WeChat Now Censoring Bitmain and Crypto Price Prediction Accounts

WeChat has just blocked an official sales channel for Bitmain miners, along with several accounts that analyse the crypto markets.

Sep 10, 2018 at 9:30 a.m. UTC

Updated Sep 13, 2021 at 8:21 a.m. UTC

The WeChat messaging app is continuing its efforts to block official accounts that involve cryptocurrencies, now targeting those that distribute content for sales of bitcoin miners and cryptocurrency market analysis.

The official sales channel of bitcoin mining giant Bitmain, which has the WeChat ID "antminersale," appears to be blocked on Monday. As of press time, searching for content previously distributed by the account leads to a page that says it has violated relevant rules.

The notice states:

"Following users' complaints, the platform [WeChat] has reviewed and discovered that this account – without having acquired authorized credentials or licenses – has been publishing and distributing information of relevant businesses it is involved in."

A company representative has not responded to a CoinDesk request for details on what could have led to the move to censor the channel.

However, another Bitmain official account that provides product information for mining equipment – "antminer_official" – still remains active as of press time.

In recent days, WeChat – owned by internet giant Tencent and now the most popular messaging tool in China – has also moved to block accounts that are involved in offering content related to cryptocurrency market prediction and analysis.

For instance, over the weekend, one user who operates an official account called "Goldcoins" that had been publishing crypto market analysis for the past nine months confirmed on Zhihu, China's equivalent to Quora, that the feed has been shut down on WeChat.

Further, the official account of a blockchain project called Delphy – an ethereum-based application similar to the Augur prediction protocol – also became unavailable on Monday.

In both cases, the reason provided by WeChat for the censorship is the same as stated on Bitmain's sales channel.

The move comes soon after Tencent recently targeted several major cryptocurrency media sources in China, some of which were allegedly involved in distributing information for initial coin offerings on WeChat.

So far, more than 30 official accounts relating to blockchain and cryptocurrency have been blocked by the messaging giant, according to account information verified by CoinDesk.

WeChat image via Shutterstock

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