PBOC Exec Says NFT, Metaverse Could Become Money-Laundering Tools

The Chinese government has clamped down on various cryptocurrency activities over the past few years. As a result, China has lost its place as the number one cryptocurrency country in the world.

The government is looking to introduce tougher regulations in a new and exciting field.

PBOC to Introduce Strict Regulation Regarding NFTs and Metaverse

The anti-money laundering head of the People’s Bank of China (PBoC), Gou Wenjun, has stated that the apex bank will regulate the nonfungible token (NFT) and metaverse sectors. The NFT and metaverse sectors are two of the rising areas in the cryptocurrency and blockchain space, and China is ready to crack down on their activities.

According to the latest reports, the PBOC feels NFTs and metaverse could be used for money laundering. Wenjun said in addition to cryptocurrencies, NFTs and the metaverse have a certain degree of interoperability. As such, they can easily become tools for criminals.

The report added that the Chinese government is already clamping down on the NFT sector. The government has reportedly told tech giants who plan to issue large collections onto private blockchains to reduce speculative hype.

China’s Treatment of Crypto has Been Harsh

The Chinese authorities have clamped down on cryptocurrency-related activities in recent months. The government banned cryptocurrency mining, forcing mining farms and individual miners to move to other parts of the world.

E-commerce platforms like Alibaba were also forced to stop selling cryptocurrency mining hardware while Bitmain said it would no longer ship its machines to mainland China.

In September, China’s National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) revealed that it would continue to clean up the mining of cryptocurrencies in the country. The authorities also banned several cryptocurrency websites, including the popular data platforms Coinmarketcap and Coingecko. However, some cryptocurrency websites are still available in China.

China’s incoming strict regulation comes at a time when Google searches for NFTs are at an all-time high. An increasing number of people are searching for NFT-related topics on Google as the industry continues to expand.