The policy also covers secondary NFT trading because the firm notes that “accounts that provide services or content related to the secondary transaction of digital collections shall also be dealt with.”
WeChat, the top social media platform in China, has updated its policies to ban accounts that provide access to crypto or NFT-related services.
Under the new guidelines, accounts involving crypto and NFT issues, trading and financing will either be restricted or banned and will fall under the “illegal business” category.
The policy also covers secondary NFT trading, stating that “accounts that provide services or content related to the secondary transaction of digital collections shall also be dealt with by this article.”
The move was highlighted on June 20 by Hong Kong-based crypto news reporter Wu Blockchain (Colin Wu), as he pointed out the significance of the move by WeChat, which has more than 1.1 billion daily users in China.
In terms of punishments, the new policy claims that “once such violations are discovered, the WeChat public platform will, according to the severity of the violations, order the violating official accounts to rectify within a time limit and restrict some functions of the account until the permanent account is banned.”
The Chinese government imposed a phased ban on the local crypto sector between May and September last year. However, given the latest policy update on WeChat, it could suggest the platform has been letting some crypto activity go unnoticed since then.
Moreover, in the case of NFT, the country still has a regulatory grey area because resources can be purchased at Fiat. Nevertheless, companies and platforms generally prohibit secondary trading to avoid potential compliance issues with technology financing.
In general, officials frowned at NFTs, warning the public about the “hidden risks” of investing in assets, with the China Banking Association, the China Internet Finance Association, and the China Securities Association issuing a joint statement in April.
Popular platforms such as WeChat and WhaleTalk, owned by Ant Group, have distanced themselves from the technology since March, when they both began removing or restricting NFT platforms from their networks for lack of regulatory transparency and fear of crackdowns from Beijing.
Nevertheless, a local media report on June 16 highlighted the fact that the number of digital collectible platforms in China has exceeded 500, an increase of 5X since February 2022.
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