At present, China has not said that it is illegal, but it has not said that it is legal. Only the trading of virtual currency is prohibited, but there are still many people trading in China.

Seven ministries and commissions, including the People's Bank of China, jointly issued the Announcement on Preventing the Financing Risks of Token Issuance, which clearly regulated relevant behaviors.

The "Announcement" jointly issued by seven ministries and commissions clearly pointed out that the tokens or "virtual currency" used in token issuance financing are not issued by the monetary authorities, have no monetary attributes such as legal compensation and coercion, have no legal status equivalent to currency, and cannot and should not be circulated in the market as currency.

The "Announcement" also pointed out that the illegal sale and circulation of so-called "virtual currency" such as Bitcoin and Ethereum to investors is essentially an unauthorized illegal public financing act, which is suspected of illegal sale of token certificates, illegal issuance of securities and illegal fund-raising, financial fraud, pyramid schemes and other illegal and criminal activities.

Extended data:

The China Internet Finance Association also stated in the "Tips on Preventing the Risks of the so-called" virtual currency "such as Bitcoin" that the so-called "virtual currency" such as Bitcoin lacks a clear value base and is increasingly becoming a tool for money laundering, drug trafficking, smuggling, illegal fund-raising and other illegal and criminal activities. Investors participate in speculation through the "virtual currency" trading platform, facing the risk of large price fluctuations, security risks, platform technology risks and so on. It needs to be borne by investors themselves.

China Internet Finance Association calls on all member units to fulfill their commitments in the industry self-discipline convention, strictly abide by national laws and regulations, not to participate in any centralized transactions related to so-called "virtual currency" or provide services for such transactions, and actively resist any illegal financial activities.

References:

China Mutual Gold Association warns again: Beware of the risk of "virtual currency" investment-people's "virtual currency" speculation is actually a pit (hot focus)-People's Daily Online