Chinese Users of KuCoin Exchange Forced to Close Their Accounts Till End of 2021

Mainland Chinese users of KuCoin will have to withdraw all their funds and close their accounts by the end of the year, said the exchange earlier today. This is a direct consequence of the latest crackdown from the People’s Bank of China.

• Citing the regulatory pressure from the Chinese authorities, KuCoin announced earlier on October 3rd that all local users will have to close their existing positions and withdraw the remaining funds out of the exchange before 24:00 (UTC +8) on December 31st, 2021.
• More precisely, the company blamed this decision on the most recent crackdown initiated by the Chinese government.
• As reported in late September, the nation’s central bank doubled down on its digital asset ban by prohibiting all locally operating organizations from dealing with any entities even remotely associated with the cryptocurrency industry.
• KuCoin said it started an internal review to determine what would be the most convenient action for its customers. After “careful consideration,” the team concluded that leaving China is the only option, which complies with the local rules.
• This is the second large exchange that has announced similar plans in less than two weeks after the latest ban.
• Previously, Huobi said it will stop accepting new users from China. Shortly after, the company’s mining pool moved more than $4 billion in bitcoin, which also seemed like a direct effect of the crackdown.
• While centralized exchanges are closing down their Chinese services, decentralized trading platforms have flourished recently, with dYdX being a prime example of getting more customers from the Asian country.