Correct.
None are considered as 'securities' either..
Shanghai court confirms legal recognition of crypto ownership
Cryptocurrencies are treated by Chinese law as a class of virtual commodities with property-like features, allowing individuals to own them as personal assets.
Under existing laws, Chinese courts have ruled that digital assets can qualify as property.
Chinese citizens are legally allowed to hold cryptocurrencies, but business entities are not.
https://www.fxstreet.com/cryptocurrencies/news/shanghai-court-confirms-legal-recognition-of-crypto-ownership-202411211417
Guys - Whilst comments like this and Flex's are well-meaning, they demonstrate perfectly why you should not rely on a media report of a legal decision, yet one from a civil case in China, reported in English by a "financial journalist" who really has no legal training, and then re-reposted by a member on a chat forum, such as GetBig
You have to remember I have deep connections in this space across Asia. So, please believe me, when I tell you that securities laws very much apply in HK and in China. There are some decent summaries of the law in China (and HK) available if you do a little more research. For example, a good summary of the current position is set out here:
You can even find translations of the law. For example:
http://www.pbc.gov.cn/english/130721/3377816/index.html"Organizations or Individuals Shall Engage Not in Illegal Fundraising through Coin Offering - From the date of release of this Notice, fundraising through coin offering shall be banned immediately. Any individuals or organizations that have completed fundraising through coin offering shall make arrangements to return the funds raised, and to ensure that the legitimate rights and interests of the investors are protected and the risks involved are properly managed. The government departments concerned will strictly investigate and address the coin offering activities that have continued despite the ban and the illegal activities in the projects that had completed fundraising."
"Any so-called platform that provide trading and exchange services for coin offering shall not engage in exchange businesses between legal tender and token or “virtual currency”; or engage in proprietary trading activities or trading as an central counterparty of tokens or “virtual currencies”; or provide pricing services or act as information intermediary for tokens or “virtual currencies”."
Various China-based law-firms also publish summaries of the current regulatory approach:
https://www.kwm.com/cn/en/insights/latest-thinking/tokenisation-of-securities-and-other-investment-products.html"Since tokenisation is a “wrapper” that does not change the fundamental nature of an investment product ... [that] should not, in and of itself, affect the applicability of these PRC legal and regulatory requirements."
See also:
https://www.degruyter.com/document/doi/10.1515/ijdlg-2024-0007/html?"In September 2021, the Notice on Further Preventing and Resolving the Risks of Virtual Currency Trading and Speculation was issued by the People’s Bank of China, the Cyberspace Administration of China, and other ministries emphasizing that the business activities related to virtual currency are illegal financial activities. All government departments, administrative regions, and industry associations shall fully leverage various media and other communication channels to educate the public about the unlawfulness, and harmfulness, to enhance public awareness of risk prevention (PBC 2021). For the first time, overseas virtual currency exchanges providing services to Chinese residents via the Internet are also illegal financial activities."
Having said that, anywhere, but especially in China, there is distinction between the law, and the enforcement of it (which is very selective). As a result we will, at least initially, see BTC embraced, (perhaps also ETH) whilst at the same time securities laws very much enforced (which in turn apply to the vast majority of what we in the West call "crypto"). We will likely see USD stable coins discouraged (for political reasons, if not anything else). Bare in mind also, there is BIG distinction between HK, and China, in terms of legal and financial system. In HK, they have already moved to a much great greater acceptance of some types of "crypto" beyond BTC, such as ETH. But again, securities law are harshly enforced in HK.
