China’s financial institution on Friday said all financial transactions involving cryptocurrencies are illegal, sounding the death knell for the digital trade China after a crackdown on the volatile currencies.

The global values of cryptocurrencies including Bitcoin have massively fluctuated over the past year partly thanks to Chinese regulations, which have sought to stop speculation and concealment .

“Virtual currency-related business activities are illegal financial activities,” the People’s Bank of China (PBOC) said in a web statement on Friday, adding that offenders would be “investigated for criminal liability in accordance with the law”.

The notice bans all related financial activities involving cryptocurrencies, like trading crypto, selling tokens, transactions involving virtual currency derivatives and “illegal fundraising”.

The People’s Bank of China said that in recent years, trading of Bitcoin and other virtual currencies had become “widespread, disrupting economic and financial order, giving rise to concealment , illegal fund-raising, fraud, pyramid schemes and other illegal and criminal activities”.

This was “seriously endangering the security of people’s assets,” the PBOC said.

While crypto creation and trading are illegal in China since 2019, further crackdowns this year by Beijing warned banks to halt related transactions and closed much of the country’s vast network of bitcoin miners.

The crypto crackdown also opens the gates for China to introduce its own digital currency, already within the pipeline, allowing the central government to watch transactions.