ICO ban shows regulators keen to curb financial risks

BEIJING - China's ban earlier this month on Initial Coin Offerings or ICOs, a digital coin fundraising scheme, was only part of a broader campaign to curb the country's financial risks.

On Sept 4, China's central bank ordered a complete halt to new ICO offerings, in which technology startups issue their own digital coins, or "tokens", to investors to access funds.

"ICOs, in essence, are a type of unauthorized and illegal public fundraising that is suspected of being related to criminal activities such as financial fraud and pyramid schemes," the People's Bank of China said.