China’s central bank, the People’s Bank of China (PBoC), has issued a new public notice “reminding” investors of the risks that are linked with Initial Coin Offerings (ICOs) and crypto trading.
The notice, published from Shanghai, stressed the austere line that has been adopted by the country’s Office for Special Remediation of Internet Financial Risks, which first launched a blanket ban on ICOs last year.
The notice criticized the “unauthorized” and “illegal” ICO financing model for posing a “serious disruption” to the “economic, financial and social order”:
“[ICOs are] suspected of illegally selling tokens, illegally issuing securities, illegal criminal activities, financial fraud, pyramid schemes and other illegal and criminal activities.”
The PBoC has hailed the successes of the country’s strict restrictions that have focused on ICOs and a wide range of crypto-related activities to date, saying that:
“[T]he global share of domestic virtual currency transactions has dropped from the initial 90% to less than 5%, effectively avoiding the virtual currency bubble caused by skyrocketing global virtual currency prices in the second half of last year in China’s financial market. The impact has been highly recognized by the community.”
Nevertheless, the bank acknowledged that numerous challenges are still around, especially the prevalence of offshore exchanges that are utilized by investors to elude the mainland ban.
The PBoC noted that the Office for Special Remediation of Internet Financial Risks has now implemented targeted measures, including blocking up to 124 IP address that are suspected of offering a gateway to domestic crypto traders.
It further pointed to more focused efforts to “clean-up” payment channels and reinforce monitoring and inspection mechanisms, stressing that around 3,000 accounts have already been closed because of augmented oversight. Lastly, the notice cited recent measures have been assumed to counter the circulation of crypto “hype” materials.
Posted from my blog with SteemPress : http://www.cryptalnews.com/pboc-notice-ico-crypto-risks/