The Chinese National Bank has upheld the ICO ban (public offering of coins / digital tokens), declaring this fundraiser to be illegal. This news has led to a serious downturn in the entire cryptographic market, including cryptoLooks such as Bitkine and Ether, which are generally unaffected by these measures.
There is a message on the Bank's website that "all ICO activities should be suspended immediately". "Organizations and people who have already completed ICO campaigns must return the funds to investors to protect their legitimate rights and interests and to avoid any risk," the provision continues.
Websites and apps must also be deleted
The ban also includes the removal of any ICO-related websites and applications. Telecommunication companies must stop access to them. The people behind these public offerings should stop turning the crypto-money into cash and the authorities will withdraw their commercial licenses.
However, these measures taken by China should not surprise us, as they are nothing new. Earlier this year, the state had banned trading with any crypto-phone for several months.
As a result, 40% of the ICO market stopped working
According to various sources, 40% of ICO's trade is happening exactly in China, and in absolute terms this is about $ 1 billion. The phenomenon gained such a speed that almost everyone could raise money by offering coins or so-called. digital tokens.
The boom still started last year, but the state authorities have just managed to catch up. For example, the US is trying to put an official legislative framework along with a few more countries.
"Financial and non-banking organizations shall not directly and indirectly offer, in any form, goods and services related to ICOs or digital currencies."
South Korea is also working on the issue
The news from China comes at the same time that South Korea made a similar statement. According to the Financial Commission in the country, ICOs will face penalties as they are in violation of the law on raising funds.
Bitcoin does not belong to the ICO's column
In the ban, however, there are no crypto-lobes such as Bitcoin and Ethereum. Yet yesterday the market reacted negatively to the news and there was a serious downturn, and today the key cryptocurrency have grown slightly, and currently they are between 3 and 7% lower than 24 hours ago.
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