Bitcoin Exchange BTCC to Halt Trading as Regulatory Storm Brews in China

This past week there’s been many rumors that Chinese cryptocurrency trading platforms would be shutting down shortly due to regulatory concerns. Now the China-based exchange BTCC has announced it will be shutting down operations on September 30.

Also read: China to Play a ‘Leading Role’ in Bitcoin’s Future  

BTCC Exchange to Cease Trading Operations at the End of the Month

It seems the circulating stories of Chinese bitcoin exchanges having to shut down has turned out to be true. On September 14, the exchange BTCC announced it would be suspending all trading on Saturday, September 30.

The exchange is the first major trading platform in the region to announce this decision. Following the exchange’s statement, the price of bitcoin has dropped significantly to a low of $3580 on Thursday morning.  

“After carefully considering the ‘Seven Regulatory Bodies’ announcement of preventing risks associated with token fundraising, BTCC has decided to immediately stop accepting new account registrations on the BTCC exchange,” explains CEO Bobby Lee’s translation of the announcement.

[BTCC] will stop all trading on the exchange on Saturday September 30th. We apologize for the inconvenience. Please note that BTCC’s pool is not affected; customers will still be able to use our mining pool services.

 Other Chinese Exchanges Have Not Issued Closure Announcements…Yet

According to the China-based bitcoin and blockchain Twitter personality, Cnledger, the exchange’s Okcoin and Huobi have not received a notice from regulators. “Also note that BTCC previously listed an ICO-coin, a token specifically used to raise funds for ICO projects, issued by co-founder Yang,” explains Cnledger on Twitter. However, the Shanghai news outlet Yicai has detailed that the country’s Municipal Financial Service Office has told all trading platforms based in China to stop operations immediately.

Many people wonder why the ICO market is affecting bitcoin.

Since the news has been released, bitcoin’s price has dropped below the $3500 range. This is also not the first time Chinese exchanges had to comply with regulations as earlier this year deposits and withdrawals were suspended. The price dipped at the time, but rebounded shortly after the central bank’s original announcement last January. This time around the ICO market has seemed to affect bitcoin negatively even though it’s not associated with these recent crowdfunding token investments. Bitcoiners across social media are not pleased with the ICO movement tarnishing bitcoin’s reputation and believe the news from China is a direct result of that particular market.  

News.Bitcoin.com will be following this story closely and will make sure our readers are informed if more Chinese exchanges decide to close operations.

What do you think about the Chinese exchange shutting down trading on September 30th? Let us know what you think in the comments below.

Images via Shutterstock, and Twitter

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