OKCoin and Huobi Discuss Bitcoin in China and Plans for Survival
The interviews in this article are part of CoinDesk's wider coverage of the Global Bitcoin Summit in Beijing, which took place 10th-11th May 2014. As part of a clampdown on bitcoin in China, the nation's bitcoin exchanges were forced by the authorities to pull out of any official involvement with Beijing's Global Bitcoin Summit earlier this month. However, CoinDesk was still able to meet with the CEOs of two of the largest exchanges, OKCoin and Huobi, at an off-conference event where they discussed the regulatory climate, bitcoin in China, and their plans going forward. Both OKCoin's Star....
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Rui Ma is an early-stage investor in technology companies with the global accelerator program and seed fund 500 Startups. Residing in Beijing, she is an active member of China's bitcoin community. Some bitcoiners might still remember when BTC China was the dominant bitcoin exchange in China. Well, those days are long gone. These days, newer exchanges Huobi and OKcoin regularly top the charts for trading volume. Monday, for example, their 24-hour volumes are at 106,942 and 126,973 respectively, third-place CHBTC is at 35,349, while BTC China lags far behind at 4,344. Huobi, in particular,....
Bitcoin price has fully recovered since the temporary Bitcoin withdrawal suspension on Huobi and OKCoin traders, having increased from $980 to $1,123 within two weeks. On Jan. 18, Huobi and OKCoin were requested by the People’s Bank of China (PBoC) to overhaul their know your customer, hereinafter KYC, and anti-money laundering, hereinafter AML, regulation. Local publications including the Shanghai Observer reported that the PBoC told the two exchanges they were in violation of local regulations and failed to meet industry-wide standards. Three weeks after the PBoC made its initial request....
The Bitcoin price plunged by 9 percent overnight, declining from $1,060 to $959 across major global Bitcoin exchanges. The short-term drop in price was likely caused by the announcement of Huobi and OKCoin to temporarily disable Bitcoin and litecoin withdrawals for one month. Huobi and OKCoin are two of the largest Bitcoin exchanges in China that control approximately 25 percent of the global Bitcoin exchange market. The two Bitcoin exchanges process around $55 mln worth of Bitcoin and litecoin on a daily basis. In the morning of Jan. 9, almost immediately after a meeting took place....
Bitcoin’s price fell by more than $100 in minutes around 9 A.M. London time as the People’s Bank of China announced they have opened an “inspection” on BTC China, Huobi and OKCoin, which in combination account for 90% of bitcoin trading volume. According to Reuters: “The probe of bitcoin exchanges, including BTCC, Huobi and OKCoin, was to look into a range of possible rule violations, including market manipulation, money laundering and unauthorized financing, the People’s Bank of China (PBOC) said. It did not say if any violations had been found.” Huobi has been criticized for going....
OKCoin, one of the two Chinese Bitcoin exchanges, is demonstrating progress in sorting out user fund withdrawals. On Feb. 9, it was requested by the People’s Bank of China (PBoC) to halt Bitcoin and Litecoin withdrawals. On March 1, OKCoin told their users that the exchange is approving the transfer of user funds stored on the global OKCoin trading platform to their Chinese site because the company’s .CN platform is nearly ready for approval by the PBoC and relaunch. Earlier in January, the PBoC asked OKCoin and Huobi, two of the largest Bitcoin exchanges in China, to suspend trading until....