World's Largest Bank ICBC is Latest to Block Bitcoin in China

The Agricultural Bank of China, one of the Big Four Chinese Banks, has begun notifying its Bitcoin Exchange clients of upcoming changes to policy. The other 3 “Big Four” banks in China are: The Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, China Construction Bank, and Bank of China. By market capitalization, the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China is the largest bank in the entire world, according to Relbanks 2013 statistics on largest banks in the world. The Agricultural Bank of China is the 6th largest bank in the world by the same measure, outstripping all American Banks besides Wells....

The world of traditional finance can be a very strange creature at certain times. With the Chinese economy facing a devaluing Yuan and a major stock market issue, people are wondering how long it will take until the country’s economy implodes. Meanwhile, China’s (and the world’s) largest bank has just bought a lease on a huge London-based bullion vault....

China's central bank has reportedly tested a blockchain-based digital currency. According to a report by Caixin yesterday, the People's Bank of China (PBOC) completed a trial on 15th December in which it demoed how transactions and settlements might take place via a custom distributed ledger system. The test was reportedly held in conjunction with major domestic commercial banks including Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC), Bank of China and WeBank. The report reads: "The bank suggested the digital currency would not only reduce circulation costs but also increase....

Users of the world's largest bitcoin exchange, BTC China, claim the site now requires them to provide some form of identification to create or use a trading account. Logging into BTC China produces the following message: "In response to a recent policy shift, BTC China now requires users to submit identification or a passport number. Existing users will need to provide this information upon login. We apologise for any inconvenience." Despite the ID requirement, there does not seem to be an ID verification process for users outside China. Some users posted on reddit that they were able to....

Chinese banks‘ Bitcoin crackdown continues with ICBC’s prohibition of all Bitcoin-related activities using its accounts yesterday. The move places ICBC, China’s largest banking corporation, in line with ten other institutions which have disallowed customers to use their accounts for the purposes of Bitcoin trading. “Safeguards”. In a statement, ICBC commented, “Any institution or individual must not use accounts set up with our bank for the deposit and withdrawal … and transfer of funds for Bitcoin and Litecoin trading,” China Post reports. It is rules such as these which, aside from....