China Cracks Down 12,000 Crypto-Focused Social Media Handles
- A China-based regulator has cracked down heavily on crypto-focused social media accounts, sweeping up around 12,000 of them.
- The Cyberspace Administration of China (CAC) aims to make the country crypto-free via a fresh clean-up campaign that it introduced recently.
A Chinese regulatory authority has recently swept up 12,000 crypto-related social media accounts in its efforts to make the country crypto-free via a fresh clean-up campaign launched since the start of crypto trading and mining last year.
Ramping up its crackdown on the crypto industry, the Cyberspace Administration of China (CAC) has ordered the social media platforms in the country to seize 12,000 accounts related to digital assets, said the internet regulator on its WeChat account on Tuesday.
Notably, the deleted social media profiles are spread across a number of sites, including Weibo, Baidu, and Tencent Holdings’ WeChat. The CAC reported that more than 51,000 illegal threads with information like “making easy money from investing in Bitcoin” had also been taken down from social media platforms in compliance with relevant laws.
Moreover, 105 websites that “hyped up” cryptocurrencies and provided tutorials for buying, selling, and mining virtual currency have also been taken down by the regulator.
CAC said in a statement that the accounts that were terminated had been misleading the internet users by “guiding” them to invest in digital assets “in the name of financial innovation and blockchain.”
Internet platforms, according to the regulator, should continue to take stringent action to prohibit crypto speculation while stepping up efforts to remove user accounts and content related to crypto investing.
The recent action is a part of a new campaign the CAC recently initiated to combat the “chaos” of crypto speculation because netizens who were “confused by” the vague claim of big profits have suffered significant losses from crypto trading.
Constant warnings
In China, where mining and trading of blockchain-based tokens were brutally banned last year, the room for crypto-related activities is constantly shrinking, intensified by the repeated warnings from the government in the wake of a market crash.
The Financial Regulatory Bureau of Shenzhen issued a warning in June that trading and speculating in cryptocurrencies directly threatened people’s “property security,” disturbed the financial system, and encouraged criminal activity.
After stating in May that the LUNA/UST demise “proves [China’s] timely and effective action,” the Economic Daily, a newspaper controlled by the Central Committee of the ruling Communist Party, warned investors in June to beware of the risk of Bitcoin prices “heading to zero.”
A light of hope: Web3
Although many local crypto enthusiasts and business owners have relocated abroad in recent years due to constant crackdown, some see a light of hope for the future of the domestic industry as local authorities commit to supporting the development of Web3.
Authorities in China, including those in Beijing and Shanghai, have leaped on board to adopt the well-liked concept in an effort to accelerate blockchain development, despite the fact that Web3 applications frequently involve cryptocurrencies and non-fungible tokens (NFTs).
A crypto journalist with over 3 years of experience in DeFi, NFT, metaverse, etc. Parth has worked with major media outlets in the crypto and finance world and has gained experience and expertise in crypto culture after surviving bear and bull markets over the years.
