[2017-09-11] China is shutting down domestic Bitcoin exchanges

[White sugar]

China plans to shut down domestic Bitcoin exchanges, anonymous sources told The Wall Street Journal today. The sources said that regulators weren’t giving a clear message on when the shutdown would occur. One regulator told an exchange that the decision had already been made, while another said the decision might take a few months. In response to the news, the Bitcoin prices have dipped to a low of $4,108, according to CoinDesk.

China is home to vast and lucrative cryptocurrency mining operations for both Bitcoin, Ethereum, and other cryptocoins. Three Chinese exchanges — Bitfinex, OkCoin, and BTCC — made up over 45 percent of the global market share over the last 30 days, according to Bitcoinity.org. Bitcoin’s growing popularity in China may have caused the government to begin to perceive it as a threat to local currency, especially as Chinese investors bought up bitcoin and bet against the yuan last year.

The anonymous source cites “too much disorder” as the reason for the alleged shutdown, echoing the Chinese central bank’s words last week criticizing ICOs for disrupting the country’s financial order. China banned initial coin offerings last week as an unapproved and illegal form of public financing.

Many are skeptical of the rumored shutdown, including Bobby Lee, co-founder and CEO of BTCC. He tweeted a poll on September 8th, asking whether followers thought the shutdown news was fake or real; so far, 83 percent have voted that they believe the news is fake. On the same day, BTCC tweeted from its main handle @YourBTCC that the exchange was operating normally.

OkCoin responded with an emailed statement: “‘Til now we haven't informed by any authorities about closing BTC exchanges, if that happens we will show notifications on our website in no time. Even if that 's the case, we would be running offline trading for users, and your balance of coins in your account will be absolutely safe.”

This isn’t the first time China’s flexed its regulatory muscle on Bitcoin. Back in 2013, China banned the cryptocurrency from all banks and financial institutions, but left exchanges alone. The People’s Bank of China did not respond to comment in time for publication, and neither did major Chinese Bitcoin exchanges Bitfinex, BTCC, and Huobi.

https://www.theverge.com/2017/9/11/16288898/china-shutdown-rumored-bitcoin-exchanges-crackdown

[1715595363]

1715595363

[1715595363]

1715595363

[1715595363]

1715595363

[1715595363]

1715595363

[CloudMaitre]

In a later report this eve, an update on positioning re ICOs from other global regions. Goes without saying that this defining process will be fluid for a long time yet.


https://www.coinspeaker.com/2017/09/12/chinese-ico-ban-not-quite-appears-us-blockchain-attorney-explains

[Rahar02]

Some important things in this news;
- China plans to shut down domestic bitcoin exchanges - well, it just a plan and why only mentioned Bitcoin, it should be 'cryptocurrency'.
- anonymous sources told the wall street jurnal today - it's untrusted source, everyone could lie and say so.
- one regulator told an exchange that the decision had already been made, while another said the decision might take a few months - come from anonymous sources and they said different things, no wonder why we can't trust it.
However, if China will ban all of their exchanges, miners and bitcoiners in there will dumped their bitcoin and sell it at cheaper price, another discount for everyone.

[richardsNY]

Some important things in this news;
- China plans to shut down domestic bitcoin exchanges - well, it just a plan and why only mentioned Bitcoin, it should be 'cryptocurrency'.
- anonymous sources told the wall street jurnal today - it's untrusted source, everyone could lie and say so.
- one regulator told an exchange that the decision had already been made, while another said the decision might take a few months - come from anonymous sources and they said different things, no wonder why we can't trust it.

None of these points hold any value without a confirming word of a trustworthy source, or the Chinese exchanges themselves. It's insanely easy to come up with something that isn't backed by actual proof, and still affect the market, or at least the sentiment big time. Essentially, we can't really say that the western market has been affected by this -- it's only China that over-exaggerated with a dump almost touching $3300 in CNY equivalent.

[iamTom123]

Some important things in this news;
- China plans to shut down domestic bitcoin exchanges - well, it just a plan and why only mentioned Bitcoin, it should be 'cryptocurrency'.
- anonymous sources told the wall street jurnal today - it's untrusted source, everyone could lie and say so.
- one regulator told an exchange that the decision had already been made, while another said the decision might take a few months - come from anonymous sources and they said different things, no wonder why we can't trust it.
However, if China will ban all of their exchanges, miners and bitcoiners in there will dumped their bitcoin and sell it at cheaper price, another discount for everyone.

We are all waiting for an official decision and pronouncement on this important and critical matter maybe direct from the Chinese authorities. Until then, maybe it is good that we all shut up and stop all of these speculations going around the internet...maybe these news are there to get as much traffic as they can get (traffic is money). All of these rumors are not actually helping the cryptocurrency market as we are just spreading FUD all over the place.

Now, in case China will eventually ban Bitcoin exchanges, then let's deal with it once it is already official and implemented. All I know is that the Chinese government can ban Bitcoin exchanges but they are aware they can not be banning Bitcoin at all...meaning that peer-to-peer transactions are still okay and some financial institutions can still sell and buy Bitcoin.