When China crypto prohibition, a sweeping government crackdown on cryptocurrency trading and mining that began in 2021 and fully took effect by 2023. Also known as China's crypto ban, it wasn’t just a policy shift—it was a seismic event that sent ripple effects through every major crypto market. Before the ban, China controlled over 70% of Bitcoin mining and was home to the world’s largest crypto exchanges. Then, overnight, mining rigs were shut down, exchanges like Huobi and OKX pulled out, and domestic trading platforms vanished from app stores. The government didn’t just restrict crypto—it declared it a threat to financial stability, monetary sovereignty, and social order.
The crypto mining ban, a core part of China’s crackdown that targeted energy-intensive Bitcoin mining operations. Also known as mining shutdown, it forced miners to flee to places like the U.S., Kazakhstan, and Nigeria. Meanwhile, the cryptocurrency ban China, the broader legal prohibition on all peer-to-peer and exchange-based crypto transactions for citizens. Also known as crypto trading ban, it turned ordinary users into underground traders using P2P platforms and offshore wallets. These two policies—mining and trading bans—worked together to erase China’s role as a crypto hub.
What’s often missed is how this forced the rest of the world to adapt. Countries like Canada and the U.S. saw a flood of mining hardware and capital. DeFi platforms redesigned their user flows to avoid Chinese IP addresses. Stablecoins like USDT became the de facto currency for cross-border trade in Asia, even as China pushed its own digital yuan. The ban didn’t kill crypto—it moved it. And it exposed how fragile global crypto markets were to political decisions in one country.
Today, China’s stance hasn’t changed. Mining is still illegal. Trading is still blocked for retail users. But the underground market thrives. People still trade crypto through friends, QR codes, and encrypted apps. The government’s goal was control, but the result was a more decentralized, harder-to-track crypto ecosystem outside its borders. What you’ll find in the posts below are real stories from people who lived through the ban—how they moved assets, lost money on fake exchanges, and adapted when their wallets got frozen. You’ll also see how other countries like Taiwan and Vietnam responded differently, and why some crypto projects vanished overnight while others survived by going global. This isn’t history. It’s a warning and a roadmap.
Alipay and WeChat Pay enforce China's crypto ban by blocking transactions, monitoring user behavior, and reporting suspicious activity. Despite loopholes in encrypted messaging, the government's control over digital payments makes crypto use extremely risky.
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