Huobi Halts New registrations for Chinese Users

Huobi, one of the leading cryptocurrency exchange platforms, has announced that it will no longer accept the new registration of Chinese users on the platform. This announcement came after the Chinese government announced that cryptocurrency transactions were illegal.

The Chinese government has been tough on the cryptocurrency sector in recent years. Not only has the country banned crypto transactions, but it has also introduced restrictions against Bitcoin mining.

Huobi Halts New User Registration

The ongoing crypto crackdown in China has forced cryptocurrency exchanges in the country to halt or minimize their operations. Huobi has announced that it will no longer accept new registrations from Chinese users following this crackdown.

It is not the first time that Chine has declared that crypto transactions are prohibited. However, the Chinese market regulator tends to remind investors about this restriction.

On Friday, the People’s Bank of China reminded investors that cryptocurrency transactions were banned in the country. This led to Bitcoin shedding around $3K in one hour before the market recovered shortly after.

Besides imposing a ban on new users, Huobi also announced that it would ban existing users from accessing the platform by the end of 2021 to comply with the Chinese regulatory laws.

“To comply with local laws and regulations, Huobi Global has ceased account registration for new users in Mainland China. Huobi Global will gradually retire existing Mainland China user accounts by 24:00 (UTC+8) on Dec 31, 2021, and ensure the safety of users’ assets,” said Huobi in the announcement.

In June, Huobi also blocked existing Chinese users from trading crypto derivatives after yet another crackdown on crypto trading.

Other Exchanges Follow Suit

Huobi is not the only exchange platform that is gradually ceasing operations in China. Binance recently told Bloomberg that it halted its operations in China. It also stated that it blocks IP addresses from China from accessing the exchange platform.

Speaking to Bloomberg, Binance stated that it was taking compliance obligations seriously and committed to complying with the local regulatory framework in every jurisdiction they operate. Following a regulatory crackdown on Binance, the exchange has been keen on changing its policies to achieve compliance.

Despite Binance and Huobi halting their operations in China, the two are still operating in Hong Kong. OKEx, another leading cryptocurrency exchange, is still accepting new sign-ups from Mainland China and Hong Kong. However, this could be because the exchange does not require users to specify their locations when creating accounts.

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