public Security, industry experts noted.

In their view, the country's cryptocurrency market has suffered heavy losses and may not have a chance to recover.

On September 24, bitcoin exchange Huobi stopped registering new users from China. The platform warned that it would delete existing accounts of residents of the country by December 31.

However, according to Bloomberg, the company made the decision to leave earlier.

On October 6, journalist Colin Wu reported that Huobi founder Li Lin decided to leave the country. He cited fears of persecution by the authorities.

Smaller local platforms including BiKi, BitMart and BHEX announced the closure.

Inner Mongolia provincial authorities said they confiscated 10,100 mining devices and shut down more than 45 cryptocurrency mining businesses. Theoretically, this would save the region 6.58 billion kWh of electricity over the year, officials specified.

The Jiangsu regional government said the miners were consuming 260,000 kWh a day and announced measures against them.

In late September, major Ehereum mining pools SparkPool and BeePool announced the shutdown. F2Pool blocked the registration of new users from China.

Chinese online commerce giant Alibaba banned the sale of cryptocurrency mining equipment on its platform. Sales in the country also stopped the largest manufacturer Bitmain mining devices.

Since September 28, access to services CoinGecko and CoinMarketCap from Chinese IP-addresses was blocked.

Recall that the head of Circle Jeremy Allaire called on the United States and other Western countries not to resemble China with regard to the regulation of cryptocurrencies.

Senator Pat Toomey said that China's opposition to digital assets presents the U.S. with a major opportunity in the crypto industry.

Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell assured that the regulator does not intend to ban virtual currencies.

Jack Evans

About the author

I became a crypto asset owner in 2014, when the industry was in its infancy. Before that, I was working in the classic US and European stock markets. Since then, I have gained extensive experience in both cryptocurrency investing and day trading. I am happy to share with readers my experience with crypto exchanges, DeFi and NFT instruments. 

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