Two of China's Biggest Exchanges Stop Bitcoin Withdrawals
Two of China's most widely used bitcoin exchanges have announced that they will suspend bitcoin and litecoin withdrawals for one month effective immediately. Yuan recharge, withdrawals and other services will not be affected, the exchanges said. In public posts that showcase the increasingly coordinated nature of exchange policy in the region, both OKCoin and Huobi said today that the move was a bid to bolster their anti-money laundering (AML) capabilities and prevent "illegal transactions". In the case of OKCoin, only it's OKCoin.cn portal is affected. Both OKCoin and Huobi....
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Following the lead of two of the market's more prominent exchanges, at least six other China-based bitcoin exchanges have announced updates to withdrawal policies as part of a bid to tighten AML oversight. Announced today, BitBays, BTC100, BTCTrade, CHBTC, HaoBTC and Yunbi have all enacted changes to their withdrawal capabilities, a move that comes days after the exchanges were called to meet with the Beijing office of the People's Bank of China (PBoC), China's central bank. Notably, the policies issued differ from the more stringent halt of bitcoin and litecoin withdrawals imposed by....
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....
Chinese Bitcoin traders have inundated LocalBitcoins to convert their Yuan after major Chinese exchanges halted withdrawals last week. Following warnings about adhering to strict AML/KYC regulations by the People’s Bank of China, exchanges such as BTCC, Huobi and Okcoin stopped letting customers withdraw Bitcoin. “From now on, Huobi stops the withdrawal for Bitcoin and litecoin,” Huobi’s latest announcement stated Feb. 9. It is unknown when full functionality will return and under what rules. As a result, former Chinese customers appear to be using LocalBitcoins as a way of continuing to....
Akin Fernandez, a software engineer and owner of the Bitcoin startup Azteco, predicts that China will not enjoy the benefits of Bitcoin. He says: “Beijing enforcing a thirty-day lock-down is suicidal and at the end of this period expect a shock exodus from Chinese exchanges as users move to businesses in better jurisdictions.” His comments come in the wake of the People’s Bank of China’s Directive to Exchanges in China to close the two main exchanges for 30 days until they implement Anti-Money Laundering system to ensure they are in compliance with local financial and money transmission....
It looks like the roller coaster that is Bitcoin price in 2017 is far from over. January has typically been a volatile month for Bitcoin values, but February is becoming very unstable, with the announcement that Chinese exchanges are moving to new policies and restricting Bitcoin withdrawals for the next month. PBoC Strikes Again: Price Slides Over 12%. The issues for Bitcoin price began yesterday, as the heads of nine Bitcoin exchanges in China were met with by PBoC regulators over issues related to money laundering and other potential issues. These companies included BtcTrade.com,....