China shuts down 13 underground crypto trading apps, one year after ban
Regulators in Beijing have removed 13 apps involved in cryptocurrency trading, a year after the country declared all crypto-related transactions illegal.
The latest crackdown, carried out by the Beijing Local Financial Supervision and Administration, was revealed in a blog post by the People’s Court of Chaoyang District on a verified social media account. Chaoyang is one of Beijing’s largest and wealthiest districts.
The administration said it had also shut down 23 crypto media websites and online accounts belonging to 440 people promoting cryptocurrencies, as well as banned two bank accounts suspected of offering over-the-counter cryptocurrency trading.
The People’s Bank of China, the country’s central bank, has blocked 10 addresses for downloading crypto exchange apps, a crypto trading app and 32 domain names related to cryptocurrencies, according to the blog post, which did not name any apps, websites or bloggers.
See related article: China takes aim at corruption in underground Bitcoin mines
The crackdown, which was coordinated across various government departments, was launched after the Beijing Chaoyang District Court suggested that the government take a closer look at crypto exchanges that were still operating in mainland China after the September 2021 crypto ban.
After China banned cryptocurrency trading and mining last September, there was an exodus of cryptocurrency exchanges, wallet providers, miners and crypto media out of mainland China. But some miners and exchanges went underground.
The country’s central bank says cryptocurrency creates economic instability and facilitates financial crime. However, some commentators say the central bank is more concerned about people using crypto to move their money out of China.
The Chaoyang District Court said in the post that it first became aware of a case in March involving a cryptocurrency exchange named Ou Yi, which still offers trading services to Chinese users. Ou Yi is the Chinese name of crypto exchange OKX, a Seychelles-based exchange that originated in China.
A check off Discard revealed that OKX was still available in mainland China and supported direct purchases of cryptocurrencies using the Chinese yuan. Discard has contacted OKX for comment.
See related article: China Banned Bitcoin Mining, Becomes World’s No. 2 Bitcoin Miner
OKX still received significant traffic from China after the empty crypto ban, according to a May report from the media outlet Cointelegraph. Currently, the exchange ranks 20th globally by 24-hour trading volume, according to CoinMarketCap.
