China’s tech hub says emphatic ‘no’ to cryptocurrency as Shenzhen’s central bank branch shows zero tolerance
- Shenzhen was one of the key bases for China’s cryptocurrency investment community
- Financial authorities in the city have carried out repeated campaigns to halt anything remotely connected to cryptocurrency
The Shenzhen branch of the People’s Bank of China (PBOC), China’s central bank, has “cleansed” 11 companies for their involvement in suspected illegal cryptocurrency activities as part of a special campaign to show a zero-tolerance attitude to cryptocurrency trading, according to a report by state-run Shanghai Securities News on Tuesday.
The newspaper did not provide specifics on how these companies were dealt with.
The city’s financial authorities, however, have carried out repeated campaigns to halt anything remotely connected to cryptocurrency since digital tokens like bitcoin are seen as a threat to the country’s financial stability.
In February 2021, Shenzhen shut down eight companies involved in activities such as distributing wealth management products backed by bitcoin, promoting digital tokens as investment vehicles, as well as introducing overseas cryptocurrency projects to domestic investors.
