(Yicai Global) Jan. 16 -- The number of recently established multi-level marketing platforms in China cloaking themselves with blockchain or cryptocurrencies has surpassed 3,000, and more than 2,000 non-fiat based currencies exist, said Li Xuyang, head of Tencent Anti-fraud Lab.

Government departments and enterprises will team up to clamp down on "black" online industrial chains, China Central Television reported yesterday, citing information from a security conference that Chinese regulators held Jan. 14.

Technological and financial innovation has given rise to increasingly complicated swindles and hoaxes. "Such virtual currency pyramid selling organizations all involve an enormous amount of crime, causing great harm," CCTV quoted Li as saying.

The National Internet Finance Association of China emphasized the importance of safeguarding against risks hiding behind digital currency issuance.

The People's Bank of China and six national ministries and commissions issued a statement in September last year, calling on trading platforms to stop initial coin offering activities forthwith. An ICO is a form of unauthorized public financing that may involve the illegal offering of coins, token money or securities, illegal fundraising, financial scams or pyramid schemes, the statement said.