coinquora.com
- Major crypto exchanges are closing business in Beijing amid China’s crypto crackdown.
- Four out of five Huobi subsidiaries have already closed their branches in mainland China.
- OKCoin and OKEx also closed down their Beijing operations in June.
In what marks another severe blow to crypto investors in China, major crypto exchanges Huobi and OKCoin are closing their subsidiaries in Beijing. It is likely that the move is due to China’s increased scrutiny of the sector.
Last Thursday, Beijing Huobi Tianxia Network Technology Co applied to cancel the company’s registration after its “resolution of dissolution”. The liquidation group is a mainland Chinese subsidiary of the Huobi Group.
A Huobi representative commenting on the cancellation stated that the company registered the branch years ago. However, it remained a non-operating entity. “Because this entity has not had any business operations, it was deemed unnecessary, which led to its cancellation,” they said.
Out of five total Beijing Huobi mainland subsidiaries, four have already been deactivated. Only one remains, and that too has only 1 percent stake owned by Beijing Huobi. In spite of this, Huobi has recently made adjustments to comply with Chinese regulations and better protect investors. For instance, it has imposed a 24-hour hold before a user can withdraw digital tokens in over-the-counter transactions.
In relation to this, Beijing Lekuda Network Technology Co announced their closing and liquidation of the OKCoin digital asset trading platform in Beijing in June. This move was not entirely unexpected as both OKCoin and crypto exchange operator OKEx were founded by Star Xu Mingming. Last year, the Chinese authorities investigated him, stirring a lot of controversy.
Here too, a representative gave no information away. They said that the dissolution of OKCoin’s Beijing subsidiary Beijing Lekuda was part of its “normal adjustment of operational entities”.
Crypto trading and exchange companies are actively moving away from mainland China since the past few months. This is a result of the Chinese central government’s intensified campaign against Bitcoin and other cryptocurrency businesses.