Major cryptocurrency exchanges cut ties with users in China following the Chinese government’s latest crackdown on crypto. Huobi has stopped letting new users in China sign up for its services while Binance has blocked account registrations using Chinese mobile phone numbers.
Major Crypto Exchanges Stop Signing Chinese Users
Following China’s latest crackdown, several cryptocurrency exchanges and service providers have said they have started severing ties with users in China.
Crypto exchange Huobi announced Sunday that it will “gradually retire existing mainland China users.” The exchange wrote:
To comply with local laws and regulations, Huobi Global has stopped registering accounts for new users in Mainland China, effective September 24, 2021 (UTC + 8). Huobi Global will gradually retire existing mainland China user accounts by 24:00 (UTC+8) on Dec 31, 2021.
Huobi Group co-founder Du Jun told Reuters: “The same day we saw the notice, we started to take corrective action.”
Meanwhile, Binance said it has blocked account registrations using Chinese mobile phone numbers and its app is also no longer available for download in China. A spokesperson for the exchange said:
Binance takes its compliance obligations very seriously and is committed to following the requirements of local regulators wherever we operate.
Binance has been under scrutiny from a long list of regulators worldwide, including those in the U.S., U.K., Netherlands, South Africa, Hong Kong, Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Lithuania, Italy, and Canada. On Monday, the exchange ended some services in Singapore.
Tokenpocket, a crypto wallet provider, also said in a notice to customers that it would end user services in mainland China in order to comply with Chinese regulations.
Some people see the crypto crackdown by the Chinese government as positive news that has little effect on the crypto industry. Galaxy Digital CEO Mike Novogratz recently explained that China has “less and less” influence in the crypto market. Meanwhile, several U.S. lawmakers see the Chinese crackdown as a big opportunity for the U.S. to lead in the area of cryptocurrency.
