TechFlow News, February 6: Eight Chinese government departments, including the People’s Bank of China, jointly issued a notice on further preventing and addressing risks related to virtual currencies. The notice emphasizes strengthening oversight of financial institutions, intermediaries, and technology service providers. Financial institutions (including non-bank payment institutions) are prohibited from providing account opening, fund transfer, and clearing and settlement services for virtual currency-related business activities; from issuing or selling virtual currency-related financial products; from accepting virtual currencies or related financial products as collateral or pledge; from conducting insurance business linked to virtual currencies or including virtual currencies within the scope of insurance liability; and from enhancing risk monitoring—promptly reporting any leads on violations or illegal activities to relevant authorities.
Financial institutions (including non-bank payment institutions) are also prohibited from providing custody, clearing, and settlement services for real-world asset tokenization-related business activities—and related financial products—without prior approval. Intermediary institutions and information technology service providers must not offer intermediary or technical services for such unauthorized real-world asset tokenization-related business activities or related financial products. (Jin10)
