The now known temporary regulatory crackdown in China against cryptocurrency trading platforms has continued with two additional exchanges announcing closure with much more expected to follow.
According to multiple reports, all exchanges that deal with cryptocurrencies in China must shut down operations temporarily to stay compliant with the country’s regulators. This follows the closure of BTCC yesterday; a second exchange Viabtc has announced it would also be closing operations on September 30th.
“On September 4th, China’s central bank together with six other departments released a public statement on regulatory policies and warned of the risks of ICO projects,” Viabtc’s closure announcement said.
Following Viabtc’s announcement, another exchange Yobtc detailed that it would be ceasing trade operations as well. Yobtc gives the same explanation, but says they will be closing up shop on September 18 and customers should withdraw funds by then.
“With the spirit of the document, adhering to the prevention of investment risks, and the maximum protection of our users’ principle of interest we have decided to clear domestic currency trading,” Yobtc said.
Yesterday Litecoin creator, Charlie Lee (SatoshiLite on Twitter), explained that Huobi and Okcoin were meeting with regulators today and will likely announce closure soon. Lee tweeted to his followers that the regulatory crackdown in China is good, stating:
“This is a good thing. China can no longer play with the markets by banning Bitcoin. Cryptocurrency cannot be killed by any country.”
Finally, what every cryptocurrency trader needs to understand is that this is only temporary until the exchanges can get a financial book keeping license as China’s National Internet Finance Association (NIFA) has stated “Bitcoin is not banned or illegal” in China. Much of the news has been hyped by anonymous, unverified claims.
The price of Bitcoin is down 38 percent since the exchanges made their announcements with several more planned to close down for the time being until the regulatory storm blows over. At press time BTC was struggling to stay above $3.5K with a total market cap of $57,927,173,417, according to Coin Market Cap.
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