Taobao has completely banned the sale of virtual currency products, including mining tutorials and blockchain pets.

According to Phoenix.com WEMONEY News, on April 10, Taobao released the "Notice on the Interpretation of Changes in the Rules for Virtual Currency Products under the <Taobao Prohibited Products Management Regulations>" (hereinafter referred to as the "Notice"), which clarified the definition scope of the generation of virtual currency and added the control of derivative services of digital products generated based on blockchain technology.

The notice stated that the rule changes were publicly announced on April 10, 2018 and will officially take effect on April 17, 2018.

Phoenix.com WEMONEY noted that before the rules for virtual currency products were changed, in accordance with the relevant laws and regulations such as the Notice of the People's Bank of China, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, the China Banking Regulatory Commission, the China Securities Regulatory Commission, and the China Insurance Regulatory Commission on Preventing Bitcoin Risks, and the central bank's explicit request for third-party payment institutions to close Bitcoin, Litecoin and other trading channels, Taobao strictly prohibited sellers from selling Bitcoin, Litecoin and other Internet virtual currencies and related products.

Specific circumstances include, but are not limited to, virtual currencies such as Bitcoin, Litecoin, Biocoin, Quarkcoin, Infinitecoin, Cococoin, Pennycoin, PPCoin, NameCoin, etc.; tutorials and strategies for virtual currencies such as Bitcoin mining tutorials; and hardware and software such as Bitcoin mining machines used to obtain relevant virtual currencies.

After the rule change, Taobao has added digital products and derivative services such as virtual currencies generated based on blockchain technology to its banned goods category. The notice pointed out that the above-mentioned digital currencies and similar digital products are prone to user speculation and illegal financing and fundraising risks, and no institution may provide trading, exchange, pricing, intermediary, payment and other services for them.

Specific circumstances include but are not limited to: Bitcoin, Litecoin, Biocoin, Quarkcoin, Infinitycoin, Cococoin, Pennycoin, PPCoin, NameCoin and other digital currencies; commodities with the same technical nature and generation mechanism as digital currencies, such as digital pets generated based on blockchain technology; tutorials, strategies and software for obtaining digital currencies, such as mining tutorials; derivative services provided for ICO (initial coin offering) and digital currencies, such as technology development, business planning, intermediary, marketing, agency, etc. (Edited by Liu Sihong of Phoenix Network WEMONEY)