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- China ordered domestic banks and payment platforms not to provide crypto services, Reuters reported.
- The bank also ordered them to cut the payment channels of clients involved in crypto.
- Bitcoin dropped 8% on Monday amid a wide crackdown by Chinese regulators.
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China has ordered domestic banks and payment platforms not to provide services related to virtual currencies on Monday, further escalating the country's crackdown on the cryptocurrency ecosystem, Reuters first reported.
The People's Bank of China released a statement that revealed it met with several banks, including the Commercial Bank of China, the Agricultural Bank of China, the Construction Bank of China, Postal Savings Bank of China, the Industrial Bank, and Ant Group's mobile payment platform Alipay.
PBOC also ordered the institutions to cut the payment channels of clients involved in cryptocurrency transactions.
"Speculative trading in virtual currencies roils economic and financial order, spawns the risks of criminal activities such as illegal asset transfers and money laundering, and endangers people's wealth," the PBOC said in a statement.
After the meeting, some banks-such as AgBank, ICBC, CCB – and Alipay all released individual statements saying they would be more thorough in identifying the clients to root out illegal cryptocurrency-related activities.
China has been ramping up its regulation of cryptocurrencies.
Over the weekend, authorities stepped up their crackdown on cryptocurrency mining by ordering 26 of the biggest miners in the Sichuan province to halt operations.
Bitcoin dropped 8% on Monday following the news. Other cryptocurrencies also dropped sharply, with ether down around 6% and binance coin roughly 4% lower, according to Coinmarketcap.
