China’s WeChat Updates Policy To Ban Crypto, NFT-related Accounts

WeChat, China’s biggest social media platform, has just announced a ban on all crypto and NFT-related accounts. The move is the latest example of China’s strict position when it comes to crypto.

All about the WeChat crypto and NFT ban

The Hong Kong-based crypto news reporter Colin Wu shared the updated policy on Twitter on Monday. In the tweet, Wu notes that public accounts on WeChat that involve “the issuance, trading and financing of crypto and NFTs” are subject to a ban. The reporter also highlights that WeChat, has an astounding 1.1 billion daily active users in China.

To be clear, the Chinese government does not technically control WeChat or its policy on banning crypto and NFTs. However, it is subject to the stringent rules that Chinese companies must follow. Significantly, it must share data with the Chinese government under the China Internet Security Law and National Intelligence Law. As a result, many critics and observers of the Chinese government see WeChat as somewhat of a surveillance tool.

To say that China has a strained relationship with crypto and NFTs is a huge understatement. Indeed, the country has gone out of its way to ban use of most global cryptocurrencies and NFT platforms in recent months.

With all that said, China’s relationship to crypto isn’t exactly straightforward. As a matter of fact, the country has experimented both with NFTs and its own centralized digital currency. Evidently, the decentralized aspects of crypto are the main pain point as far as the Chinese government is concerned. Certainly, that’s what the crypto WeChat ban seems to suggest.