PBoC Says It Will Keep High Pressure on Crypto Trading

China’s central bank said it will keep applying high regulatory pressure on crypto trading, continuing the country’s most severe crackdown since 2017.

• On Saturday, the People's Bank of China published the conclusions of a meeting where regulators discussed progress on monetary policy in the first half of this year and next steps for the remainder of 2021.
• Crypto trading was mentioned along with platform companies, likely referring to fintech giants such as Ant Group. The PBoC and other government departments have ramped up regulation on the internet finance industry since they abruptly cancelled Ant Group's planned blockbuster initial public offering in November 2020. On Saturday, the central bank said it will continue regulatory rectification work on the platform industry.
• The PBoC also said it will promote "green" finance, open financial markets, continue its de-risking campaign and pursue yuan internationalization and the rollout of the digital yuan.
• In May, three financial industry associations announced their members cannot provide virtual currency services such as opening banks accounts. The central bank published the announcement on its official channels, hinting its support for the measures.
• In June, the PBoC held a hearing with major banks and payments companies in which it reiterated that they must not offer crypto-related services.
• The Financial Stability Committee of China's cabinet, the State Council, said in May that it would crack down on crypto mining because it brings financial risk.