Chinese Messaging App WeChat Set To Ban All Accounts Associated With Crypto And NFTs

The crypto industry has experienced a lot of turmoil since 2021 till date. There have been many calls for regulations, mining bans, crypto gain taxes, etc.

All these issues have made the sector very uncomfortable for investors. Of course, amid all that, the latest market crash hasn’t helped the situation either. But it seems that more hits are still in the pipeline for the crypto industry.

The most recent issue now is the ban of crypto-related content on WeChat. This ban is coming from China again against the crypto industry. Recall that in 2021, China sent miners out of its territories with complaints of excessive power consumption through mining.

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The Chinese Government hasn’t looked favorably on crypto for some time now. Anything that has to do with digital assets and the blockchain, in general, seems like a headache in the country. Before now, China was the hub of crypto mining. But the Government stopped everything and forced miners to seek refuge in neighboring countries like Iran, Kazakhstan, and the US.

Notably, the massive entrance into Iran and Kazakhstan made the countries embrace crypto more, although they placed some restrictions on miners.

China Crackdowns And Crypto Activities

China pushed mining activities away from its shores but continued researching more on CBDCs. But now, the recent update on WeChat ToS has stopped digital asset activities on the platform.

WeChat stands as the largest social network in China. It has more than 1 billion active users, and none of these users are permitted to discuss anything related to digital assets.

Users were unaware of this update until Colin Wu, a journalist in Hong Kong, discovered it. From the details, it is clear that Non-Fungible tokens are also added to the digital assets not to be promoted on WeChat.

The ban details are that all the public accounts on the platform that supports, trade, issue, or finances and NFTs won’t operate anymore.

The only way is that these accounts can be active but would no longer appear on search results. Instead, they’ll be placed under what is known as a “shadowban,” a practice allowing active members to communicate but not engage new members. However, the ToS also stated that the accounts might be banned after considering the extent to which they violate the Term of Service.

Other coins have been having issues with regulations except for NFTs that the Government ignored. But now, this ToS is targeting NFTs.

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China Times said NFT platforms have increased from 100 to more than 500 this year. So, this recent attention might reduce the speed of its growth in the sector. Also, a case related to NFT in the Hangzhou Internet Court may have attracted regulators’ attention to the industry.

Featured image from Pexels, chart from TradingView.com