Chinese regulators unite forces to crack down on crypto

The Chinese central bank is setting up a “coordination mechanism” with state agencies to continue battling crypto.

The Chinese government is getting more serious about cracking down on the cryptocurrency industry as state authorities are bringing forces to combat crypto operations in the country.

The People’s Bank of China (PBoC) officially announced on Friday a set of new measures to fight against crypto adoption in China, including promoting stronger inter-departmental coordination in cracking down crypto activity.

10 Chinese state authorities, including the PBoC, the Cyberspace Administration of China and the Ministry of Public Security, have established a “coordination mechanism” to prevent financial players from participating in any cryptocurrency transactions. According to the announcement, the involved authorities and institutions have completed significant improvements to crypto monitoring platforms to identify illegal cryptocurrency transactions efficiently.

The PBoC stressed a wide number of government agencies was now going to be cracking down on crypto closely in compliance with the Chinese laws:

“Financial management departments, cybersecurity and information departments, telecommunications departments, public security departments, and market supervision departments work closely together to cut off payment channels, dispose of relevant websites and mobile applications in accordance with the law.”

Related: China to ‘maintain a high-pressure situation’ on crypto, official says

Wen Xinxiang, director of the payment and settlement department at the People’s Bank of China, expressed concerns over the growing popularity of cryptocurrencies and stablecoins, calling for more measures for the traditional financial system to compete with the industry.

The latest moves by the Chinese government further reaffirm China’s anti-crypto stance as local authorities have already shut down multiple mining farms and suspended crypto trading this year. Chinese regulators had imposed similar crypto restrictions before, banning crypto exchanges from providing services in China back in 2017. Shortly after China enforced the crypto exchange ban, Bitcoin reached $20,000 for the first time in December 2017.