China Now Has a Way for the Public to Report Illegal Token Sales

A Chinese self-regulatory association is working to assist government agencies in cracking down on illegal initial coin offerings.

The China National Internet Finance Association, a self-regulatory organization founded by the People's Bank of China, has added a "Token sales" category to its platform that allows the public to report on potentially illegal financial activities.

NIFA currently operates an online portal where individuals can file complaints or reports on suspect financial activities.

Areas that have been on the association's radar to date include peer-to-peer lending, internet insurance, equity financing and internet payments.

"This platform is responsible for gathering reports and complaints regarding internet financial activities and transferring to relevant government agencies, which will take on further actions according to existing regulations upon receiving the reports," NIFA states on its website.

Now the association has added "Token sales" as a reporting option, whereby Chinese residents are able to file complaints on crypto-related activities defined as illegal by the PBoC in its ICO and crypto trading ban last year.

The activities listed on NIFA's website include operating an exchange for fiat-to-crypto and crypto-to-crypto trading, directly or indirectly providing registration, trading, clearing and settlement services for token sales, and offering insurance services for crypto-related businesses.

The news comes amid continuing efforts by Chinese regulatory agencies to clamp down on cryptocurrency trading and ICOs.

Last week, five high-level financial regulators in China issued a statement warning the public against overseas ICOs that solicit investment from domestic investors using nascent mechanisms such as "Initial exchange offerings" and "Initial fork offerings."

Chinese internet giants including Baidu, Alibaba and Tencent are also cooperating with regulators in efforts to block over-the-counter crypto trading via payments applications and are censoring online forums that distribute relevant information.