Crypto Compliance Risk Calculator
This tool calculates your legal risk based on China's June 1, 2025 cryptocurrency ban. All cryptocurrency activities are now criminal offenses with potential prison sentences. Results are based on official PBOC regulations.
This tool does not constitute legal advice. Under Chinese law, holding any cryptocurrency is illegal. This calculator provides general information only and cannot guarantee compliance. Consult a qualified attorney before making decisions.
As of June 1, 2025, owning, trading, or mining cryptocurrency in China is illegal. It’s not just restricted-it’s a criminal offense. This isn’t a gray area. If you’re in mainland China and you hold Bitcoin, Ethereum, or even USDT in a wallet, you’re breaking the law. The government doesn’t just discourage it anymore. It’s actively hunting people down, seizing assets, and sending them to prison.
What Exactly Is Banned?
The People’s Bank of China (PBOC) issued a final decree on May 30, 2025, making every part of the crypto ecosystem illegal. That includes:- Buying or selling any cryptocurrency, even peer-to-peer
- Mining Bitcoin or other coins using any hardware, even a single GPU
- Holding crypto in personal wallets, exchanges, or cold storage
- Using crypto to pay for goods or services
- Operating or working for any crypto exchange, even if it’s based overseas
- Promoting or advertising crypto-related services to Chinese residents
It doesn’t matter if you bought Bitcoin in 2017 and kept it in a hardware wallet. If you still have it in 2025, you’re in violation. There’s no grandfather clause. No amnesty. No exceptions for small amounts.
How Did We Get Here?
China didn’t wake up one day and ban crypto. It spent over a decade slowly tightening the screws. The first warning came in 2013, when banks were told not to process Bitcoin transactions. By 2017, all domestic crypto exchanges were shut down. Mining got hit hard in 2021, when power to data centers was cut off in provinces like Sichuan and Inner Mongolia. By 2022, courts stopped recognizing crypto as property in civil cases. If you lost money in a scam, you had no legal recourse.The real turning point came in September 2021, when the PBOC declared all cryptocurrency transactions illegal. But even then, people still held crypto privately. The 2025 ban closed that last loophole. Now, possession itself is the crime.
How Is the Ban Enforced?
China doesn’t rely on luck to catch violators. It uses a full surveillance state.- Banking systems automatically flag any transfers linked to known crypto wallet addresses
- Internet companies like Tencent and Alibaba are required to scan chats and forums for crypto keywords and report users
- Payment processors like Alipay and WeChat Pay block transactions to overseas crypto exchanges
- Local police conduct raids on homes and offices where mining rigs are suspected
- Overseas exchanges like Binance and Kraken are legally blocked from serving Chinese users
Authorities also use facial recognition and GPS tracking to identify people who visit crypto meetups or use VPNs to access banned platforms. In 2024, a man in Guangzhou was arrested after his phone’s location data showed he visited a Bitcoin ATM in Hong Kong-twice. He was sentenced to 18 months in prison for “illegal financial activity.”
What Happens If You Get Caught?
Penalties aren’t fines-they’re jail time.In August 2024, a Beijing court sentenced a man named Liu to 3.5 years in prison and a 40,000 yuan ($5,570) fine for selling USDT. He claimed he didn’t know the money he received came from fraud victims. The court didn’t care. It ruled that if you should have known, you’re guilty. That’s now the legal standard.
Miners face even harsher consequences. In 2023, a group of five men in Xinjiang were convicted of illegal mining after authorities found 1,200 ASIC miners hidden in a warehouse. They got prison terms between 2 and 5 years. Their equipment was destroyed. Their bank accounts frozen.
There’s no appeal process. Once you’re flagged, you’re targeted. The system is designed to scare people into compliance, not to be fair.
What About Blockchain? Isn’t China Into That?
Yes-but only the kind the government controls.China is the world’s biggest investor in blockchain technology. But it’s not about decentralization. It’s about control. The state-run digital currency, e-CNY (Digital Yuan), is being rolled out nationwide. It’s not crypto. It’s a government-monitored electronic cash system. Every transaction is tracked. Every user is identified. There’s no anonymity. No private keys. No blockchain ledger open to the public.
The government wants digital money. It just doesn’t want you to have it. The e-CNY is the only legal digital currency in China. Everything else is illegal.
Can You Still Use Crypto Outside China?
If you’re a Chinese citizen living abroad, you’re not breaking Chinese law by holding crypto overseas. But if you send money back to China-even a small amount-it triggers red flags. Banks will freeze your accounts. You could be investigated.Chinese nationals who travel to Hong Kong or Macau and buy crypto there are still at risk. If they return to the mainland with crypto in their wallets, they can be questioned. Authorities have scanned phones at border checkpoints. If they find crypto apps or wallet files, you’ll be asked to explain. No explanation is good enough.
