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A Bitcoin ATM in Hong Kong.
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Some crypto holders in China and Hong Kong are scrambling to find a way to safeguard their bitcoin and other tokens after China’s central bank published a new document Friday spelling out tougher measures in its wider crypto crackdown, including souped-up systems to monitor crypto-related transactions.

Bitcoin was down as much as 6% and ether sunk as much as 10%, amid a wider sell-off early Friday, as investors digested the news.

“Since the announcement less than two hours ago, I have already received over a dozen messages – email, phone and encrypted app – from Chinese crypto holders looking for solutions on how to access and protect their crypto holdings in foreign exchanges and cold wallets,” David Lesperance, a Toronto-based attorney who specializes in relocating wealthy crypto holders to other countries to save on taxes, told CNBC early Friday.

Lesperance said the move is an attempt to freeze crypto assets so that holders can’t legally do anything with them. “Along with not being able to do anything with an extremely volatile asset, my suspicion is that like with Roosevelt and gold, the Chinese government will ‘offer’ them in the future to convert it to e-yuan at a fixed market price,” he said of President Franklin Roosevelt’s policy around the private ownership of gold, which was later repealed.

“I have been predicting this for a while as part of the Chinese government’s moves to close out all potential competition to the incoming digital yuan,” said Lesperance.

The People’s Bank of China said on its website Friday that all cryptocurrency-related transactions in China are illegal, including services provided by offshore exchanges. Services offering trades, order matching, token issuance and derivatives for virtual currencies are all strictly prohibited, according to the PBOC.

The directive will take aim at over-the-counter platforms like OKEx, which allows users in China to exchange fiat currencies for crypto tokens. An OKEx spokesperson told CNBC the company is looking into the news and will let CNBC know once it has decided on the next steps.

Lesperance claims some of his clients are also worried about their safety.

“They are concerned about themselves personally, as they suspect that the Chinese government is well aware of their prior crypto activities, and they do not want to become the next Jack Ma, like ‘common prosperity’ target,” said Lesperance, who has helped clients to expatriate in order to avoid taxes, amid a rising crypto crackdown in the U.S.

That said, it’s common for the authoritarian state to lash out against digital currencies.

In 2013, the country ordered third-party payment providers to stop using bitcoin. Chinese authorities put a stop to token sales in 2017 and pledged to continue to target crypto exchanges in 2019. And earlier this year, China’s takedown of its crypto mining industry led to half the global bitcoin network going dark for a few months.

“Today’s notice isn’t exactly new, and it isn’t a change in policy,” said Boaz Sobrado, a London-based fintech data analyst.

But this time, the crypto announcement involves 10 agencies, including key departments such as the Supreme People’s Court, the Supreme People’s Procuratorate, and the Ministry of Public Security, in a show of greater unity among the country’s top brass. The State Administration of Foreign Exchange also participated, which could be a sign that enforcement in this space might increase.

Signs of coordination

There are other signs of early government coordination in China. The PBOC document was first announced Sept. 15, and a document banning all crypto mining by China’s National Development and Reform Commission was released Sept. 3. Both were published on official government platforms on Friday, suggesting a collaboration between all participating agencies.

And unlike past government statements that refer to cryptos under the same umbrella language, this document specifically calls out bitcoin, ethereum and tether, as stablecoins begin to enter the lexicon of regulators in China.

Bespoke Growth Partners CEO Mark Peikin thinks that this is the start of widespread, near-term pressure on the price of bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies and that “the risks facing Chinese investors will have a significant spillover effect, leading to an immediate risk-off trade in the U.S. crypto market.”

“Chinese investors, many of whom continued to turn a cold shoulder to the Chinese government’s latest and largest crackdown on cryptocurrency trading the last several months, may no longer remain bellicose,” Peikin told CNBC.

