More actions are expected, including linking illegal crypto activities in China more directly with the country's criminal law, according to analysts and a financial regulator.
Last month, China's state council, or cabinet, vowed to crack down on bitcoin mining and trading, escalating a campaign against cryptocurrencies days after three industry bodies banned cryptocurrency-based financial and payment services.
Over the weekend, access to several widely followed crypto-related Weibo accounts was denied, with a message saying each account "violates laws and rules".
"It's a Judgment Day for crypto KOL," wrote a Weibo bitcoin commentator, or key opinion leader (KOL), who calls herself "Woman Dr. bitcoin mini". Her main account was also blocked on Saturday.
"The government makes it clear that no Chinese version of Elon Musk can exist in the Chinese crypto market," said NYU law school adjunct professor Winston Ma, referring to the Tesla founder and one-time cryptocurrency enthusiast.
Comment: Is this commentator trying to equate dealing in crypto with being an successful entrepreneur? Are the vast majority of traders in other assets like Elon Musk? If there is a Chinese Elon Musk out there, it's unlikely they'd need cryptos to be successful.
Ma, author of the book The Digital War, also expects China's supreme court to publish a judicial interpretation soon that may link crypto mining and trading businesses with China's body of criminal law.
The view was echoed by a financial regulator, which said that such an interpretation would address the legal ambiguity that has failed to clearly identify bitcoin trading businesses as "illegal operations". All the rules against cryptocurrencies so far in China have been published by administrative bodies.
The Weibo freeze comes as Chinese media have stepped up reporting against crypto trading.
The official Xinhua news agency has published articles that exposed a series of crypto-related scams. State broadcaster CCTV has said cryptocurrency is a lightly regulated asset often used in black market trade, money laundering, arms smuggling, gambling and drug dealing.
The crackdown also comes as China's central bank is accelerating testing of its own digital currency.
Comment: It's likely that China is being proactive for reasons it has stated quite openly, which is that these cryptocurrencies "are not supported by real value", their prices are easily manipulated, and the contracts are not protected by Chinese law.
Note, that banks, financial institutions, and the like are the target of the ban, individuals are not barred from holding cryptocurrencies,
Prior to the ban, China accounted for nearly 90% of the speculative market, and having that much wealth, and the prospect of much more, trapped in these dubious, insecure assets leaves it open to attack from any nefarious agency that might seek to do it harm. And it's clear that there are forces out there that have China in their sights.
One only need to look at the action of the IMF with it's disaster capitalism, or to the financial crash of 2008, to realise that financial speculation, mismanagement and fraud can bring a country to its knees.
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