Chinese bitcoin exchanges say awaiting clarification on closure reports

China’s largest bitcoin exchanges said today they were still awaiting clarification from the govt. following a lot of media reports that capital of Red China was going to ban trading of virtual currencies on domestic exchanges.

Spokeswomen for the OkCoin and Huobi platforms told Reuters that they had no data to share following a report by Chinese monetary publication Caixin that sent the value of bitcoin down six.6 per cent on weekday.

Caixin rumored that China was reaching to clean up native crypto-currency exchanges. Today, Bloomberg and also the Wall Street Journal issued similar reports, locution that China was drafting a concept to ban commercial trading of all virtual currencies.

Reuters was unable to verify the reports. BTC China, additionally one in all China’s 3 largest exchanges, and China’s financial institution didn't immediately reply to Reuters’ requests for comment.

Bitcoin was trading lower by around 1.6 per cent at US$4,160 (RM17,476) on the Bitstamp platform today. On Sept 2, it hit a record high of nearly US$5,000.

China has boomed as a cryptocurrency trading venue in recent years as its domestic exchanges had antecedently allowed users to conduct trades at no cost, attracting investors and speculators who boosted demand and inspiring volumes.

However regulators started taking a more in-depth check up on the trade in Jan this year and have since rolled out a series of rules for the industry as well as forcing exchanges to slam on trading fees and requiring them to strengthen oversight of customers’ identities.

The latest media reports follow China’s move last week to ban alleged “initial coin offerings,” or the practice of making and marketing digital currencies or tokens to investors so as to finance start-up comes.

Xue Hongyan, director of the Suning monetary analysis Institute, the analysis arm of one of China’s largest fintech service providers, said in a piece of writing posted on-line that the newest reports urged that the rules weren't geared toward the virtual currencies themselves, however rather trading of them.

“The reason isn't troublesome to know. The virtual currency itself isn't the matter, however the nonlegal behaviours that the virtual currencies alter area unit where the issues lie,” he said. — Reuters