Chinese Crypto News App CoinWorld Is Closing

Chinese crypto news portal CoinWorld is shutting down, the site said Wednesday.

CoinWorld will stop all website and app operations in China, effective immediately, a notice on the website posted at 9 p.m. China Standard Time (13:00 UTC) said.

The site is following provisions laid out in a document on cryptocurrencies issued by the Business Administration Department of the People's Bank of China, the announcement said.

The website was last updated at 8:42 p.m. local time.

Financial news site Jiemian reported the news earlier today, without saying where it got the information.

CoinWorld was investigated by Beijing authorities in 2019 for illegal token issuance, local media reported at the time. China outlawed initial coin offerings in 2017.

CoinWorld's app was already been delisted from Chinese app stores, one Twitter user reported earlier on Wednesday.

Founded in 2017 and based in Beijing, the app had received backing from prominent Chinese tech venture capitalists, including Shunwei Capital and ZhenFund.

Chinese regulators have repeatedly expressed concerns that crypto trading is bringing undue financial risk to the economy, particularly as mom and pop investors enter crypto markets.

In late May, China's council of ministers, the State Council, called for a crackdown on crypto mining to "control financial risk."

Major mining hubs like Sichuan and Inner Mongolia have taken steps to shut down local mines. Just yesterday it was reported that three provinces were shutting down their local mining industries. At least another four have taken steps against mining.

UPDATE (JULY 15, 14:31 UTC) An earlier version of this story attributed the news to media reports.