ICO is officially banned in China !!!

[wego]

Breaking news!

ICO is officially banned in China!

Here is the joint announcement from The People 's Bank of China, Central Network Office, Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, State Administration for Industry and Commerce, China Banking Regulatory Commission, SFC, CIRC: http://www.pbc.gov.cn/goutongjiaoliu/113456/113469/3374222/index.html

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近期，国内通过发行代币形式包括首次代币发行（ICO）进行融资的活动大量涌现，投机炒作盛行，涉嫌从事非法金融活动，严重扰乱了经济金融秩序。为贯彻落实全国金融工作会议精神，保护投资者合法权益，防范化解金融风险，依据《中华人民共和国人民银行法》、《中华人民共和国商业银行法》、《中华人民共和国证券法》、《中华人民共和国网络安全法》、《中华人民共和国电信条例》、《非法金融机构和非法金融业务活动取缔办法》等法律法规，现将有关事项公告如下：

一、准确认识代币发行融资活动的本质属性
代币发行融资是指融资主体通过代币的违规发售、流通，向投资者筹集比特币、以太币等所谓“虚拟货币”，本质上是一种未经批准非法公开融资的行为，涉嫌非法发售代币票券、非法发行证券以及非法集资、金融诈骗、传销等违法犯罪活动。有关部门将密切监测有关动态，加强与司法部门和地方政府的工作协同，按照现行工作机制，严格执法，坚决治理市场乱象。发现涉嫌犯罪问题，将移送司法机关。
代币发行融资中使用的代币或“虚拟货币”不由货币当局发行，不具有法偿性与强制性等货币属性，不具有与货币等同的法律地位，不能也不应作为货币在市场上流通使用。

二、任何组织和个人不得非法从事代币发行融资活动
本公告发布之日起，各类代币发行融资活动应当立即停止。已完成代币发行融资的组织和个人应当做出清退等安排，合理保护投资者权益，妥善处置风险。有关部门将依法严肃查处拒不停止的代币发行融资活动以及已完成的代币发行融资项目中的违法违规行为。

三、加强代币融资交易平台的管理
本公告发布之日起，任何所谓的代币融资交易平台不得从事法定货币与代币、“虚拟货币”相互之间的兑换业务，不得买卖或作为中央对手方买卖代币或“虚拟货币”，不得为代币或“虚拟货币”提供定价、信息中介等服务。
对于存在违法违规问题的代币融资交易平台，金融管理部门将提请电信主管部门依法关闭其网站平台及移动APP，提请网信部门对移动APP在应用商店做下架处置，并提请工商管理部门依法吊销其营业执照。

四、各金融机构和非银行支付机构不得开展与代币发行融资交易相关的业务
各金融机构和非银行支付机构不得直接或间接为代币发行融资和“虚拟货币”提供账户开立、登记、交易、清算、结算等产品或服务，不得承保与代币和“虚拟货币”相关的保险业务或将代币和“虚拟货币”纳入保险责任范围。金融机构和非银行支付机构发现代币发行融资交易违法违规线索的，应当及时向有关部门报告。

五、社会公众应当高度警惕代币发行融资与交易的风险隐患
代币发行融资与交易存在多重风险，包括虚假资产风险、经营失败风险、投资炒作风险等，投资者须自行承担投资风险，希望广大投资者谨防上当受骗。
对各类使用“币”的名称开展的非法金融活动，社会公众应当强化风险防范意识和识别能力，及时举报相关违法违规线索。

六、充分发挥行业组织的自律作用
各类金融行业组织应当做好政策解读，督促会员单位自觉抵制与代币发行融资交易及“虚拟货币”相关的非法金融活动，远离市场乱象，加强投资者教育，共同维护正常的金融秩序。

[Nawaytes]

I think it's a policy of the Chinese government to protect the citizens from fraud with the ICO. As we know there is many ICOs became a fraud, and China's acting quickly to make regulations on it. Nothing bad can happen if every ICO developer records their name on the official government list to become a legal company. CMIIW.

[aleksej996]

Good thing they didn't ban the Internet itself by this point. Oh wait, they pretty much did.

ICO are a bad idea and most of them are either scams or leave the investor with the same result. Chinese government seems to ban anything with possible bad effects on people, so I am not surprised.

[redcow]

Good article about this subject:
m/2017/09/04/chinese-icos-china-bans-fundraising-through-initial-coin-offerings-report-says.html]https://www.c[Suspicious link removed]m/2017/09/04/chinese-icos-china-bans-fundraising-through-initial-coin-offerings-report-says.html

[olushakes]

This is bound to happen but Op would have done a better job by translating it before posting as this will save the stress of having to go through Google translation before being able to read but at the same time what the Chinese government wants is regulation in which they want it to be routed through them but that is not a problem but the problem is how exactly do they want to stop it?.

[erikmatik]

Can we request for translation? Thanks!!!

[Cipherr]

While you wait for translation go look at the prices of NEO and BNB. Neo is down to $17 dollars from like 34 today, and BNB is down to .61 cents from $1.70 or so today. Absolute bloodbath.

[PhucS]

I read the news four days ago, People's Bank of China seems to be very concerned about the high risks that ICO projects bring to investors. So far, the market for cryptocurrency in China is still not controlled, ICO projects can easily call for capital to be created everywhere, and at any time, without a sustainable Blockchain platform. This can pose risks to potential investors. Many businesses can use these tools to mobilize real money through virtual currency as a way to circumvent the existing laws and regulations in the financial market. It is also possible that ICO will cause another bubble in the virtual currency market.

