According to the latest quotes from Huobi, the RMB price of Bitcoin dropped sharply by more than 3,000 yuan in a short period, falling below 26,000 yuan again and at one point dropping to 26,000 yuan per coin. Earlier, media reported that Chinese regulators were considering banning Bitcoin trading platforms.
On September 5, seven departments including the central bank and the CSRC jointly issued a notice halting initial coin offerings (ICO), described by some commentary as “China’s strongest ICO regulation”. However, this is far from over…
A bigger regulatory storm is coming: a person close to the regulators told a China Securities Journal reporter on the 8th that Bitcoin trading platforms have become a channel for money laundering in illegal economic activities and for manipulators to rig prices and fleece retail investors, and should be banned as soon as possible.
A person close to the regulators said:
➤ Bitcoin trading platforms have become a channel for money laundering in illegal economic activities and for manipulators to rig prices and fleece retail investors, and should be banned as soon as possible.
➤ Apart from illegal economies and ransomware, basically no practical application of Bitcoin has been seen so far.
➤ Using Bitcoin for money laundering can bypass controls to transfer funds, especially given that China still has capital controls; regulatory measures should be introduced as soon as possible for such behavior.
➤ Banning Bitcoin trading platforms is not the same as banning Bitcoin. Banning the platforms removes the channel for large-scale conversion between Bitcoin and fiat currency.
