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China’s central bank has reaffirmed its strict nationwide ban on cryptocurrencies and announced plans to intensify enforcement, particularly toward stablecoins, during a high-level multi-agency meeting held on the 29th.
🇨🇳 JUST IN: China’s central bank reaffirmed its crypto ban and warned it will intensify its crackdown on stablecoins. pic.twitter.com/fHwK62v6uE
— Cointelegraph (@Cointelegraph) November 30, 2025
According to the People’s Bank of China (PBOC), cryptocurrency assets still hold no legal status as currency in the country. The meeting included representatives from 12 powerful agencies, such as the Ministry of Public Security and the Supreme People’s Court, who jointly committed to boosting crackdowns on illegal activities involving digital assets.
Officials emphasized that the measures will strengthen and expand the country’s 2021 comprehensive crypto ban, targeting speculation, unlicensed digital asset activity, and crimes linked to virtual currencies.
Stablecoins Become a Priority Target
Authorities singled out stablecoins as a growing risk, pointing to widespread compliance failures in anti–money laundering (AML) and know-your-customer (KYC) requirements. Chinese regulators warned that stablecoins can be exploited for fraud and illicit cross-border capital flows, posing a direct threat to the nation’s capital controls and financial stability.
China maintains one of the world’s strictest systems for managing capital movement. Regulators have repeatedly acted to limit crypto-related activities, including:
- August 2025: Securities firms were ordered to halt crypto-related seminars and suspend relevant research.
- September 2025: Authorities requested a pause on certain business operations in Hong Kong connected to digital assets.
Crypto Activity Reemerges Despite the Ban
Despite the ongoing prohibition, speculative behavior has quietly resurfaced. Individual cryptocurrency trading is believed to continue underground, aided by private channels and offshore platforms.
Notably, China’s presence in Bitcoin mining has grown again. As of early October, China accounted for over 14% of global BTC mining, a 13.8% increase from the previous quarter. Mining operations have been slowly returning to energy-rich regions, where mobile mining units make enforcement increasingly difficult.
Historically, China’s mining industry supported an economy worth billions of USD, and authorities are wary of allowing similar activity to proliferate again.
Beijing Prioritizes Monetary Sovereignty
China’s renewed clampdown reflects its broader strategy to protect monetary sovereignty and prevent digital assets from becoming channels for illegal capital movement. Officials say the tightening measures aim to prevent the financial system from being exploited by illicit fund flows.
Markets are now closely watching for specific enforcement actions that could follow this latest declaration.
