China has banned financial institutions and payment companies from providing services related to cryptocurrency transactions and warned investors against speculative crypto trading.
It was China’s latest attempt to clamp down on what was a burgeoning digital trading market. Under the ban, such institutions, including banks and online payments channels, must not offer clients any service involving cryptocurrency, such as registration, trading, clearing, and settlement, three industry bodies said in a joint statement on Tuesday.
“Recently, crypto currency prices have skyrocketed and plummeted, and speculative trading of cryptocurrency has rebounded, seriously infringing on the safety of people’s property and disrupting the normal economic and financial order,” they said in the statement.
China has banned crypto exchanges and initial coin offerings but has not barred individuals from holding cryptocurrencies.
The institutions must not provide saving, trust, or pledging services of cryptocurrency, nor issue financial products related to cryptocurrency, the statement also said.
The moves were not Beijing’s first moves against the digital currency. In 2017, China shut down its local cryptocurrency exchanges, smothering a speculative market that had accounted for 90% of global bitcoin trading.
