Options are seemingly thinning for Chinese users after crypto exchange platform Binance revealed its exodus plans from the Chinese market
Binance, the world’s leading digital assets platform, today announced that it will be getting rid of the over-the-counter marketplace for Chinese yuan at the end of the year. The platform, which has a huge volume of China-based customers, also added that it would identify accounts held by users from Mainland China and restrict the services these users can access.
“In response to the regulatory requirements of the local government, Binance C2C will delist the CNY trading zone […] on December 31, 2021. At the same time, Binance will conduct an inventory of platform users. If the platform finds out mainland China users, Binance will restrict such accounts to the withdrawal-only mode. Users will only be able to withdraw assets, cancel orders, redeem or close positions,” the company said in a Wednesday statement.
The statement comes after an intensified clampdown of cryptocurrency-related activity in the East Asian country. The exchange company justified its stance citing issues related to “regulatory requirements” as reason for ceasing Chinese yuan trades on its OTC platform.
“Binance withdrew from the Chinese mainland market in 2017 and does not engage in exchange business in mainland China. Binance has always attached great importance to compliance obligations and has always strictly complied with the relevant requirements of local regulatory agencies.”
Binance’s decision to discontinue OTC trading for the Chinese yuan comes just a few weeks after Huobi, another popular exchange operating in the region, revealed it was exiting the Chinese market. The two exchanges represent many entities operating in the cryptocurrency sector that have had to move away from China. Last month, the country’s central bank proscribed local entities from being involved with firms operating in the digital asset space.
WeChat, a popular social platform in the region, has also reportedly started blocking searches for crypto trading platforms in China. Chinese journalist Colin Wu shared a tweet claiming that sites in the country have either blocked or are in the process of blocking exchanges and other crypto platforms.
Elsewhere, in South Korea, one of the leading digital assets platforms in the region, Coinone, is looking to enforce anti-money laundering regulations. The exchange disclosed yesterday that it had set up an anti-money laundering base and also created awareness of the issue among its employees. It is currently submitting reports on unusual transactions to financial authorities.
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