Is There Any Hope for Change?
In July 2025, officials in Shanghai held meetings to discuss stablecoins and digital assets. Some experts suggested the government might reconsider its stance. But nothing changed. No new laws. No policy shifts. Just talk.China’s leadership sees crypto as a threat to financial control. It’s not about technology. It’s about power. The state doesn’t want citizens holding assets outside its reach. The e-CNY gives them total oversight. Crypto doesn’t.
For now, the ban is absolute. And it’s getting stricter.
What Should You Do If You Live in China?
If you’re in mainland China and you own crypto, you have three options:- Convert it to cash before June 1, 2025, and withdraw it legally through approved channels. (This is nearly impossible now-banks won’t process it.)
- Transfer it to someone outside China. But if they send money back, you’re both at risk.
- Hold onto it and accept the risk. The government doesn’t actively search every wallet-but if you’re flagged for other reasons, they’ll find it.
There’s no safe way out. The system is built to make crypto useless inside China. The only legal digital money is the e-CNY. Everything else is a liability.
What About Foreigners Living in China?
Foreigners aren’t exempt. If you’re on a work visa, you’re subject to Chinese law. Many expats thought they could keep crypto in their wallets. That’s no longer true. In 2024, a British national in Shanghai was detained after his bank flagged a transfer to a crypto exchange. He spent three weeks in custody before being deported. His assets were seized.If you’re in China, treat crypto like drugs or weapons. Don’t touch it. Don’t even think about it.
Comments (19)
Just don’t touch it. Full stop.
This is terrifying. The state is literally criminalizing digital ownership. What’s next? Banning private email?
Look, I get why they’re doing this. The government wants total control over money. And honestly? They’re not wrong to be scared. Crypto is wild. Unregulated. Hard to track. But when they start locking people up for holding Bitcoin in a hardware wallet… that’s not security, that’s fear. And fear doesn’t build a better future. It just builds silence.
People forget that China’s digital yuan isn’t freedom-it’s a leash with a tracking chip. You can’t spend it anonymously. You can’t send it to someone without the state knowing. It’s not money. It’s a permission slip.
And yet… I still feel bad for the miners. Guys who spent years running rigs in Sichuan, just trying to make a living. Now their machines are scrap. Their savings gone. No warning. No grace period. Just… poof. Gone.
It’s not just about crypto. It’s about who gets to control what you own. And right now, the state says: you own nothing. You’re just borrowing it.
I don’t know if I agree with the ban. But I understand why it happened. The fear of losing control over the financial system is real. And when a government has that much power, it doesn’t wait for compromise. It just hits the kill switch.
Still… I wonder what happens when the next generation grows up with this. When kids learn that money isn’t yours-it’s the state’s. Will they even care about decentralization? Or will they just accept the digital leash like a phone bill?
It’s sad. Not because of the tech. Because of the trust that’s gone.
It’s heartbreaking… but not surprising. I’ve watched this unfold for years. The PBOC didn’t wake up one day and say ‘let’s ban crypto’-they spent a decade building the infrastructure to make it impossible to escape. And now they’ve done it. The e-CNY isn’t just a currency-it’s the final piece of a surveillance financial system. And the worst part? Most people won’t even notice. They’ll just be happy their payments go through.
But for those of us who believe in financial sovereignty… this is a quiet apocalypse. Not with fire or bombs, but with a government app that says ‘you are not allowed to have this.’
I’m not saying crypto is perfect. But the alternative? A world where every dollar you spend is logged, analyzed, and judged by an algorithm? That’s dystopia dressed in beige.
And yet… I still think there’s hope. Not in China. But outside it. The global crypto community has to become the new underground railroad. Help people move their assets. Share knowledge. Protect those who still believe in decentralization. Even if it’s just one wallet at a time.
It’s not about rebellion. It’s about dignity.
Of course China bans it. They can’t have people owning assets they can’t control. It’s like letting your dog run off-leash and then being shocked when it bites someone. The e-CNY is the only ‘correct’ digital currency. Everything else is chaos. And chaos is unacceptable.
Also, why would anyone want to hold Bitcoin when they could have a currency backed by the world’s second-largest economy? It’s not even a choice.
Let me guess-this is what happens when you let technocrats run a country. The West is already falling apart because of crypto’s ‘freedom.’ China’s just being smart. If you can’t control money, you can’t control people. And China? They control everything. Including your thoughts, your spending, your sleep schedule. Why should crypto be the one thing they don’t own?
