"Can people in mainland China use Binance?" is the single most common question new users ask. To answer it properly, you have to separate "official policy stance" from "what's actually practical." This article reflects the situation as of April 2026 and is not legal advice. Before opening the Binance Official Site, we recommend reading the risk section below first; only then decide whether to install the Official Binance App; iPhone users can follow the iOS installation guide for setup steps.
In 2017, the People's Bank of China issued the "Announcement on Preventing Financing Risks from Token Issuance." In 2021, nine central government departments jointly issued the "Notice on Further Preventing and Handling the Risks of Speculation in Virtual Currency Trading" (commonly known as the "9-24 Notice").
The notice is explicit: offshore virtual currency exchanges providing services to residents inside mainland China over the internet constitutes illegal financial activity, and domestic staff involved in such business are acting unlawfully.
The notice does not classify "an individual holding Bitcoin" as illegal, nor does it treat "an individual trading crypto overseas" as a crime. However, related civil contracts are not protected by law, meaning disputes cannot be resolved through the courts.
Binance stopped its RMB OTC service in September 2017, began blocking mainland China IP addresses at registration from 2021 onward, and starting in 2023 began guiding legacy mainland China KYC users to switch to a different jurisdiction's identity.
Binance has not forced the deletion of mainland China user accounts. Accounts registered previously can still log in, trade, and withdraw, but they no longer receive the service tier promised through Chinese-language support, and some earn products are also hidden from users with mainland China KYC.
Binance has no customer service hotline, office, bank account, or advertising presence inside mainland China. Any support channel claiming to be a "Binance mainland China branch" is a scam.
Opening the Binance official site directly from a mainland China IP redirects to a risk warning page. Getting around the IP restriction is not itself illegal, but it does require using a compliant network environment.
RMB OTC is the step where mainland China users run into trouble most often. If the counterparty's funds have an issue when buying or selling USDT, your bank card can end up frozen for anywhere from 48 hours to six months.
Common causes of a freeze include: the counterparty using funds tied to a criminal case, the counterparty's account being flagged by an anti-fraud system, or a complaint reaching the local banking regulator.
Binance's risk-control systems restrict accounts that show abnormal logins, abnormal withdrawals, or that have been reported. Assets remain in a restricted account, but withdrawal and trading functions are frozen, and you'll need to submit an appeal with supporting documents.
As of April 2026, there is no dedicated criminal statute covering an individual holding or trading crypto on their own. But if you buy or sell on someone else's behalf, organize OTC trading groups, or provide a channel for money-laundering rings, you could be committing the crime of illegal business operations under Article 225 of the Criminal Law, or money laundering under Article 191.
The table below sorts common behaviors by risk level so new users can quickly see where they stand.
| Behavior | Risk Level | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Holding a small personal balance long-term | Low | No exposure to fiat on-ramps |
| Depositing/withdrawing via USDT | Medium | Some chance of a card freeze |
| Large RMB OTC trades (over 50,000 RMB per order) | High | Bank risk-control probability rises significantly |
| Frequent, high-volume deposits/withdrawals | High | Accounts are easily flagged by anti-fraud systems |
| Buying or selling on someone else's behalf | Very High | May be classified as illegal business operations |
| Running an OTC trading group and charging fees | Very High | May involve illegal business operations or concealing criminal proceeds |
Some users register with someone else's ID. If the account is ever put under risk control, the appeal will fail and the assets inside may stay frozen for a long time.
We recommend opening a dedicated bank card just for RMB OTC. Even if it gets frozen, it won't affect your salary deposits or mortgage payments.
Binance's P2P platform requires merchants to post a deposit and maintain a rating. Prioritize merchants with over 500 completed orders in the past 30 days and a negative-feedback rate below 1%.
After completing an OTC trade, keep screenshots of the conversation and the bank deposit for at least six months. If your card does get frozen, these can serve as evidence that the funds have a legitimate source.
Don't keep everything on a single platform. We recommend keeping day-to-day funds on Binance and moving assets you don't plan to touch for a long time into a hardware wallet or a self-custody solution such as an OKX Web3 wallet.
Cashing out is more sensitive than depositing. If the RMB you receive after selling USDT to a merchant turns out to come from irregular funds, the probability of a card freeze is notably higher than on the deposit side.
If you get a call or text saying your card has been "judicially frozen," contact the police department behind the freeze immediately and provide:
The vast majority of freezes are lifted within 48 hours. If the freeze was issued by an authority in another province, you may need to go in person to explain the situation to your local police.
Using an unregistered VPN inside mainland China does violate the "Interim Regulations on the Management of International Networking of Computer Information Networks," but in practice enforcement mainly targets people who commercially operate VPN services; individual users are rarely penalized.
To reduce risk, we recommend using a legitimate commercial route for accessing overseas services (such as an international SIM card or an official offshore node) and avoiding logging into Binance from public network environments.
Q: Can mainland China residents still register a Binance account right now? The Binance official site blocks mainland China IP addresses by default, but you can register normally using a network environment outside mainland China. KYC requires a passport or a Hong Kong/Macau/Taiwan ID.
Q: Will buying USDT with RMB get the police knocking on my door? Simply buying USDT won't, but if the counterparty's funds are tied to a case, your bank card could be frozen and you may need to cooperate with an investigation.
Q: Can I only register one Binance account per ID? Yes, one person per account. If you try to register a second account with the same ID, the system will automatically detect it and either merge or freeze it.
Q: Has the balance in my account ever been judicially frozen? Binance cooperates with lawful judicial assistance requests from the jurisdictions it operates in. Chinese police authorities can, through judicial assistance channels, freeze specific accounts, but such cases are rare.
Q: If I don't trade right now, is it a problem to just leave my account sitting there? No. A long-inactive account only moves into "inactive" status; it won't be closed. That said, we suggest logging in at least once every six months to keep it active.
Q: Will mainland China open up virtual currency trading in the future? As of April 2026, there is no official document indicating any plan to do so. The Hong Kong SAR government has already opened licensed virtual asset exchanges, but they only serve Hong Kong residents.