The People’s Bank of China (PBOC) has reaffirmed its commitment against cryptocurrency trading after confirming a resurgence in market speculation. The Chinese apex bank is nudging several government institutions to strengthen their crackdown on business and financial activities involving virtual currencies and curb related illegal operations.
Stablecoins Yet To Meet AML Requirements, China Says
In 2021, China issued a ban on all cryptocurrency trading and mining activities, citing a potential threat to the nation’s financial stability and energy control system. Prior to this policy, the Asian giant had been one of the fastest-growing crypto hubs with the highest mining activity in the world. Four years later, the PBOC has reiterated this hostile stance against virtual assets despite a significant increase in cryptocurrency adoption and regulation globally. This development came on November 28, 2025, in a meeting centered on “The Coordination Mechanism for Combating Cryptocurrency Trading Speculation.”
Notably, this policy discussion involved representatives from 13 government departments and agencies, including the Ministry of Justice, the State Financial Regulatory Commission, and the China Securities Regulatory Commission, among others. While the PBOC acknowledged the steadfast implementation of the government’s “Notice on Further Preventing and Handling Risks of Virtual Currency Trading and Speculation” issued in 2021, they also highlighted an increase in trading speculations and related illicit activities, requiring new methods for risk prevention and control.
In particular, the meeting reaffirmed that no form of cryptocurrencies qualifies as a legal tender, including stablecoins, which they claim still fail to satisfy certain regulatory requirements.
The statement read:
Virtual currency-related business activities constitute illegal financial activities. Stablecoins are a form of virtual currency, and currently cannot effectively meet requirements for customer identification and anti-money laundering, posing a risk of being used for illegal activities such as money laundering, fundraising fraud, and illegal cross-border fund transfers.
Moving forward, the People’s Bank of China admonished all concerned government institutions to bolster regulatory actions in enforcing the existing prohibitive policy on cryptocurrencies and all related criminal actions, in line with President Xi Jinping’s Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era.
The directive read:
All units should deepen coordination and cooperation, improve regulatory policies and legal basis, focus on key links such as information flow and capital flow, strengthen information sharing, further enhance monitoring capabilities, severely crack down on illegal and criminal activities, protect the property safety of the people, and maintain the stability of the economic and financial order.
Crypto Market Overview
At the time of writing, the total market crypto cap stands at $3.06, reflecting a 0.12% gain in the last day. Meanwhile, total trading volume is down 32.95% to $81.28 billion.
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