Big Chinese Bitcoin platform to shut down end-September

BTC China, one of the China’s largest Bitcoin exchange platform, 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 — China’s No. 2 Bitcoin platform by volume and the world’s third-largest — said that “after carefully considering” the announcement by Chinese regulators, it will “stop all trading” on September 30. It has already stopped registering new users.

But foreigners can still use its services in overseas markets, Shanghai-based BTCC said in a statement.

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.

ViaBTC, a smaller Chinese bitcoin exchange, on Friday became the second to announce it will close at the end of September.

China last week announced a ban on individuals and organizations raising money through ICOs — a form of fundraising in which technology startups issue their own digital coins, or “tokens,” to investors to access funds.

The central bank, the securities and banking regulators and other government departments said in a statement that ICO is “a kind of unauthorized and illegal public fundraising.”

Following the decision, the National Internet Finance Association of China said on Wednesday that there was “no legal basis for platforms which engage in the trading of various forms of ‘virtual currencies.’”

The association, which was created by the central bank, warned on its website that such currencies are “increasingly used as a tool in criminal activities such as money laundering, drug trafficking, smuggling and illegal fundraising.”

Chinese financial news outlet Yicai reported on Thursday that regulators were set to shut all bitcoin trading exchanges by the end of September.

Vlad Zamfir, a researcher at the Switzerland-based Ethereum Foundation said it's no surprise China is moving against such currencies as Beijing has capital controls that are "in direct tension with the free ability to send any amount of money anywhere without any kind of delay".

He said the Chinese "may want to have their own cryptocurrency which complies with capital controls."