On September 24, the People's Bank of China published the Statement on Further Preventing and Disposing of the Trading Hype Risk of cryptocurrency on its official website, which requires controlling cryptocurrency transactions. After the statement was released, several exchanges suspended or restricted partial trading services to mainland China users.
BHEX announced a permanent closure of its services; Huobi Global is gradually retiring existing mainland China users; BiKi said that it would stop operations after a clearing being completed, and BitMart will not provide any platform-related services for users for mainland China in the future. On September 28, AiCoin and Feixiaohao, two cryptocurrency market information websites, also announced decisions to stop providing relevant services for mainland China users.
Under the current tight control, exchanges act discreetly as if treading on thin ice. What is the way out for Chinese exchanges?
Looking back to the ban on Preventing the Risk of Token Issuance Financing published by China on September 4, 2017, going overseas was an opportunity for exchanges to develop and expand. In 2017, as the cryptocurrency market was extremely hot, many tokens increased by 100 times in value, which attracted a flood of new users inside and outside the circle under the wealth-creating effect of the market On September 4 that year, the Central Bank of China and other six ministries and commissions identified ICO as illegal fund-raising. After the "94 ban" was issued, the boom bubble broke and the token prices plunged. Subsequently, many cryptocurrency exchanges started to focus on providing services for overseas users instead of mainland China users. Binance, Huobi, and OKEx-- players that led the fever of going overseas-- became top international exchanges.
In 2021, the cryptocurrency market changed dramatically. Those that go overseas blindly are prone to stepping on a minefield. AS DeFi emerged, several central banks piloted digital currencies and the regulatory policies of many countries became more clear. Seen from the current security and financial industries globally, all countries in the world uphold a strict regulatory attitude to protect the legitimate rights and interests of investors and safeguard normal social and economic order and public interests.
On September 26, the author captured the new strategy of going overseas from a service adjustment announcement of AEX. "AEX, as an exchange holding licenses in Canada, the United States, Singapore, the UK, and other places, will operate in strict accordance with local law." This conveys the importance of compliance for an exchange-- Even if you transfer business to new markets, you will be cracked down without holding a local license.
It is understood that AEX is an old exchange established in 2013, with the world's top blockchain asset storage. The platform has got millions of users from more than 100 countries and regions around the world. AEX has integrated diversified financial business modules such as spot trading, contracts, saving, loans, and DeFi mining to meet the needs of different international communities.(
www.aex.com)
In fact, in June 2021, AEX already launched its globalization strategy, adjusting its operation focusing to Southeast Asia, Europe, and America. Before the new regulatory policy was issued, AEX obtained MSB licenses in the US and Canada in September. In the industry, AEX was the first player to cater to local supervisors and users through differentiated services, so that local users can "invest safely and steadily expand wealth" in the cryptocurrency world.
China is one of the world's largest cryptocurrency markets, and exchanges “marching overseas” has begun because of the impact of Chinese regulation on cryptocurrency. It is hard to say whether the exchange pattern will change again as the market is shuffled. Anyway, it will largely depend on the compliance and the value of user services of the exchange.
