China virtual currency events moved or delayed as central bank bans digital coin fundraising
One summit scheduled for Beijing has been moved to Hong Kong and another delayed, while a third in another city has been cancelled. Analysts say the sudden ban on initial coin offerings has chilled the industry
Two conferences on cryptocurrencies and related technologies in China’s capital Beijing have been abruptly moved or delayed while a third in a provincial city has been cancelled, on the same day as the central bank announced a ban on a type of funding widely used by digital currency companies.
The People’s Bank of China said the practice of initial coin offerings (ICOs) – fundraising by the issue of digital currencies – was illegal and that 90 per cent of the ICOs launched in China were found to have been fraudulent.
The sudden announcement in a circular on the central bank’s website sent a chill through the cryptocurrency industry in China, with the value of bitcoins dropping as much as 7 per cent after the release of the statement.
Bitcoin trading services provider Bitkan had organised the BTC & Blockchain Summit to be held in Beijing on September 10, but said on Monday it would move the event to Hong Kong instead.
“For us, our summit has no relationship with ICO, but here is the 19th Party Congress,” said BitKan operations director Sandy Liang, referring to the upcoming five-yearly Communist Party meeting at which key leadership decisions are taken. “So the security in Beijing is quite tight.”