Crypto exchange stops taking China users as Beijing widens ban

China's latest pronouncement is the culmination of years of attempted crackdown on the rise of Bitcoin and its peers

Huobi, China’s largest Bitcoin exchange, has halted new registrations for domestic users, taking one of the first actions to comply with Beijing’s latest crypto ban.
 

The exchange operator has stopped letting traders use mainland China mobile numbers to register new accounts, after the People’s Bank of China said Friday all crypto-related transactions will be considered illicit financial activity. New sign-ups are still available for Hong Kong users, but mainland China is no longer an option for new-account creation. A Huobi spokesperson declined to comment.

China’s latest pronouncement -- issued by the central bank along with nine other government agencies including the