“Chinese investors thus far largely skirted the ban by decoupling transactions – using domestic OTC platforms or increasingly of late, offshore outlets, to reach agreement on trade price, and then using banks or fintech platforms to transfer yuan in settlement,” Peikin said.

But given the PBOC has improved its capabilities to monitor crypto transactions – and the recent order that fintech companies, including the Ant Group, not provide crypto-related services – Peikin said this workaround used by Chinese investors will become a progressively narrow tunnel.

Friday’s statement from the PBOC adds to other news out of China this week, which has roiled crypto markets. A liquidity crisis at property developer Evergrande raised concerns over a growing property bubble in China. That fear rippled across the global economy, sending the price of many cryptocurrencies into the red.

However, not all are convinced this downward pressure on the crypto market will last.

Sobrado thinks the market is overreacting to Friday’s announcement from the PBOC, given that a lot of the exchange volume in China is decentralized and conducted peer-to-peer – increasingly the most telling metric of crypto adoption. While exchanging tokens P2P doesn’t evade regulatory scrutiny, Sobrado said those crypto exchanges are harder to track down.

Lesperance also points out that Friday’s news might actually strengthen the business case for cryptos as an asset class, given they are a hedge against sovereign risk.

Ultimately, the biggest question is whether this latest directive from Beijing has teeth. “The running joke in crypto is that China has banned crypto hundreds of times,” Sobrado said. “I’d be willing to wager people will be trading bitcoin in China a year from now.”

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‘China’s Nvidia’ Moore Threads surges over 400% on trading debut after $1.1 billion listing

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'China's Nvidia' Moore Threads surges over 400% on trading debut after .1 billion listing

An illustration photo shows Moore Threads logo in a smartphone in Suqian, Jiangsu Province, China on October 30, 2025.

Cfoto | Future Publishing | Getty Images

Shares of Moore Threads, a Beijing-based graphics processing unit (GPU) manufacturer often referred to as “China’s Nvidia,” soared by more than 400% on its debut in Shanghai following its $1.1 billion listing.

The stock is currently trading at 584.98 yuan, over five times its IPO price of 114.28 yuan.

Moore Threads’ IPO was led by CITIC Securities, which served as the lead underwriter for the offering. The joint book runners on the deal were BOC International Securities, China Merchants Securities, and GF Securities.

The company, which is not yet profitable, said in its listing that the IPO proceeds are needed to accelerate several core research and development initiatives, including new-generation self-developed AI training and inference GPU chips. A portion of the funds will also be used to supplement working capital.

Moore Thread’s successful IPO comes despite it being placed under U.S. sanctions in 2023, which limited its access to advanced chip manufacturing processes and foundries.

The firm is representative of a growing cast of Chinese companies developing AI processors amid Beijing’s efforts to reduce reliance on American chip designer Nvidia.

Other companies in the space include tech giants like Huawei, as well as more specialized players like Cambricon — a firm whose shares on the Shanghai exchange have surged more than 100% year to date.

Washington has maintained varying export restrictions on Nvidia for years, preventing it from selling its most advanced AI chips to China. More recently, Beijing has also stepped in to block imports of Nvidia’s chips as it tries to encourage domestic alternatives like Moore Threads.

Newer players like Enflame Technology and Biren Technology have also entered the space, aiming to capture a share of the billions in GPU demand no longer served by Nvidia. Chinese regulators have also been clearing more semiconductor IPOs in their drive for greater AI independence.

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SoFi’s stock drops on $1.5 billion share sale announcement

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SoFi's stock drops on .5 billion share sale announcement

Anthony Noto, CEO of SoFi, speaking with CNBC at the annual Allen & Co. Media and Technology Conference in Sun Valley, Idaho on July 10th, 2025.

David A. Grogan | CNBC

SoFi shares fell almost 6% in extended trading Thursday after the fintech company announced a $1.5 billion stock offering.

