China Regulates 197 Blockchain Firms

After months of speculations over the fate of crypto focused businesses in China, the country’s central internet regulator, Cyberspace Administration, has finally released the list of Blockchain firms which have been authorized to conduct business in the country. The list includes 197 firms which would be authorized to explore and offer various blockchain services under controlled regulated environment.

The Cyberspace Administration published the list on March 30, and the announcement said that the included firms need to show their registration number in a prominent position for the services they are offering. The 197 firms included in the list have some of the prominent internet firms including Baidu Blockchain Engine (BBE), Alibaba Cloud Blockchain-as-a-Service (BaaS), and Tencent BaaS (TBaaS).

The Regulation List is a Bid to Control Untapped Ponzy ICOs

China has been quite skeptical about the untapped ICOs in the country and the current decision to regulate blockchain firm is being seen as the decision the measure to bring down the number of fraudulent ICOs in the country.

From now on, any firm looking to offer any kind of blockchain or crypto services need to be reviewed by the Chinese State Internet Information Office and need to fulfill certain criteria laid out in the Management of Blockchain Information Services released on February 15, 2019.

China has earlier banned the ICOs in the country as the number of ICOs and the frauds related to it were growing tremendously since the popularity of the crowdfunding method has peaked due to 2017 price rise. It was estimated that ICOs were responsible for raising over $1.6 billion and have surpassed any other form of capital raising.

China is hoping that the current regulations and the criteria to be included under the regulated firm would help them eliminate any kind of fraudulent activities associated with the ICOs in the near future.

Final Thoughts

ICOs a year ago was one of the most sought after way of generating capitals, however, as the interest of people grew, the scammers also tapped into the trend and robbed billions from the investors. The crypto trade market is finally decided to move towards STOs over ICOs in order to contain the Ponzi schemes which have been gaining momentum.

Not only China but other countries like South Korea have also banned the conduction of ICOs in the country.