This article from Business Insider has a better explanation. http://www.businessinsider.com/initial-coin-offering-china-bitcoin-ethereum-peoples-bank-of-china-

This article from Business Insider has a better explanation. http://www.businessinsider.com/initial-coin-offering-china-bitcoin-ethereum-peoples-bank-of-china-law-all-crypto-illegal-etoro-2017-9 http://www.businessinsider.com/initial-coin-offering-china-b... Namely: "However, the wording of the PBoC edict also suggested that trading and usage of all cryptocurrencies, including bitcoin, could now be illegal in China. The PBoC said that virtual currencies that are "not issued by the monetary authorities... do not have legal status equivalent to money, and can not and should not be circulated as a currency in the market use." The PBoC added that "any so-called tokens financing trading platform shall not engage in the exchange of legal currency and tokens." It even goes so far as to ban platforms from "provid[ing] pricing, information, [and] intermediary services.""