Blog Archives

China’s Central Bank Bans ICOs

Posted on 4th September, 2017

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 […]

After months of struggle, China’s NiuBTC cryptocurrency exchange closes

Posted on 2nd September, 2014

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, […]

BTC China’s Bobby Lee explains bitcoin’s current status in China

Posted on 23rd June, 2014

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. […]

Report: Chinese Payments Association moves to block all bitcoin activity from banking sector

Posted on 15th June, 2014

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 […]

Report: Huobi and OKCoin discuss bitcoin’s future in China

Posted on 19th May, 2014

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 […]

Big changes in the works at Chinese exchanges Huobi and OKCoin

Posted on 8th May, 2014

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 […]

Citing central bank pressure, BTC China halts yuan deposits from Bank of China

Posted on 6th May, 2014

After nearly six months of quiet pressure, the long-rumored People’s Bank of China “bitcoin ban” is finally materializing. Earlier today, major Chinese exchange BTC China announced on its Twitter account that it had suspended yuan (RMB) deposits from the Bank of China. This was the second such notice from BTC China, the first being posted […]

Report: Is the People’s Bank of China too big to correctly handle bitcoin?

Posted on 28th April, 2014

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 […]

Bitcoin price dives $50 on new China rumor

Posted on 25th April, 2014

Bitcoin prices fell by roughly $50 late last night following a story on China’s Caixin news service that the People’s Bank of China had privately warned banks and payment companies to close the accounts of bitcoin-related businesses. According to a translation posted to Reddit, PBoC officials met with representatives from several large banks, Tenpay, PayPal […]