In a new ruling published on Monday, the People’s Bank of China (PBoC) declared ICOs and similar cryptocurrency-based fundraising tools to be illegal within the country. The PBOC’s statement also demanded that all current ICOs on China-based exchanges be halted immediately, and that funds from previous ICO rounds be returned. The ruling follows an extended […]
The People’s Bank of China’s “bitcoin ban” has finally claimed another victim: cryptocurrency exchange NiuBTC. Back in March, the PBoC began quietly pressuring the country’s banks to close the accounts of digital currency-related businesses in an effort to curb rampant bitcoin and litecoin speculation. The result was a wave of bitcoin and alt-coin exchange closures, […]
It’s no surprise that cryptocurrency exchanges OKCoin and Huobi managed to recover after the slaughter of China’s “bitcoin ban” earlier this year. While other exchanges were complying with the rules established by the People’s Bank of China (PBoC), and hoping that the still-tiny bitcoin industry would fly under the regulators authority, OKCoin and Huobi were […]
BTC China CEO Bobby Lee has been at the front lines of the People’s Bank of China’s (PBoC) efforts to suppress bitcoin right from the start. Through it all, he’s managed to keep his exchange open even as his competition has scaled back their operations, changed their business models or closed completely under PBoC pressure. […]
Earlier this year, the People’s Bank of China did almost everything within its power to discourage large-scale trading in bitcoin. When threats and warnings didn’t work, it forbade bitcoin companies from using the country’s payment system. Exchanges soon found ways around this, working with third-party processors to obscure payments. When bitcoin prices and trading again […]
China’s six-month banking crackdown on bitcoin-related businesses has resulted in huge headaches for the entire cryptocurrency community. Due to the People’s Bank of China strangling of local bitcoin exchanges’ access to the country’s banking system, there is significant doubt about the future of bitcoin in mainland China. Many smaller exchanges, such as FXBTC, have already […]
Earlier this month, Chinese bitcoin and litecoin exchange FXBTC announced it would be shutting down due to increased regulatory pressure from the People’s Bank of China. In an attempt to prevent customer losses from the inability to access its accounts, the exchange moved quickly and strongly urged all customers to withdraw their funds as soon […]
In terms of total assets and market capitalization, the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC) is the largest bank in the world. The ICBC controls nearly $15.5 trillion in assets, and had a net income of more than $200 billion dollars in 2011. As powerful as the ICBC is, however, it still answers to […]
Under increasing pressure from the People’s Bank of China, two of the “big five” Chinese bitcoin exchanges have announced plans to alter their business models. Although the PBoC issued new rules in December dramatically limiting access to the country’s banking system for bitcoin-based business, those rules have only been meaningfully enforced in recent weeks. Several […]
Is the People’s Bank of China too big to create appropriate bitcoin regulation? According to a guest post on BitcoinBlog.de, that may be the case. Chinese IT entrepreneur Zhang Weiwu has a decade-long history of working with authorities in the country, and believes that bitcoin’s recent woes with the Chinese central bank is less a […]