Beijing’s no-tolerance policy against cryptocurrency is back in full swing again as two of the most popular crypto media outlets in China ChainNews and Odaily have vanished from the internet. ChainNews had earlier tweeted that its website would be down for 10 hours due to maintenance on Monday, however, it remained inaccessible inside as well as outside mainland China until Wednesday.
Similarly, Odaily is another popular crypto news and education platform that has gone dark in the past couple of days. This is not the first time when crypto-related platforms have become inaccessible due to pressure from Beijing. Earlier, In July Bishijie, or Coin World in English also terminated its services in mainland China.
The first major crypto crackdown in China came in May that resulted in a total shutdown of mining operations in the country as China’s Bitcoin mining share fell from over 60% to near zero. China later announced a well-laid-out plan in September to crack down on everything crypto-related. Many thought it was the strictest policy against crypto to date. Beijing also issued a warning against foreign crypto platforms offering their services to mainland China, resulting in several crypto exchanges including Huobi, OKEx, and Binance severing any form of operation in the country.
China Faces Third Wave of Crypto Crackdown
The severe crackdown in May and September made many believe that China has finally managed to eradicate crypto completely, however, the recent series of actions suggests it’s going to be a continuous process. This is mainly because it’s near impossible to ban crypto due to its decentralized nature, and it was evident when from the surge in Defi activities post-ban on foreign crypto exchanges.
The Chinese authorities recently arrested a senior government official found to be illegally mining Bitcoin and defying Beijing’s orders. This triggered the third and ongoing wave of crackdowns in the country which many believe also resulted in the recent crypto market correction.