This week a few popular Chinese bitcoin exchanges, BTCC, Bitkan, and Viabtc, shut down shop and stopped cryptocurrency trading operations. The closures were announced last month and follow the recent government decision to legislate virtual currencies on October 1.
Also read: Bitcoin Software Wars: The Case Against Replay Attack Protection
Viabtc and BTCC Say Goodbye to the Crypto-Community
Last month many Chinese cryptocurrency trading platforms announced they would be closing their doors for an unknown amount of time. On September 30, BTCC and Viabtc said goodbye for now to the bitcoin ‘community’ and closed exchange operations.
“Dear friends, Viabtc has closed our Exchange service from 00:00 Sept 30th, 2017,” explains the Chinese exchange. “Viabtc has also completed CNY and crypto withdrawal of all users. We appreciate all your support and trust in us from all over the world — See you my friends.”
The exchange BTCC also bid farewell to the community as well and detailed the startup has been running nonstop since its inception stating;
BTCC’s CNY exchange has stopped trading after operating for a world record of 2,305 days — Long live BTCC!
Bitcoin OTC Market Volumes Spike Exponentially
Currently, Chinese bitcoin traders can still use the trading platforms Huobi and Okcoin until the end of October. Speculators believe Chinese traders are already moving funds to exchanges in Hong Kong and other neighboring regions. Further Over-the-Counter (OTC) trade volumes on exchanges like Localbitcoins is higher than ever before in history. Additionally, people are reporting that Chinese traders are selling bitcoin over Wechat, Telegram and some are flocking to a new decentralized exchange called “Airswap.”
Bitcoin Exchange Providers May Come Back After the “Cleanup Period” and Licensure
Speculators believe domestic exchanges in China will be back after the nation’s virtual currency regulations are enforced, or after the 19th Communist Congress elections end. Further, it has been said by Chinese bitcoin luminaries like Jihan Wu that trading platforms would return after getting licensed.
Moreover, China’s local publication Bjnews calls the closures a “cleanup period,” and also reported bitcoin exchange executives allegedly must remain in China until the period is over. Other exchanges and bitcoin OTC providers like Bitkan have suspended operations as well this week.
“Our OTC function is suspended — Thank you to our users and continue to watch for our product support,” explains the bitcoin platform Bitkan.
How do you see bitcoin exchanges in China moving forward? Do you think domestic exchanges will be able to return to business in China? Let us know what you think in the comments below.
Images via Shutterstock, Coin Dance, and Twitter.
At news.Bitcoin.com all comments containing links are automatically held up for moderation in the Disqus system. That means an editor has to take a look at the comment to approve it. This is due to the many, repetitive, spam and scam links people post under our articles. We do not censor any comment content based on politics or personal opinions. So, please be patient. Your comment will be published.