The company, which provides online loans and other banking services, said in a press release that it will use the proceeds for “general corporate purposes, including but not limited to enhancing capital position, increasing optionality and enabling further efficiency of capital management, and funding incremental growth and business opportunities.”

The announced offering comes after SoFi’s market cap almost doubled so far in 2025. The stock price is up more than sixfold since the end of 2022.

A company’s share price often drops on a planned share sale as the offering dilutes the value of existing holders’ stakes.

In its third-quarter earnings release in late October, SoFi reported revenue growth of 38% from a year earlier to $961.6 million, while net income more than doubled to $139.4 million. The company reported cash and equivalents of $3.25 billion.

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Apple announces departure of general counsel and policy chief

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Apple announces departure of general counsel and policy chief

Lisa Jackson, senior vice president of environment, policy and social initiatives at Apple Inc., speaks during the TechCrunch Disrupt 2017 in San Francisco, California, U.S., on Tuesday, Sept. 19, 2017.

David Paul Morris | Bloomberg | Getty Images

Apple’s general counsel, Kate Adams, and its vice president for environment, policy, and social initiatives, Lisa Jackson, are retiring from the company, the iPhone maker announced on Thursday.

Jennifer Newstead, Meta’s chief legal officer, will become Apple’s new general counsel in March, and Jackson’s government affairs staff will report to her starting late next year, Apple said.

The two executives, who both reported to Apple CEO Tim Cook, are the latest members of senior leadership to exit the company. In recent weeks, Apple’s head software designer said he was leaving to join Meta, while Apple said its AI chief was retiring, along with its chief operating officer.

Adams joined Apple from Honeywell and became general counsel in 2017, and oversaw legal matters including litigation, global security, and the company’s privacy initiatives. Under Adams, Apple grappled with rising antitrust scrutiny and regulation around the world, including major lawsuits in the U.S. over the iPhone App Store’s restrictions and fees.

Jackson joined Apple in 2013, and led the company’s diversity programs as well as much of its policy work in Washington, D.C. Before that, she spent four years as administrator of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, a position she was appointed to by President Barack Obama.

With her emphasis in areas like social justice and renewable energies, Jackson’s job lost relevance during the second Trump administration, which has publicly denounced diversity, equity and inclusion programs and slammed efforts to combat climate change.

Apple has faced increased tariffs from the Trump administration, and Cook has met with President Donald Trump several times to tout the company’s American manufacturing plans as part of an effort to influence policy.

Jackson was instrumental in Apple’s launch of its Racial Equity and Justice Initiative following the 2020 murder of George Floyd. She then helped expand the company’s equity and justice efforts to other countries, including the U.K., Mexico and New Zealand, according to a report published in 2023.

“At Apple, we pledge that our resolve will not fade,” Jackson wrote in a section of that report. “We won’t delay action. We will work, each and every day, on the urgent task of advancing equity.”

Jackson also worked on Apple’s environmental image. Her job “focused on reducing greenhouse gases, protecting air and water quality, preventing exposure to toxic contamination, and expanding outreach to communities on environmental issues,” according to her bio on the company’s website. She discussed Apple’s plans to become carbon neutral at iPhone launch events.

Jackson also accompanied Cook to several official functions in Washington, including state dinners.

Apple CEO Tim Cook and Apple Vice President Lisa Jackson arrive at the White House for a state dinner on April 10, 2024 in Washington, DC.

Tasos Katopodis | Getty Images

Newstead, who will become Apple’s top lawyer, has overseen Meta’s legal and regulatory matters pertaining to its family of apps like Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp since 2019. A Meta spokesperson said Newstead will be staying through the end of the year and that the company is actively searching for her replacement.

Prior to Meta, Newstead served as a Trump-appointed legal advisor at the State Department during the president’s first administration in 2019. 

Before that, she was a partner at Davis Polk & Wardwell and a general counsel of the White House Office of Management and Budget, among other roles in the U.S. government.

CNBC’s Jonathan Vanian contributed to this story.

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