China’s Biggest Bitcoin Exchanges To Stop Local Trading

A few days after JPMorgan Chase and Co., CEO Jamie Dimon called Bitcoin a fraud, the Chinese government announced a ban on all local cryptocurrencies exchanges and trading as well. All the traders of the country were asked to halt all exchanges by midnight on September 15 and notify their users when they will be formally closing.

This move comes after China banned all forms of initial coin offerings (ICO) in the country, which led to a sharp drop in the price of nearly all cryptocurrencies. China’s longest running bitcoin exchange, BTC China, was the first to announce it will suspend its local trading service at the end of this month. Huobi and OKCoin, the country’s two other major exchanges, followed suit and said they will cease all their services by the end of October. These closures will effectively put an end to all the yuan bitcoin exchange markets in China, which was once the largest drivers of the bitcoin trading volume.

Although all cryptocurrency exchangers in the country will not be allowed to facilitate the buying of cryptocoins using the Chinese Yuan, they are allowed to continue to operate international exchanges and other associated services. In accordance with the Notice of the People’s Bank of China and other ministries, several smaller exchangers such as Yunbi will be closing shop for good by the end of September. While the value of Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies fell by almost 20% post the announcement of the ban touching below $ 3000, it has rebounded since, regaining nearly all its losses. To account for the lion’s share of global trading volumes, Japan, Korea and the U.S., markets have emerged as big contenders, making the impact of the China ban not as severe as it initially seemed. Even though China accounted for 90% of the global trade volume, the dollar and yen markets account for over 75% of volume today, according to data provider Crypto Compare.

After China’s crackdown on cryptocurrencies, the Reserve Bank of India also issued a statement cautioning traders and investors against the digital currency stating they pose potential financial, legal and security related risks. The value of Bitcoin in India went into a tailspin post the RBI’s statement, witnessing a fall of 33% in less than two weeks.