The People's Bank of China (PBOC) has initiated an investigation into organizations and individuals involved in promoting the Solana blockchain platform within the country. The trigger was an advertising campaign launched in Shanghai, which drew the regulator's attention against the backdrop of China's ongoing ban on digital asset transactions.
The investigation is being conducted jointly with relevant agencies whose remit includes oversight of compliance with cryptocurrency legislation. The regulator intends to establish the full circle of participants in the campaign — from clients and organizers to the contractors involved in distributing promotional materials.
China maintains one of the strictest cryptocurrency regulatory regimes in the world: since 2021, mining and all types of digital asset transactions have been banned in the country, and any public promotional activity in this sphere is regarded as a potential violation. The promotion of Solana in Shanghai thus falls squarely within the zone of direct regulatory risk.
The campaign to popularize Solana attracted heightened attention not by chance: the project is traditionally associated with high network throughput and an active ecosystem of decentralized applications, which makes it attractive for mass marketing. However, under Chinese law, such initiatives inevitably come into conflict with the regulator's position.
The outcome of the investigation could matter for the entire market: it will demonstrate how strictly the PBOC is prepared to apply existing restrictions to international blockchain projects operating within the country, and what measures will be applied to the organizers of such campaigns.
Cryptalist Analysis: The PBOC's actions confirm the immutability of Beijing's hardline stance on the public promotion of crypto assets and serve as a signal to international projects about the inadmissibility of marketing activity in the Chinese market. For Solana, this is more of a reputational than an operational risk, but the precedent itself increases pressure on the entire industry in jurisdictions with prohibitive regulation.