China has recently announced, in an official government statement, its plan to prohibit people from trading cryptocurrencies – by blocking access to online exchanges, platforms and popular smartphone applications that allow people to trade crypto.

Such measures have been enforced in order to curb people's increasing enthusiasm for cryptocurrency and cryptocurrency trading. It's reported that China hopes that such moves will turn people within the country off cryptocurrency for good, with fears that it could be used for criminal dealings, such as tax evasion and the funding of terrorism. While China has made drastic moves to ban all cryptocurrency trading, reports have noted that China has not made any announcements on taking any measures to stop peer-to-peer transactions involving a small amount of cryptocurrency.

While the latest announcements from China have reportedly caused Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies market values to plummet, commentators have noted that China's previous regulations have not limited cryptocurrency exchanges, only moved their location.

Scott Freeman, CEO of C2CX, noted that previous action by the Chinese government to curb the crypto market in China only led to people moving their servers abroad. Such moves could mean that governments may struggle to reduce and regulate cryptocurrency interest and trading – despite their best efforts.