Chinese regulators are preparing the biggest clean-up on the cryptocurrency.

China is clamping down even more on bitcoin trading, as it gets ready to shut down all digital token exchanges, according to a report from The Wall Street Journal.

The plan, which regulators disclosed to cryptocurrency executives on Friday during a private meeting in Beijing, is the biggest step China has taken so far to shut down trading of the virtual currency. 

Earlier in September, regulators banned commercial exchanges trading bitcoins & other digital tokens. But last week's meeting indicated the government is looking to put a stop to all bitcoin trading, including peer-to-peer trading, which lets individual traders to find each other on the internet & trade digital tokens.

Since its founding in 2009, bitcoin has made a name for itself by allowing for anonymous transactions. The digital currency is now accepted by more than 100,000 merchants globally, including Microsoft, Dish & Subway.

But its lack of government backing & regulation has led to unpredictability. As its valuation has skyrocketed, it has attracted the attention of investors. But security concerns & the potential for scams, has made regulators in many countries uneasy, including the US Securities & Exchange Commission. This summer the SEC called for bitcoin & other virtual currency trading to be regulated like other securities.

Now China, which the Journal reports has digitized its financial sector faster than any other nation, is pulling back too.  China's onslaught on bitcoin is the most wide scale attempt by any country to control the cryptocurrency, according to the Journal.

Chinese regulators see bitcoin & other virtual currencies as a potential threat to the yuan. The regulatory onslaught also comes as China's top leaders battle money laundering, as the country prepares for a leadership transition this fall, the Journal reports.