WeChat, China’s dominant social messaging app, is seemingly taking further steps in China's fight against cryptocurrency. Following an alleged violation of its rules, the “WhatsApp of China” has reportedly suspended accounts held by a handful of cryptocurrency, blockchain-related websites, according to a report by local financial news outlet Lanjinger.

In one example, the official accounts of Huobi News and Coindaily on Tencent’s WeChat were blocked, while links to all previous content are now merely showing a notification that reads:

"Due to users' complaints and after the platform's examinations, the account is found to violate 'Temporary Regulations on the Development and Management of Public Information Services for Instant Messaging Tools' and all contents have been banned. The account has been prohibited for use."

As noted, WeChat is citing "Temporary Regulations on the Development and Management of Public Information Services for Instant Messaging Tools" which were introduced by China’s powerful Internet regulator, the Cyberspace Administration of China (CAC), earlier this month.

While there are no figures on how many accounts have faced the same situation, at least eight such groups were reportedly blocked.

Migrating to Other Services

This could be only the beginning of a lengthy crackdown designed to give WeChat more power to police not only the cryptocurrency content that is being posted to its platform, but also projects and people who are posting it. WeChat is seemingly following the lead of its parent company Tencent, which in January banned all payment and advertising services for cryptocurrency trading and ICO-related activities.

Interestingly, WeChat’s mobile payment service, which is used by millions of users in China, has been one of the largest access channels to cryptocurrency exchanges. Despite the wider ban by Chinese authorities, the app includes discussion groups for  Cryptocurrencies  Cryptocurrencies By using cryptography, virtual currencies, known as cryptocurrencies, are nearly counterfeit-proof digital currencies that are built on blockchain technology. Comprised of decentralized networks, blockchain technology is not overseen by a central authority.Therefore, cryptocurrencies function in a decentralized nature which theoretically makes them immune to government interference. The term, cryptocurrency derives from the origin of the encryption techniques that are employed to secure the networks which are used to authenticate blockchain technology. Cryptocurrencies can be thought of as systems that accept online payments which are denoted as “tokens.” Tokens are represented as internal ledger entries in blockchain technology while the term crypto is used to depict cryptographic methods and encryption algorithms such as public-private key pairs, various hashing functions, and an elliptical curve. Every cryptocurrency transaction that occurs is logged in a web-based ledger with blockchain technology.These then must be approved by a disparate network of individual nodes (computers that maintain a copy of the ledger). For every new block generated, the block must first be authenticated and confirmed ‘approved’ by each node, which makes forging the transactional history of cryptocurrencies nearly impossible. The World’s First CryptoBitcoin became the first blockchain-based cryptocurrency and to this day is still the most demanded cryptocurrency and the most valued. Bitcoin still contributes the majority of the overall cryptocurrency market volume, though several other cryptos have grown in popularity in recent years.Indeed, out of the wake of Bitcoin, iterations of Bitcoin became prevalent which resulted in a multitude of newly created or cloned cryptocurrencies. Contending cryptocurrencies that emerged after Bitcoin’s success is referred to as ‘altcoins’ and they refer to cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin, Peercoin, Namecoin, Ethereum, Ripple, Stellar, and Dash. Cryptocurrencies promise a wide range of technological innovations that have yet to be structured into being. Simplified payments between two parties without the need for a middle man is one aspect while leveraging blockchain technology to minimize transaction and processing fees for banks is another. Of course, cryptocurrencies have their disadvantages too. This includes issues of tax evasion, money laundering, and other illicit online activities where anonymity is a dire ingredient in solicitous and fraudulent activities. By using cryptography, virtual currencies, known as cryptocurrencies, are nearly counterfeit-proof digital currencies that are built on blockchain technology. Comprised of decentralized networks, blockchain technology is not overseen by a central authority.Therefore, cryptocurrencies function in a decentralized nature which theoretically makes them immune to government interference. The term, cryptocurrency derives from the origin of the encryption techniques that are employed to secure the networks which are used to authenticate blockchain technology. Cryptocurrencies can be thought of as systems that accept online payments which are denoted as “tokens.” Tokens are represented as internal ledger entries in blockchain technology while the term crypto is used to depict cryptographic methods and encryption algorithms such as public-private key pairs, various hashing functions, and an elliptical curve. Every cryptocurrency transaction that occurs is logged in a web-based ledger with blockchain technology.These then must be approved by a disparate network of individual nodes (computers that maintain a copy of the ledger). For every new block generated, the block must first be authenticated and confirmed ‘approved’ by each node, which makes forging the transactional history of cryptocurrencies nearly impossible. The World’s First CryptoBitcoin became the first blockchain-based cryptocurrency and to this day is still the most demanded cryptocurrency and the most valued. Bitcoin still contributes the majority of the overall cryptocurrency market volume, though several other cryptos have grown in popularity in recent years.Indeed, out of the wake of Bitcoin, iterations of Bitcoin became prevalent which resulted in a multitude of newly created or cloned cryptocurrencies. Contending cryptocurrencies that emerged after Bitcoin’s success is referred to as ‘altcoins’ and they refer to cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin, Peercoin, Namecoin, Ethereum, Ripple, Stellar, and Dash. Cryptocurrencies promise a wide range of technological innovations that have yet to be structured into being. Simplified payments between two parties without the need for a middle man is one aspect while leveraging blockchain technology to minimize transaction and processing fees for banks is another. Of course, cryptocurrencies have their disadvantages too. This includes issues of tax evasion, money laundering, and other illicit online activities where anonymity is a dire ingredient in solicitous and fraudulent activities. Read this Term and ICOs.

The crackdown, however, could send cryptocurrency devotees migrating to Telegram and other encrypted services beyond the Chinese government’s reach. Although banned in China, users can access the service through virtual private networks (VPNs), which allows their activities to stay a bit out of the grasp of the country's authorities.