China officially banned ICOs today. According to a statement released by seven financial regulators in the country, ICOs were declared to be illegal financial activities which seriously disrupted the economic and financial order of the country.
The relevant departments will closely monitor the dynamics, strengthen cooperation with the judicial departments and local governments. In accordance with the existing working mechanism strict law enforcement will be enforce to resolutely control the market chaos.
According to the document, the tokens or “virtual currency” used in cryptofinancing are not issued by the monetary authorities and therefore do not have legal and monetary properties, do not have legal status equivalent to money, and can not and should not be circulated as a currency in the market use.
As of the date of this announcement, all types of currency issuance financing activities shall cease immediately. The organizations and individuals who have completed the financing of the tokens should make arrangements for repatriation to protect the interests of investors and properly handle the risks.
The relevant departments will seriously investigate and deal with tokens issued and the completion of the tokens issued financing projects in these illegal acts.
As at the date of this announcement, any so-called tokens financing trading platform shall not engage in the exchange of legal currency and tokens, “virtual currency”, and may not be traded or sold as a central counterparty to sell tokens or “virtual currency” Not for the tokens or “virtual currency” to provide pricing, information services and other services.
Read more here in Chinese or (translated to English by Google)
