Chinese internet giants shut cryptocurrency forums and transactions amid government clam…

China’s three biggest tech companies – Baidu, Alibaba and Tencent – are moving quickly to keep pace with regulators amid Beijing’s latest crackdown on cryptocurrencies.

Baidu, operator of China’s dominant internet search engine, has shut down some of its popular cryptocurrency-related chat rooms, known as Post Bar services, including “Digital Currency Bar” and “Virtual Currency Bar.” A search of the two online forums showed they are temporarily closed “in accordance with relevant laws, regulations and policies.” A spokeswoman for Baidu declined to comment on the matter.

Meanwhile, Tencent and Alibaba have said that they are cracking down on any transactions related to virtual money on their mobile payment services.

Tencent said in a statement that the company will ban cryptocurrency trading on its social app WeChat through measures including real-time monitoring of daily transactions and block suspicious transactions when necessary.

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