# China

> China (People's Bank of China · CSRC · NFRA · SAFE): Crypto banned, and a state currency designed for anonymity. Region: Asia-Pacific. Attribution required: A regulated firm must be able to attribute activity to an identified person, and assets or accounts that make that impossible are barred at the licensed perimeter. This is a rule about attribution, not about whether amounts are public.

Part of the Soda Labs Privacy Hub regulation map, which reads the instruments
themselves rather than summarising the summaries: https://www.sodalabs.xyz/privacy-hub/regulation

## Key facts

- Entry type: Jurisdiction
- Region: Asia-Pacific
- Subject: Crypto banned, and a state currency designed for anonymity
- Authority: People's Bank of China · CSRC · NFRA · SAFE
- Stance on on-chain confidentiality: Attribution required. A regulated firm must be able to attribute activity to an identified person, and assets or accounts that make that impossible are barred at the licensed perimeter. This is a rule about attribution, not about whether amounts are public.
- Tags: managed anonymity, e-CNY, tiered wallets, 2026 notice
- Canonical page: https://www.sodalabs.xyz/privacy-hub/regulation/jur-china

## What it actually says

Two things are true here at once, and most coverage reports only the first. Decentralised crypto is prohibited, and the prohibition was renewed in February 2026 by an eight-agency notice that replaced the 2021 one and extended the perimeter to offshore RMB-pegged stablecoins and domestic tokenisation of real-world assets. Then the same central bank built a retail currency around deliberate anonymity. Its own paper sets the principle as anonymity for small amounts and traceability for large amounts in accordance with the law, and confirms the lowest wallet tier opens on a phone number alone, capped at CNY 2,000, with telecom operators barred from disclosing the identity behind that number even to the central bank. The limits are structural: this anonymity is administered, capped and revocable, not cryptographic.

## The instruments that matter

- **Notice 银发〔2026〕42号, 6 February 2026**: issued by eight agencies, it repeals and replaces the well-known 2021 notice; virtual currency business remains illegal financial activity, and it newly bars offshore issuance of RMB-pegged stablecoins and domestic real-world-asset tokenisation without approval
- **Silent on individuals**: the 2026 notice addresses business activity and says nothing about individual holding, self-custody or wallets
- **Managed anonymity**: the e-CNY follows the stated principle of anonymity for small amounts and traceability for large amounts in accordance with the law
- **Level-four wallets need only a phone number**: they are opened without identity verification, capped at CNY 2,000 per transaction, and telecom operators may not arbitrarily disclose the identity behind that number to third parties, expressly including the central bank
- **The central bank holds no personal data**: it processes only inter-institutional transaction information, while wallet-to-wallet identifier anonymisation keeps users anonymous to counterparties and commercial institutions

## Sources

- [Notice 银发〔2026〕42号](https://www.pbc.gov.cn/tiaofasi/144941/3581332/2026020619591971323/index.html)
- [Balancing Privacy and Security, PBoC Digital Currency Institute](https://www.pbc.gov.cn/en/3935690/3935759/4696666/2022110110364344083.pdf)

## Related entries

- [Bangladesh](https://www.sodalabs.xyz/privacy-hub/regulation/jur-bangladesh): Barred through exchange control, not a crypto law
- [India](https://www.sodalabs.xyz/privacy-hub/regulation/jur-india): No crypto statute, regulated through AML and tax
- [Japan](https://www.sodalabs.xyz/privacy-hub/regulation/jur-japan): Untraceability barred by self-regulation, now moving into ordinance
- [Malaysia](https://www.sodalabs.xyz/privacy-hub/regulation/jur-malaysia): A categorical ban written by definition, not by coin name
- [South Korea](https://www.sodalabs.xyz/privacy-hub/regulation/jur-south-korea): Identity-maximalist, and exporting the model
- [Thailand](https://www.sodalabs.xyz/privacy-hub/regulation/jur-thailand): Closed by whitelist, not by prohibition