China’s WeChat Blacklists Accounts Tied to Crypto, NFTs

Chinese social media app WeChat is reportedly banning accounts associated with cryptocurrency and NFTs.

According to the report, none of the over 1 billion WeChat users will be allowed to discuss anything related to digital assets.

The details of the ban apparently indicate that any public account that works with crypto or NFTs will be “shadowbanned,” or they won’t be able to be engaged with anymore.

The new ban was discovered by Hong Kong journalist Colin Wu, and NFTs are among the digital assets not allowed to be discussed on WeChat, a report in Bitcoinist said Tuesday (June 28).

The recent attention might come from the fact that NFT platforms have increased from 100 to over 500 this year, according to statistics by China Times.

While China had put stringent regulations against any kinds of digital assets, it had been looking more into central bank digital currencies (CBDCs).

But the Chinese government hasn’t looked favorably on crypto. China, once the hub for crypto mining, has banned everything to do with mining — sending the miners to various other countries like Iran, Kazakhstan and the U.S., with many of these countries beginning to embrace the digital assets.

See also: Fitness Token GST Falls After Ban in China

PYMNTS wrote that the NFT GST, which is tied to the STEPN fitness app, has been banned in China this summer, according to its operator.

With that, the NFT dropped around 10%. And a second cryptocurrency tied to the app, called GMT, fell around 30% before recovering.

STEPN’s services use blockchain technology letting users buy virtual sneakers as NFTs. Then they can use those to earn GMT or GST coins through walking or running. As STEPN has stopped offering services in China, the tokens won’t be able to be collected anymore.

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