China\u2019s central bank has warned domestic bitcoin exchanges they risk being closed if found violating the country\u2019s currency regulations. The warning came as the regulator tries to curb capital outflows following fears of continued weakness in the yuan. <\/p>\n
On its website, the People\u2019s Bank of China (PBOC) said it has told the exchanges not to take part in financial activities such as margin lending or allow money laundering.<\/p>\n
If such a violation is found \u201cthe circumstance will be serious,\u201d and an inspection team will close down the offending exchange, PBOC said.<\/p>\n
\u201cPeople in the industry are watching if the regulators do more,\u201d Wen Hao, founder of Bitpie, a Beijing-based bitcoin-related business, told the Wall Street Journal. \u201cThey\u2019ve never said they would close a business. Based on that statement, they are getting stricter.\u201d<\/p>\n
Chinese regulators met with the country\u2019s three largest bitcoin exchanges last month to remind them to \u201cstrictly\u201d follow relevant regulations.<\/p>\n
Demand for the virtual currency in China has been rising in recent months, fueled by yuan\u2019s depreciation. A bitcoin was trading at about $1,065 on Thursday.<\/p>\n
The cryptocurrency more than doubled in value in 2016, up 126 percent on the year. The Chinese yuan, on the contrary, suffered its worst year on record, weakening 6.5 percent.<\/p>\n
China accounts for about 90 percent of all bitcoin trading on exchanges. The country has strict capital controls, which makes it difficult for the Chinese to convert the yuan into foreign currency and limits the amount of cash investors can move abroad. That pushes Chinese investors to use the digital currency as a way to circumvent capital controls and minimize risk from the falling value of the domestic currency.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
China\u2019s central bank has warned domestic bitcoin exchanges they risk being closed if found violating […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-505","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"yoast_head":"\n