Monetary regulators in Beijing are set to ramp up control of virtual currencies such as Bitcoin to stabilize the country’s financial system.

Chinese Vice Premier Liu He and the State Council said in a statement late Friday night that authorities would crack down on Bitcoin mining and trading, and “resolutely prevent the transmission of individual risks to the social field.”

Friday’s statement caused Bitcoin prices to tumble 15% at one point, and came after three Chinese state-backed financial associations sounded a joint warning in the week about the risks of trading in highly volatile cryptocurrencies.

The fact that the issue had prompted the council’s Financial Stability and Development Committee to issue a warning indicated plans for an intensified crackdown on the speculative trading of Bitcoin and other virtual currencies, researcher Dong Ximiao from Fudan University’s school of economics told Shanghai-based Chinese media The Paper.

Wang Zhicheng, an associate professor of finance at Peking University’s Guanghua School of Management, said Bitcoin mining took up scarce chip-related resources and consumed too much energy, running counter to China’s goal of carbon neutrality.

Creating Bitcoin is usually a coal-powered, energy-intensive process that requires high-tech computers to compete against one another to solve complex mathematical puzzles. China, the world’s largest emitter of carbon dioxide, has pledged to become carbon neutral by 2060.

The country’s drive against cryptocurrencies has been compared to plans by its central bank to develop a sovereign digital renminbi.

Authorities sought to draw a distinction between the two. Former central bank chief Zhou Xiaochuan was reported as telling a recent financial forum that the digital renminbi was not meant to replace third-party payment systems or to supersede the U.S. dollar’s dominance in the world.

Authorities hoped the digital currency would make everyday transactions more efficient, Zhou said. It would be part of a “two-tier” system alongside third-party payment systems, and they were “all in the same boat.”

Analysts say the digital currency is intended to increase competition in the payment arena that has been dominated by Alibaba’s Alipay and Tencent’s WeChat Pay.

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