China's central bank and seven other state bodies on 6 February 2026 issued a sweeping notice that reasserts an uncompromising stance against cryptocurrency activity and broadens the clampdown to include tokenisation of real-world assets (RWA). The notice, coordinated by the People’s Bank of China and cleared by the State Council, declares that virtual currencies such as Bitcoin, Ether and Tether do not enjoy the legal status of fiat money and that related business activities constitute illegal financial activity within China.
The document restates familiar prohibitions — domestic exchanges, fiat-to-crypto and crypto-to-crypto conversion services, trading platforms and crypto financial products are all banned — but adds several new and consequential restrictions. It explicitly forbids any domestic or foreign entity from issuing RMB‑pegged stablecoins overseas without prior approval, brings RWA tokenisation under the same “illegal financial activity” rubric unless conducted under tightly controlled, authorised infrastructure, and orders intensified measures against mining and associated supply chains.
Implementation is designed to be comprehensive. Regulators will coordinate cross‑department monitoring, require local governments to take the lead on enforcement, and instruct internet platforms, payment firms and financial institutions to cut off services to crypto-related activities. Firms and intermediaries face a broad suite of prohibitions: opening accounts, settling payments, custody, clearing, underwriting or providing technical and promotional services for unauthorised token projects will be grounds for administrative sanctions or criminal referral.
The notice also tightens non-financial levers: company registries may no longer include words like “crypto”, “virtual asset”, “stablecoin” or “RWA” in business names; online content and apps facilitating token activity are to be closed; and advertising will be heavily policed. Regulators cite a long list of legal authorities — from the PBoC Law to securities, futures, anti‑money laundering and cyber laws — and revoke the central bank’s 2021 guidance on crypto risk prevention, replacing it with this more expansive, interagency framework.
For international markets and firms the immediate message is clear: activities that rely on an ability to serve Chinese domestic users or to issue RMB‑linked tokens abroad will face severe legal risk. The explicit ban on offshore issuance of RMB‑pegged stablecoins aims to cut off a vector for evading domestic restrictions and complicates plans by foreign token issuers and Hong Kong‑based intermediaries that had been positioning themselves as bridges for Chinese capital.
The policy reaches beyond speculative trading and mining to the nascent market for tokenising physical assets. By treating many forms of RWA token sales, custody and trading as potential securities, regulators place tokenisation projects under the same licensing and disclosure expectations as traditional securities and asset‑backed products — a high bar that most crypto promoters cannot meet. Only projects run through approved financial infrastructure and authorised by the relevant supervisors will be permitted to proceed.
Investors, start‑ups and global exchanges will now have to reassess China exposure. Some domestic crypto firms will likely accelerate migration of personnel and operations overseas; financial institutions and cloud or payments providers with crypto adjacency must ensure rapid compliance or risk sanctions. The broader consequence for China’s fintech ecosystem is a forced pivot away from consumer crypto markets toward tightly governed, institution‑grade blockchain applications and token models that can satisfy regulators’ demands for control, transparency and anti‑money‑laundering oversight.