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FinTechs belonging to this category offer financial services using crypto currencies. This category also includes FinTechs utilising blockchain and distributed ledger technologies (DLT) upon which Bitcoin and Ethereum are based, among others. FinTechs develop and do research in this field in order to create new services – e.g. crypto currency exchange markets, wallet providers, NFTs-related services, new payment services, "smart contracts" or new clearing and settling services.
Introduction
Attitude of the country towards financial services using crypto currencies
The government does not deem crypto currencies as legal currency. It banned the exchange between crypto currencies and legal currencies and the trading among crypto currencies themselves in 2017. This regulatory attitude stays unchanged from 2017 to today.
Apart from the strict restrictions on traditional cryptocurrencies, it is worth noting that the Stablecoins laws in Hong Kong came into effect on August 1, 2025, establishing a stablecoin licensing system. The Chinese government has also shown positive attitudes towards stablecoins. In June 2025, the Governor of the People's Bank of China, Mr. Pan Gongsheng, publicly acknowledged stablecoins for the first time at the Lujiazui Forum, recognizing their potential to reshape the traditional payment landscape and streamline cross-border payment processes.
Legal affairs
Obligations and requirements to provide financial services using crypto currencies described above
In China, the legal tender is Renminbi (RMB). Further, it is expressly described in the applicable laws and regulations that cryptocurrencies is a virtual good and not a currency and therefore shall not be used and exchanged in the market as such.
On 4 September 2017, the Chinese authorities issued an announcement to prevent the risk relating to ICO and token-based financing (ICO Ban). The ICO Ban stipulates that every ICO and token-based financing platform shall not engage in the exchange between any legal currency with tokens and crypto currency, shall not trade or trade as central counterparties with the tokens or crypto currency, and shall not provide pricing, information agency or other services for tokens or crypto currency. A platform which violates the ICO Ban will be taken off the app store.
In 2018 and 2021, various Chinese authorities and industry associations further issued several regulations, announcements and notices to continue cracking down the usage of cryptocurrencies. They reiterated that the financial institutions and payment clearing institutions should not carry out businesses related to crypto currencies and appealed to the public that they shall not participate in speculative cryptocurrencies transactions. In the such regulations and policies, cryptocurrencies-related business activities are expressly deemed as illegal financial activities.