Chinese regulators are considering banning initial coin offerings altogether.
As the country’s regulators — most notably the People’s Bank of China (PBOC) and the China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC) — take a closer look at financial measures that could counter the risk of initial coin offerings, or ICOs, simply banning the fundraising method outright is an option under consideration.
The murky legal nature of virtual currencies, as well as the lack of information disclosed by a company using an ICO as a method of fundraising, are both factors that could contribute to the decision of China’s regulators.
Within the first half of 2017, investors in the country raised a collective $325 million, or about 2.6 billion yuan, via ICOs, according to data reported by Caixin.
Read more at Caixin, Reuters, and BusinessInsider.