Chinese industry news and cryptocurrency market data company Feixiaohao is allegedly the subject of an inquiry by the local authorities.
As part of an ongoing investigation in Inner Mongolia, an autonomous area of northern China, a number of top executives of Feixiaohao are allegedly under arrest, according to a story published on August 28 by Chinese cryptocurrency journalist Colin Wu on his channel Wu Blockchain News.
Wu referenced a WeChat post from a local crypto channel that stated the Inner Mongolia police have detained "many key members of the Feixiaohao team" in order to conduct an investigation.
The purported investigation's motivations are unknown.
The largest simplified Chinese cryptocurrency market statistics website was established in August 2017, as stated on Feixiaohao's official website.
The website was sometimes referred to as the CoinGecko of China. CoinGecko is a significant international platform used to track the market capitalization of over 14,000 cryptocurrencies.
Wu's sources claim that Feixiaohao's purported inquiry has been going on for more than six months, but the probe's motivations are now unknown.
Wu observed, "Many of Feixiaohao's exchange partners said they were unable to reach them."
Feixiaohao was contacted by Cointelegraph for comment about the purported investigation and the arrest; but, at the time of writing, no answer had been received.
The website has continued to publish fresh items in the news section despite the announcements of the arrests; the most current pieces are dated August 30.
Feixiaohao remained operational during China's 2021 "great Bitcoin ban."
Data from SimilarWeb, a website that analyzes traffic, indicates that in July 2024, Feixiaohao received about 200,000 views each month. China was the country that received the most visitors last month, making about 23% of Feixiaohao's total visits worldwide.
China's user base for Feixiaohao may be regarded as substantial, particularly in light of the mainland's strict policies regarding the cryptocurrency market.
In September 2021, the People's Bank of China (PBoC), the country's central bank, formally implemented a series of regulations aimed at curbing the cryptocurrency market's growth in mainland China.
The Chinese prohibition on cryptocurrency, according to industry insiders, did not threaten local cryptocurrency media, even though prominent crypto news sites like ChainNews went down in November 2021 without giving an explanation.
It's unclear if offering crypto information services in mainland China was ultimately declared unlawful, as numerous industry-related Chinese news outlets have so far continued to run.