WeChat Shuts Down Cryptocurrency Groups On Government Orders 📰📰

The world has gone crypto crazy and China is no exception. However, the market is still highly speculative, and many people have fallen victim to crypto scams. This issue is already being addressed in the West where Twitter, Google, and Facebook have all banned crypto advertisements, specifically for initial coin offerings or ICOs. This week, China followed suit with their largest social network, WeChat.


Ma Huateng, chairman and chief executive officer of Tencent Holdings Ltd., speaks during a news conference in Beijing (Qilai Shen/Bloomberg)

The most well-known WeChat cryptocurrency group was called 3 o’clock. A lot of famous people were in this group and they discussed ICOs, blockchain technologies, and related business opportunities. A host of fake 3 o’clock chat groups also popped up, imitating the original group and many users were tricked into investing money that they later lost. Some of these fake groups even charged a fee to join.

In the West, Telegram is the primary messaging platform for cryptocurrency traders. Conversations are encrypted and the app is not influenced by any singular government or party. In China, however, no such app exists.

Pony Ma, CEO of WeChat's parent company Tencent, was in attendance at the government’s recent "Two Sessions" annual meetings where blockchain and cryptocurrencies were high on the agenda. The Chinese government requested that WeChat shut these crypto groups down (article in Chinese) and Tencent complied, but Ma noted that he is "optimistic about blockchain’s potential for document and identity verification" among other use cases.