After Crypto Transactions Were Declared Illegal in China, Alibaba Stops Selling Mining Machines

China has ramped up its clampdown on cryptos. It recently declared through the People’s Bank of China that all cryptocurrency-related transactions are illegal and they must be banned. The apex bank cited concerns around national security and “safety of people’s assets.”

Currently, businesses in the communist country are trying to comply with the declaration. One of such companies is the ecommerce giant Alibaba which announced that it will stop selling bitcoin mining equipment.

Alibaba said in a statement that it will prohibit the sale of virtual currency miners in addition to the prohibition against selling virtual currencies such as Bitcoin. This include but are not limited to: hardware and software used to obtain virtual currencies such as Bitcoin miners; [and] tutorials, strategies, and software for obtaining virtual currencies such as tutorials on mining.

In addition to the strict measures to prevent customers from gaining insight into ways for acquiring BTC and other cryptocurrencies, Alibaba will close two categories of its platform, “Blockchain Miners” and “Blockchain Miner Accessories.”

Merchants that attempt to sell bitcoin miners or associated products in Alibaba’s platforms will face penalties.

“For violations such as maliciously evading rules, deliberately confusing product information, intentionally placing products into improper categories, falsely exaggerating products, Alibaba.com will impose penalties according to the severity of the violations, which include but are not limited to removing or deleting products, deducting points, restricting the use of website functions, and closing accounts,” the company detailed.

Alibaba owns and operates many online platforms in China, in addition to the more prominent Aliexpress ecommerce store.

Other online venues managed by the Alibaba group include Taobao, the marketplace of used goods Xianyu, and Southeast Asia’s Lazada. The new rules will apply to all the platforms owned or operated by Alibaba.

China has been attempting to ban Bitcoin since 2013, only a few years after the peer-to-peer (P2P network was born. The constant new attempts that followed were only a demonstration of how it couldn’t do it and that it will not be able to do it going forward.