[gentlemand]

Is anyone surprised by this? Bitcoin looks positively benign compared to the perceived damage unfettered ICOs could do. I expect more of this in other countries too. The writing was on the wall, doused in fuel and set on fire.

[kryptqnick]

My God! This is very bad for NEO investors, including me! We thought that neo is the Chinese ethereum on which it's easy to build icos. That must've made this coin very popular and expensive! Now, as China banned icos, nobody will actually use neo. I mean, sure programming languages are a big advantage of neo above eth, but that's not enough to beat it if Chinese don't launch icos!

[joseafonso123az]

This decision was probably made because most of ICO's can't sustain themselves and just sink after being officialy launched. It looks like a smart decision by them, so they avoid running on new tokens every now and then and can focus on establishing the real coins that exist in the cryptocurrency world

[uslfd]

My quick and dirty translation of the notice:

Recently there are a lot of ICO activities .These encourage speculation, illegal financial activities, wreaking havoc in the financial world. To act on previous financial conference press results, we have to protect legal investors’ legal right & prevent financial risk, according to “blah blah financial law”, “blah blah financial regulation”, we make this notice:
1.   Correctly understand the nature of ICO acitivites
ICO is a disguised fundraising activity. ETH, so called crypto, is indeed an illegal and unapproved way of financing activity. It’s illegal issuance of shares, illegal financing activity, financial fraud, fraudulent sales activities etc. Related govt regulatory body will work closely together to rectify this mess and intensify law enforcement.
Any coins from ICO or tokens not issued by Monetary Authority, do not bare legal monetary identity, do not bare same legal status as legal tender, and cannot be used like legal tender in the market.
2.   Any organisation or individual are not allowed to participate in illegal ICO financing
From today onwards, all ICO must stop. Any organisation or individual involved in ICO that are completed must arrange cancellation / repayment. It must protect investors’ right, carefully deal with risks. Any further ICO or illegal activities related to past ICO would be penalised.
3.   Reinforce coin, ICO exchange platform management
From today onwards, so called exchange platforms are not allowed to participate in exchange of fiat vs tokens, fiat vs crypto. They are also not allowed to buy/ sell as a centralised participant. Not allowed to provide pricing or information as an intermediary.
Any platform against these rules will have their website, mobile apps shut down and license to operate revoked.
4.   Financial institutions and non bank payment organisations are not allowed to participate in ICO and its related business directly or indirectly
This includes products or servicing related to creating accounts, registration, trading, settlement etc They are not allowed to act as guarantor in crypto related insurance. Any suspicious activity should be reported immediately.
5.   Public should be vigilant against risk of cypto ICO
ICO has different layers of risk. They include false asset risk, opreations failure risk, speculative risk. Individual investors must protect themselves and bear the risks themselves. Members of public should be vigilant of any ICO activities done in the name of “coin”. Any suspicious activity should be reported immediately.
6.   Financial industry should unite together to unleash self-regulatory power
Finacnial organistaions should carefully understand law and regulations, remind participants to naturally fight against illegal ICO activities to save the market from this hot mess, continually to educate people and enhance a healthy and normal financial order.

[pedrog]

It's a bloodbath, time to buy the dip or jump the ship?

Anyone have any insights on this crash, it seems to be affecting the entire ecosystem.

[theta]

https://www.cnbc.com/2017/09/04/chinese-icos-china-bans-fundraising-through-initial-coin-offerings-report-says.html

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-china-finance-digital/china-bans-initial-coin-offerings-as-illegal-fundraising-idUSKCN1BF0R7

https://techcrunch.com/2017/09/04/chinas-central-bank-has-banned-icos

[MostHigh]

Well this is a big blow to NEO because without ICOs the growth of NEO will be stuttered but i have been a victim of many ICO scams so i will say this is a step in the right direction, until there is an authentic way of identifying a good ICOs many countries will start banning ICOs  

[davegee]

Good. These ICO's should all be banned worldwide. Same old developers creating pretty websites and conning noobs. It gives BTC and any GENUINE cryptocurrency bad press.

[Winderer]

Bad news for the market in short-term, but good news in long-term. They should've done something with scams, and finally they made it.

[kassimo]

Brief English explanation of the announcement: (I am not a good translator so correct me if necessary)

1. ICOs = illegal fundraising. Bitcoin and Ethereum are not currencies and should not be used as currencies in transactions.
2. No organizations and individuals are allowed to start ICOs, and ongoing ICOs should stop immediately with investments send back to investors.
3. (Important) No cryptocurrency exchanges are allowed to offer currency-to-"cryptocurrency" exchange any longer, a.k.a. e.g. no CNY-to-Bitcoin or Bitcoin-to-CNY exchange allowed.
4. Financial institutes that are not banks must not offer any related services.
5. Investors into ICOs must take full responsibility into their actions (that is to say, if you lose your assets through such "investment", no laws would protect you)
6. blah...

[diguyo]

Impacting everything across the board it seems - didn't expect this to have such an affect to be honest...might be a good time to buy.

[squatter]

Is anyone surprised by this? Bitcoin looks positively benign compared to the perceived damage unfettered ICOs could do. I expect more of this in other countries too. The writing was on the wall, doused in fuel and set on fire.

It's almost reminiscent of the PBOC banning Bitcoin. So I guess they'll have to ban ICOs another dozen or so times, too.

This wasn't expected from me. I figured it was all up in the air. I was surprised at the very hands-off approach that the SEC took ("maybe some tokens are securities, but we're not doing anything right now") and I thought maybe a similar approach would be taken by other governments. I guess not.