Observers believe that the silent removal of cryptocurrency-related links may indicate the tightening of Chinese official policy towards digital money or be a response to recent cases of fraud.
The fact that Baidu has blocked cryptocurrency ads has been reported by the major Chinese exchanges OKCoin and Huobi. Baidu’s representatives have declined to comment on the reasons for such a step, South China Morning Post reports.
The search engine has been lately criticised for the quality of the content it shows in its ads, which concerns a wide range of services. In particular, one of the recent scandals involved advertising of dubious medical treatments that resulted in a death of a patient. Baidu’s decision be also induced by the negative attitude of China’s financial regulators to bitcoins. In late 2013, the People’s Bank of China forbade domestic financial institutions to process transactions in cryptocurrency and later stated that bitcoins are not to be considered a means of payment.
“It could be a precursor to China being ready to push for a more nationalised approach to virtual currencies,” Zennon Kapron, managing director of Shanghai consulting firm Kapronasia, told SCMP.
In 2014, the People's Bank of China established a study group to examine digital currencies and the distributed ledger technology. In addition, media reported on alleged plans of the Chinese central bank to issue its own digital currency. These possibility has been indirectly confirmed by Chinese officials.
It is worth noting that so far Baidu search engine has been considered bitcoin-friendly. It used to accept bitcoins up until the official ban. Earlier this year, the company invested in the cryptocurrency startup Circle.
Elena Platonova