Chinese financial watchdog has not changed its tone in regulations for cryptocurrency tradings and ICO activities, and will continue to crack down on speculative products.

Unconfirmed reports that China’s central bank officials from Beijing and Shanghai have started investigating digital currency trading venues, and regulators are likely to lift the ban on virtual currency transactions has gone viral recently on line, according to a report released by the website of the China Securities Journal on March 8.

But a person closed to China’s internet financial risk rectification work group confirmed that those are fake news, not supported by facts.

It is reported that China’s “rectification campaign” against cryptocurrency exchanges will continue to press forward, which is guided by a joint statement from seven financial regulators released on September 4, 2017. The statement explicitly announced that,

“ Starting from the date of this statement, any organization or individual is prohibited from engaging in illegal fundraising activities through ICO, and cryptocurrency exchanges within China shall not be involved in offering exchange services between fiat money and tokens.”

Earlier this week, Caixin reported that Chinese regulators have shut down some cryptocurrency exchanges’ official Wechat account. For example, official accounts of OKEx and Huobi on Wechat were blocked.

Although OKEx explained that it was a result of user’s complaint report during the 3.15 period, Caixin has confirmed that the WeChat censorship is a result of regulator’s tightened oversight on platforms that are still offering crypto trading information and service to Chinese investors.

Following the Binance hack, official websites and Apps of many digital assets exchanges such as Bitmex, Binance, Gate.io, and Bitfinex were found to be seemingly blocked last night in China, and reasons were not clear. But as reported back in February, Chinese authorities have already decided to block anyone in the country from accessing websites that offer cryptocurrency trading services or initial coin offerings (ICOs).

PBOC’s governor Zhou Xiaochuan reaffirmed Chinese authorities’ stance toward digital currency regulation at a press conference on the sidelines of the annual session of the National People’s Congress. He said that PBOC doesn’t recognize bitcoin-like cryptocurrencies as a payment tool and does not support the direct exchange between RMB and bitcoin.

“The roll-out of bitcoin and its likes are too fast, exerting an unpredictable impact on financial security and the transmission mechanism of monetary policy.”

Zhou added that China still has no established regulatory policies for digital currency and will not put forward regulatory measures very soon.