China’s central bank has announced an immediate ban on initial coin offerings (ICOs), also known as token sales, as the authorities plan to keep booming cryptocurrencies under control. The central bank statement said that ICOs have the risk of disrupting the country’s financial as well as economic order.

The decision making committee of the apex bank has prepared a list of five dozen exchanges that will be subject to scrutiny/inspection and report. In the meantime, a total ban on ICOs will remain in force in the country.

The decision is expected to have a significant impact on investors who had already took part in more than five dozen of the projects by mid of July.

Of the 43 ICO platforms in the country, nearly 60 per cent are located in Beijing, Guangdong and Shanghai. The three biggest platforms by financing were ICOAGE, ICOINFO and ICO365.

ICOINFO said in a statement that it of its own accord suspended all ICOs last week to prevent risks.

In a report released in July, the National Committee of Experts on the Internet Financial Security Technology stated that the ICO platforms had raised more than 2.6 billion yuan (US$399M) from as many as 105,000 investors.