Chinese authorities tightened their grip on cryptocurrencies with regulatory campaigns launched in Shenzhen and Shanghai.
Shanghai offices of the People’s Bank of China (PBoC) issued a statement that claims it would crackdown on illegal activities regarding virtual currencies and cautioned against confusion with blockchain technology, which has been headlined by President Xi Jinping's commitment to promote development.
«The issuance, financing, and trading of virtual currencies involve multiple risks,» the PBoC said last Friday, highlighting asset risk, operational risk and speculation risk as areas of concern. «Investors should enhance their risk prevention awareness and beware of being fooled,» said the regulator.
Illegal Activities
Earlier in the same day, authorities in Shenzhen also launched its own campaign to investigate illegal activities on crypto exchanges. According to the finance bureau of the Shenzhen municipality, 39 cryptocurrency exchanges have been identified as part of the investigations.
Another statement issued by multiple state departments underlined Bitcoin and Ethereum as two specific cryptocurrencies which regulators will focus on.
Plans For Own Digital Currency
In addition to an optimal blockchain outlook, tightening against cryptocurrencies occurs while plans are underway for China’s central bank to issue its own digital currency.
