When people talk about Binance China, the former Chinese arm of the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange. Also known as Binance CN, it once handled over 30% of Binance’s global trading volume before vanishing overnight in 2021. Unlike Binance’s global platform, Binance China wasn’t just a localized version—it was a separate legal entity, built to comply with China’s strict financial controls. That compliance didn’t save it. In 2021, Chinese regulators ordered all crypto exchanges to shut down domestic operations. Binance China closed its trading platform, stopped fiat on-ramps, and removed its local domain. No warning. No transition. Just silence.
What happened next shaped the entire crypto industry. Binance didn’t disappear—it shifted. It moved its headquarters out of China, stopped serving Chinese users entirely, and doubled down on global compliance. This wasn’t just a business pivot. It was a survival move. Meanwhile, regulators in the U.S., EU, and Asia watched closely. Binance China became the textbook example of what happens when a crypto platform tries to operate in a country that bans crypto trading. It also showed how quickly a massive exchange can be erased from a market—even one with hundreds of millions of potential users.
Related entities like cryptocurrency regulations, government policies that control how digital assets are bought, sold, and held and crypto exchange China, any platform that once offered trading services to users inside mainland China are now defined by that moment. Today, no major exchange dares to openly serve Chinese retail users. Even P2P trading through local wallets is risky. The Chinese government doesn’t just ban exchanges—it blocks websites, freezes bank accounts linked to crypto, and targets individuals who help others trade. That’s why you won’t find any official Binance China support, no app downloads, and no active community forums anymore.
But the story doesn’t end there. The collapse of Binance China forced global exchanges to rethink KYC, geo-blocking, and user verification. It also pushed traders to use offshore platforms, VPNs, and decentralized exchanges. And it made regulators realize that banning exchanges doesn’t kill crypto—it just moves it underground. Today, China still doesn’t allow crypto trading, but millions still trade privately. Binance China’s ghost is everywhere: in the way exchanges now screen users by IP, in the rise of non-KYC platforms, and in the growing distrust of centralized services.
What you’ll find below are real, detailed reviews and investigations into platforms that tried to fill the void left by Binance China—some legitimate, most scams. You’ll see how users lost money trying to access old accounts, how fake Binance China clones popped up overnight, and how regulators are still chasing the trail. This isn’t history. It’s a warning—and a roadmap for anyone navigating crypto in a world where governments can erase an exchange in a single day.
China banned all centralized crypto exchanges in 2021, and the restrictions tightened through 2025. While owning crypto isn't illegal, trading through regulated platforms is. The government blocks access, monitors wallets, and pushes its own digital yuan instead.