China to continue cracking down on domestic virtual currency trading, speculation: central bank

China's central bank will continue to work with law enforcement authorities to crack down on domestic virtual currency trading and speculation, Pan Gongsheng, governor of the People's Bank of China (PBOC), said at the Annual Conference of Financial Street Forum 2025 on Monday.

Kicked off on Monday in Beijing, the event focuses on global financial development in an era of innovation, transformation and restructuring. It brings together more than 400 guests from over 30 countries and regions, including representatives from China's central bank, international regulators and economic experts, for talks on global financial development and cooperation.

Pan said that although stablecoins issued by market institutions have continued to emerge in recent years, the sector remains in its early stage of development.

"As a financial activity, the stablecoins for now still cannot meet some basic requirements such as customer identity verification and anti-money laundering, which has instead amplified the loopholes in global financial regulations like money laundering, illegal cross-border fund transfers and terrorism financing. It also hypes up the market speculation, increasing the vulnerability of the global financial system and causing impacts on some underdeveloped economies' monetary sovereignty," said Pan.

Pan said that the PBOC, together with relevant authorities, has issued a series of policy documents since 2017 to prevent and address related risks. "These policies remain in effect," he said.

"In the future, the PBOC will continue working with law enforcement authorities to crack down on domestic virtual currency trading and speculation activities, thereby maintaining economic and financial order. Meanwhile, we will closely monitor and dynamically assess the development of overseas stablecoins," Pan noted.

China to continue cracking down on domestic virtual currency trading, speculation: central bank

Influenza activity in China has declined for four consecutive weeks, with recent tests showing common pathogens and no evidence of new infectious diseases, the National Health Commission (NHC) said on Tuesday.

At its first press briefing of 2026, the commission reported that flu activity nationwide remains moderate at the moment.

According to Xin Li, a researcher at the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention, respiratory samples collected from sentinel hospitals indicated that the influenza virus was the most common pathogen, accounting for 27.4 percent of cases, followed by respiratory syncytial virus at 8.8 percent and rhinovirus at 5.7 percent.

"Influenza activity in China has declined for four consecutive weeks and remains at a moderate level overall. Analysis of nationwide fever clinic consultations, influenza-like illness cases at sentinel hospitals, and multi-pathogen testing shows that all detected pathogens are known common ones, with no evidence of unknown pathogens or new infectious diseases," Xin told the press.

Data from sentinel hospitals indicated flu activity was falling across provincial-level regions, while reports of school outbreaks dropped for five consecutive weeks. Laboratory tests showed that 97.3 percent of positive influenza samples were H3N2 subtype viruses.

China flu activity declines for fourth week, no new pathogens detected: official