Also, I’ve heard the US is planning to ban mining too. Just wait. It’s coming.
Let’s be real-this is just the beginning. They’re not banning crypto because it’s dangerous. They’re banning it because it’s a threat to their monopoly on truth. The e-CNY is a tool for social credit enforcement. Every transaction is a data point. Every wallet is a fingerprint. This isn’t financial policy-it’s behavioral conditioning.
And you think they’re done? Wait until they start freezing bank accounts of people who use Tor. Or jail parents whose kids download Bitcoin wallets. The creep is just getting started.
I’ve lived in India and China, and I’ve seen how governments react to disruptive tech. In India, crypto was chaotic but tolerated. In China, it’s treated like a virus. But I think China’s approach is shortsighted. You can’t ban innovation forever. The next generation will find a way. Maybe through decentralized mesh networks. Maybe through hardware wallets hidden in everyday objects. The state can control banks, but not minds.
Still… I feel for the miners. They worked hard. Now they’re criminals. That’s not justice. That’s fear.
Just delete your wallet. Move on. It’s not worth the risk.
I wonder how many people in China still hold crypto quietly. Not because they believe in it, but because they bought it years ago and never knew what to do with it. Now they’re stuck. No way to sell. No way to move. No way to explain. Just… silence. That’s the real tragedy. Not the law. The loneliness of holding something you can’t even talk about.
The legal definition of ‘illegal possession’ is dangerously broad. If you inherit a hardware wallet, are you guilty? If your ex-partner left you a USB drive with a wallet file, are you a criminal? The law doesn’t distinguish intent. That’s not law. That’s arbitrary power.
This is a chilling case study in state overreach. The Chinese government didn’t just regulate crypto-they erased its existence as a concept. And in doing so, they’ve created a society where even the memory of financial autonomy is suspect. The e-CNY isn’t progress-it’s the final act of financial centralization. No decentralization. No privacy. No dissent. Just compliance, encoded in every transaction.
What’s worse is how quietly this was accepted. No mass protests. No global outcry. Just silence. Because most people don’t realize what’s been lost until it’s gone.
History will judge this not by the ban itself, but by how few people fought to remember what freedom looked like.
bro… i just wanna hold my btc… why u gotta be like this china?? 😭💸
they took my mining rig… now i cry in the shower…
also the e-cny is so cringe. i can’t even buy a baozi without the government knowing i ate it. 😭
China’s not banning crypto because it’s bad. They’re banning it because it’s too good. Decentralized money means people don’t need the state. And that’s the real threat. Not hackers. Not scams. Freedom.
Also, ‘digital yuan’ sounds like a corporate sponsorship. ‘Sponsored by the Communist Party.’
So… you’re telling me the government is now the only one allowed to be your banker? That’s not innovation. That’s feudalism with a smartphone.
And yet people still think the US is the free world? Please. We’re just one crisis away from this.
It’s not about money. It’s about control. And control is the only thing the state truly values. Crypto doesn’t ask permission. It doesn’t report to anyone. It just… exists. And that’s why it had to die.
I’m not mad. I’m just… sad. For the people who believed in it. For the miners. For the teenagers who saved allowance to buy a fraction of a Bitcoin. For the dream that money could be free.
Now? It’s just another app. With a face. And a government ID.
Rest in peace, decentralization. You were beautiful while it lasted. 💙
Oh wow, China finally did something right. 🙄
Meanwhile, the U.S. is letting people buy crypto with their EBT cards. 🤡
At least China has the guts to say: ‘No, you can’t have that.’
Also, the e-CNY is sleek. I’m jealous.
This is a masterclass in authoritarian technological governance. The Chinese state didn’t just ban a technology-it redefined the social contract around value, ownership, and trust. The e-CNY isn’t a currency; it’s a covenant between citizen and state. And the terms? You surrender autonomy in exchange for stability. No illusions. No loopholes. No crypto.
Is it cruel? Yes. Is it effective? Undeniably. The state has achieved what Western democracies could never muster: total financial cohesion. No shadow markets. No offshore escapes. No private ledgers.
The tragedy isn’t the ban-it’s that the world watched, and did nothing. We called it ‘authoritarian.’ We shrugged. We told ourselves it wouldn’t happen here.
But it already did. Just not to us.
Wow. So China just turned every Bitcoin holder into a criminal. That’s not regulation. That’s a witch hunt with a blockchain twist.
Also, who’s the idiot who still owns crypto in China? Like… seriously? Did you not see this coming?