Tencent Shuts Cryptocurrency Media Accounts on WeChat

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Chinese internet giant Tencent has permanently shut a slew of blockchain and cryptocurrency-related media accounts on its massively popular WeChat messaging platform.

Tencent said that certain WeChat accounts are suspected of providing information on initial coin offerings or cryptocurrency speculation in breach of the “Interim Administrative Regulations on Instant Messaging Tools Public Information Service Development” (即时通讯工具公众信息服务发展管理暂行规定) that were launched by the Cyberspace Administration of China on August 7.

Platforms affected include Coin Daily, Deepchain, Huobi News, and Node Capital-backed Jinse.

Tencent’s WeChat is China’s leading social media platform, with over one billion monthly users as of 2018.

China launched a heavy-handed crackdown on cryptocurrencies in September last year, with a ban on ICO’s and the use of cryptocurrencies for financing purposes, followed by efforts to stymie the operation of trading platforms and exchanges domestically .

Singapore-based digital currency platform Huobi said to Chinese media that the WeChat account closure would not affect its other operations, while Tan Chenhui (谭晨辉), CEO of blockchain and cryptocurrency news platform BiShiJie.com, said in a social media update that “although we first started on WeChat, we long ago de-WeChatted, so it’s no worry.”

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