The Cyberspace Administration of China (CAC) has approved a set of regulations for blockchain service providers in the country that will become official on February 15.
Published on Thursday, CAC’s “Regulation for Managing Blockchain Information Services” defines blockchain service providers as “entities or nodes” that offer information services using blockchain technology via desktop sites or mobile apps.
According the rules, blockchain service providers must register with the CAC within 10 working days of starting to offer services to the public. Startups which “produce, duplicate, publish, and disseminate” information or content that is prohibited by Chinese laws will be banned.
If blockchain startups fail to comply with the rules, the CAC said it would first issue a warning, while failure to act within the specified timeline would bring a fine ranging from 5,000 yuan ($737) to 30,000 yuan ($4,422), depending upon the offense.
Blockchain technology has been actively used for bypassing China’s strict internet censorship. For istance, as part of a recent pharmaceutical scandal in the country, users posted info on the Ethereum blockchain to avoid censorship.
