A report from CNR on Thursday shows that Chinese companies continue to serve the public with cryptocurrency services by operating from foreign countries.
“Although the major currency trading platforms were temporarily closed down, there are still companies that have chosen to take advantage of the rising tide of Bitcoin prices,” the report read.
CNR continues with an account from a “Mr. Li,” who bought and sold Bitcoin on OKCoin, which is an exchange that moved outside of China after the country banned such firms. The company moved its headquarters to Hong Kong. Other offices were established in countries with significant tax or regulatory advantages such a Russia, Singapore, and Ireland.
The report goes on to cite an OKEx user who alleges that the exchange continues to operate in China by offering futures contracts.
“Mr. Yang, who also conducts contract transactions on the platform, told reporters that even though they are called ‘contract transactions,’ they actually conduct digital currency futures transactions. They can use leverage to multiply the results of the investment, but at the critical moment of the transaction, the server actually caused investors to suffer huge losses,” the report added.
Aside from the fact that “Mr. Yang” lost money in the exchange, he also alleges that OKEx only “nominally” moved the company overseas, but still operates everything out of Beijing and that its user base is almost entirely Chinese.
A few months ago, exchanges that catered to the Chinese public caught the ire of authorities as the government put all their sites behind the Great Firewall that restricts foreign access to information.
Despite the government’s best efforts, exchanges like OKEx continue to provide services to Chinese customers. The fact that this report cites the Communist Party’s newest broadcaster—Voice of China—might imply that authorities will soon attempt to clamp down further on cryptocurrency trading. When state-owned broadcasters agitate against something, it usually means that action from the government will follow.
This article appeared first on Cryptovest
