Solana's Shanghai event stops with officers outside and three China stops still to run

The dates complicate any link to the February 2026 notice. Solana's Shenzhen event was cut short in late October 2025 ^[18], roughly three to four months before the PBOC and seven other departments issued the revised notice ^[15]. The September 2021 ban on virtual-currency business, covering trading, token issuance and derivatives, was already in force when police visited Shenzhen ^[6]. Shenzhen's organizers blamed venue capacity ^[18]. Shanghai's blamed venue logistics ^[2].

Binance co-founder Changpeng Zhao, who a day earlier had called it "amazing" that Solana had secured an office and advertising in China ^[11], wrote on X: "Sad to see. Looks like they really didn't know the local policies? But it's not the first time either, same thing happened less than a year ago." ^[5] He did not offer evidence for why Friday's event was stopped, crypto.news reported ^[10]. The Solana Foundation had issued no statement at the time The Crypto Times wrote ^[9].

If the other three stops ^[14] run as scheduled, the Shanghai episode looks local, which fits The Crypto Times account that enforcement against gatherings varies by city and is often triggered by local complaints or the perceived scale of an event ^[8]. If they are cancelled or moved in quick succession, a wider instruction becomes the likelier explanation, though that would still not show the February notice was the instrument. If a regulator or the Foundation states a reason, the question closes whichever way it points. We lean to the first outcome, because the tour's agenda is technology and the Shenzhen precedent was handled at city level ^[3][18]. Officers were present and attendees were questioned ^[16].

The money side is thin: the reporting gives no cost for the Shanghai office Solana opened or the advertising it ran across the city's skyline ^[11]. Meanwhile the Hong Kong route is moving: the second spot Solana ETF listed there on October 13 ^[12], and Joseph Chee, chief executive of Solana Company, said earlier this month that a managed reopening of mainland access could trigger another crypto supercycle ^[13]. No reopening has been announced ^[13]. Until one is, mainland spending covers developer events and an office, and the listed product sits in Hong Kong.

We would change our view if an authority cites the notice, or if Hangzhou, Shenzhen and Beijing are all stopped within the October 16 to 22 window ^[3].