China central bank to tackle 'disguised' ICOs

The People’s Bank of China (PBoC), the central bank of the People's Republic of China, released the "2018 China Financial Stability Report" on Friday. Amongst other things, there was a section regarding the initial coin offerings (ICOs), in which the PBoC said that there is a growing number of "disguised" ICOs, which try to bypass the current regulations. The PBoC has banned ICOs outright in September 2017. According to PBoC, the so-called "disguised" ICOs are mostly airdrops that give away a portion of the supply and then use speculation on the secondary markets to drive up the price and then proceed to sell on the secondary market.

The report further mentioned that some companies that want to have an ICO are relocating outside of China and that some Chinese investors are using agents to invest on their behalf. The report says that, before July 2017, there were 65 ICOs in China that raised 2.6 billion yuan ($375 Million), in which 105,000 people participated. According to PBoC, these ICOs accounted for more than 20% of the total sum raised in the same period. The PBoC said that it needs to remain vigilant and continue monitoring the sector in order to protect the retail investors. (Source: Coindesk)