One of the China’s largest Bitcoin exchange platform—BTC China—announced in a Tweet on Thursday that it will shut down Bitcoin trading within China by the 30th of September. The move comes after Chinese regulators banned fundraising through Initial Coin Offerings (ICO) on September 4th citing concerns over financial fraud and speculation.
BTCC is not the first Bitcoin exchange platform that has decided to close shop. Just two days ago China’s Bitkan announced that it will suspend over-the-counter (OTC) Bitcoin (BTC) and Bitcoin cash (BCH) trading from Thursday.
Other Bitcoin trading platforms have not made any announcements yet. However, according to Yicai, on September 13th, the China Internet Finance Association issued a risk warning, saying that all of the so-called ” virtual currency” trading platform in China lacks a legal basis. Yicai also quoted the Shanghai Municipal Office saying that it has already ordered shutting down a number of Bitcoin trading platforms. Bitcoin trading platforms in Beijing are yet to see these announcements.
Not everyone seems to be in favor of shutting down Bitcoin trade in China. Reuters reports that on Friday, a senior official at the National Internet Finance Association of China and a former president of the Bank of China Li Lihui called on Chinese regulators to create a regulative framework to support the development of digital currencies, adding that global regulators should work together on digital currencies.
Meanwhile, to help startups and investors in a time of crisis a number of ICO advisory services are springing up, such as ICOBox, Bitcoinist reports. These services also help companies hold an ICO when they don’t have the capital to fund it.
Recent news from China has impacted the price of Bitcoin sending it on a downward spiral. Other crypto currencies are also in the red.