Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba has officially announced that the sale of crypto miners will be banned from October 8, 2021. The corresponding categories that were on the website about this will also be removed from then on.
Alibaba: October 8 and 15, 2021
The platform will also enforce users who use Alibaba to sell major cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin and Ethereum. The new restrictions include crypto mining hardware and software, relevant tutorials, guides and strategies offered on the platform.
Where the ban officially goes into effect on October 8, users are reportedly given another week to comply with the new rules. Users who continue to offer crypto miners or relevant products from October 15 will be penalized for this on the platform.
The e-commerce company has confirmed that it will release a detailed description of the new restrictions, but it has not yet done so.
Stricter enforcement in China
The fact that Alibaba is doing this now is mainly due to the stricter enforcement against cryptocurrencies in China. The policy changes were therefore made to meet compliance requirements in China. They say the following about this:
“Companies worldwide are responsible for complying with the relevant laws and regulations applicable to each country of sale. We will monitor the policy changes in each country and adjust our audit policy accordingly.”
On September 24, all cryptocurrency-related transactions were declared illegal in China. Since then, several companies have had to make significant policy changes to meet newly established government requirements. Several companies have moved to other countries for this reason, including several mining companies. It is currently unknown whether the ban from China will be permanent or only temporary.