[2017-09-19] China’s bitcoin investors are flocking to one of the last available

[White sugar]

China’s bitcoin exchanges are closed to local customers, and a “comprehensive ban” is reportedly in the works. In the meantime, China’s bitcoin traders are heading for the peer-to-peer marketplace LocalBitcoins to exchange fiat and crypto. The trade volume on LocalBitcoins has surged in recent days.

LocalBitcoins is a website that allows buyers and sellers to deal with one another directly. It’s a decentralized network of traders rather than a centralized marketplace or exchange. That’s why it’s a popular option when official restrictions on crypto trading are put in place, or in markets without established exchanges, like India and Venezuela. Yuan-bitcoin volume on LocalBitcoins has tripled since August.

The yuan trade on LocalBitcoins first spiked in February, when the Chinese government began conducting inspections of local exchanges. The platforms halted withdrawals during that time, leading to a spike on LocalBitcoins as traders sought ways to cash out their bitcoin holdings.
Luckily for traders looking to exchange, the price of bitcoin has rebounded spectacularly over the last week, gaining 33% since it hit a low of $3,000 on Sept. 15. It’s now trading just 15% below its price when officials began cracking down on bitcoin early in the month. It’s also up fourfold for the year.

Trading on LocalBitcoins comes at a cost. The prices offered to sell bitcoins on the marketplace are about 20% higher than the prices offered on the major Chinese exchanges, which are still able to operate for several more weeks.

https://qz.com/1081161/bitcoin-btc-investors-in-china-are-flocking-to-peer-to-peer-platform-localbitcoins-after-the-main-exchanges-shut-down/

[iamTom123]

Soon all of Bitcoin in China will be strictly banned in China and all citizens would be ordered not to take part in Bitcoin in anything and in any capacity. This country remains to be a bully and a rogue one and so afraid of anything that can take away the remaining control they have over the people. I am sure that the younger sets of leaders would not be fully following the footsteps taken by their older counterparts...years from now new generation of people would be holding the reign of the government and we should hope that more freedom would be granted to the people.

Anyway, the market is not anymore reacting to any news coming from China because we have already heard and seen the worst...it is time to move on to other countries where Bitcoin can be accepted and where the government is not afraid of the cryptocurrency innovations. Bitcoin can all live without China, that am sure of.

[Rahar02]

It doesn't make sense, or I misunderstand about this; who wants to buy bitcoin which 20% higher than market price?
Trading on LocalBitcoins comes at a cost. The prices offered to sell bitcoins on the marketplace are about 20% higher than the prices offered on the major Chinese exchanges, which are still able to operate for several more weeks.

Localbitcoins isn't the last one available while OKCoin and Huobi still working until the end of October, so it's more profitable to buy bitcoin in those exchanges and pay normal rates.
Even though all exchanges in China will be halt and shut down their services for a while or for good, but people will always find a way to transact bitcoin, through localbitcoin or over the counter exchange in another near country.

[Kprawn]

The problem this time around is that the governments are trying to implement a total ban on Bitcoin and not only the closure

of the Bitcoin exchanges. They will try to block access to LocalBitcoins sites too, but as we know, new sites will pop up under

new names. A network of Bitcoin users is also established already, so people will have trusted traders in black markets to

buy and sell bitcoins. People will always find a way, just look at the way that they are circumventing the Great firewall in

China. 

[richardsNY]

The problem this time around is that the governments are trying to implement a total ban on Bitcoin and not only the closure

of the Bitcoin exchanges. They will try to block access to LocalBitcoins sites too, but as we know, new sites will pop up under

new names.

It definitely starts to look like it, but we shouldn't jump off the bridge this soon with our conclusions -- at this point there is a massive influx of articles from which its source can't be verified. It might very well end up in a market where only a few exchanges are allowed to operate in. It has been stated that the Chinese government is working on setting up a certain license to hand them to just a few exchanges in order to maintain its Chinese activities. It's not the first time Chinese news sources have been messing up big time with wrongly translated articles and stuff -- let's see how things are after a month or two.

[link2yasar]

The problem this time around is that the governments are trying to implement a total ban on Bitcoin and not only the closure

of the Bitcoin exchanges. They will try to block access to LocalBitcoins sites too, but as we know, new sites will pop up under

new names.

It definitely starts to look like it, but we shouldn't jump off the bridge this soon with our conclusions -- at this point there is a massive influx of articles from which its source can't be verified. It might very well end up in a market where only a few exchanges are allowed to operate in. It has been stated that the Chinese government is working on setting up a certain license to hand them to just a few exchanges in order to maintain its Chinese activities. It's not the first time Chinese news sources have been messing up big time with wrongly translated articles and stuff -- let's see how things are after a month or two.

I don't thing so china will not permanently ban LocalBitcoin or bitcoin activity I think all they want is to make it controllable or monitored. as you said within month or two we will see what were they upto.

[buwaytress]

This was actually the first logical outcome that I expected after the September field day with China, its media, government and exchanges. This was all based on the speculation that the genesis source (Caixin) specifically excluded P2P exchanges. However, localbitcoins doesn't seem to be exempt, as can be seen from this list shared on a news outlet here: https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=2184903.msg21931725#msg21931725

The same news item describes Telegram to be the new, if temporary, saviour.

[InvoKing]

China is ordering exchanges to close their doors for customers but what about exchanges operating in Hong-Kong? Or even Taiwan. Normally, if an exchange will move there, it will remain intacted, no ?

[Snaic]

The complete prohibition of the Chinese government to its citizens to trade in crypto currency is illogical and meaningless. Most likely, they will not eventually ban, but will regulate this activity, possibly completely taking it under state control.

[1Referee]

China is ordering exchanges to close their doors for customers but what about exchanges operating in Hong-Kong? Or even Taiwan. Normally, if an exchange will move there, it will remain intacted, no ?

Basically every exchange or service operating from Hong Kong will remain unaffected from Chinese regulations, till the exchanges there announce otherwise. Bitfinex for example, is a Hong Kong registered exchange, but they have nothing to worry about because they don't offer any trading pairs involving the Chinese Yuan. The only possible scenario an Hong Kong registered exchange *could* end up suffering from Chinese regulations, is that they will longer be allowed to have any active Yuan trading pairs (which as mentioned isn't a problem for Bitfinex), and that they shouldn't be accepting any Chinese registrations (which *might* eventually be a problem for Bitfinex). It's nearly impossible to get a proper overview of this whole situation due to the lack of factual information. It's just China looking to ban Bitcoin exchanges involving Yuan trading, and that's really it - there is no way to know how far these regulations will stetch out.

[Mpamaegbu]

China is ordering exchanges to close their doors for customers but what about exchanges operating in Hong-Kong? Or even Taiwan. Normally, if an exchange will move there, it will remain intacted, no ?

This exodus to nearby territories is quite expected in a precarious situation as this and understandably it is welcomed too. Hong-Kong and Taiwan shouldn't be affected as they are sovereign nations out of China's grip. This "China" happening to bitcoin will soon fade and we shall realize that the drama was actually unnecessary in the first place. Who knows, this may lead to an uprising in China. It's time this bullying communist China realized that she could not hold the people down any longer.