(Yicai Global) Sept. 7 -- Cryptocurrency exchanges in China have halted operations related to initial coin offerings and started to repurchase ICO tokens from investors after Chinese regulators banned ICOs.

"We're repurchasing all domestically issued coins, and money is being returned to investors' accounts, with refunds calculated according to the ICO price in most cases," a source at a trading platform told Yicai Global. "Companies on the secondary market have different approaches, and some of them have not disclosed their plans."

"Mainstream virtual currencies such as bitcoin and Ethereum will still be available for trading in the future," the source said.

At the peak of the crypto bonanza, investors on the secondary market paid around USD12.27 (CNY80) for tokens that were introduced for less than CNY 2. The price of other digital assets that were not very popular did not move as much.

Most issuers have repurchased coins from initial investors that still have holdings at the ICO price, several trading platform managers said yesterday.

"Progress of coin repurchases is shown on the homepage, and [regulators] may check it at any time," a source at a trading platform said. "As far as I know, only a small number of projects haven't issued a coin refund announcement. Previously, some project managers even went to Singapore, but they started to repurchase coins in the past several days. Company information is typically registered on trading platforms, and only a few companies are facing significant financial pressure."

Some tokens issued in ICOs are traded on exchanges all around the world, so some investors have decided not to return their holdings, hoping that they will be able to sell them in foreign markets in the future.

"This actually might not work because overseas ICO exchanges may shut the door to Chinese investors," a source at a Shanghai-based exchange said.

Many members of online proxy investment communities have taken a new tack --they are looking for eligible foreigners to invest in ICOs that are not open to Chinese investors on their behalf. The government is aware of this approach and may prohibit it.

Many ICO projects have stopped accepting investments from Singaporean and American citizens or tried to minimize their participation. "I'm a Singaporean, but I can't do proxy investing for you," a member of the group said after someone asked her for help.