Two people go past the building of the People's Bank of China on December 22, 2025. Photo: VCG

The People's Bank of China (PBC), China's central bank, and seven other government agencies on Friday jointly issued a notice on preventing cryptocurrency risks. The notice reiterated that cryptocurrencies do not have the legal status of currency or money, conducting related business activities involving cryptocurrencies within China constitutes illegal financial activities, and overseas entities and individuals shall not illegally provide cryptocurrency-related services to domestic entities in any form. 

The notice emphasized that conducting tokenization of real-world assets within China, as well as providing related intermediary, information technology, and other services, are suspected of constituting illegal financial activities such as illegal issuance of tokenized instruments, unauthorized public offering of securities, illegal operation of securities and futures businesses, and illegal fundraising, and shall be prohibited. Overseas entities and individuals shall not illegally provide real world asset tokenization-related services to domestic entities in any form, according to the document.

Recently, affected by various factors, speculative and hype activities related to virtual currencies and real world asset tokenization occurred from time to time. Risk prevention and control are facing new situations and challenges. To further improve regulatory policies, prevent and dispose of risks associated with virtual currencies and the tokenization of real world assets, and effectively safeguard national security and social stability, the authorities issued the notice, an official with the PBC said, according to a statement on the central bank's website on Friday.

In terms of concrete measures, the notice outlined comprehensive measures in aspects including risk monitoring, governance of capital flows and information flows, crackdown on virtual currency "mining," combating illegal and criminal activities, and strengthening strict supervision over domestic entities' overseas business expansion. Moreover, relevant industry associations will enhance self-discipline management within the industry, thereby fortifying a multi-dimensional, all-round risk prevention line, the official said.