Chinese "exchange ban" cause sell-off
A new article appeared on Chinese news media outlet caixin, claiming that Chinese authorities are looking to close cryptocurrency exchanges due to risks of money laundering. Caixin.com posted an article titled "虚拟货币交易所时代结束" (the age of crypto exchanges is over) and sparked off a massive sell-off that caused Bitcoin and ethereum prices to drop 5-10%. Whilst it was previously discussed that rumors are sometimes the precursor to legislation, this should be taken with a grain of salt. Due diligence needs to be done as to where the rumors come from (eg. state run media or just regular media). In this case, this rumor was posted on regular media with very little sources of information (no new quotes from government officials etc).
Here is how Twitter responded to this situation:
What we know so far:
- Article was posted at 9:56PM, an unlikely time for real government announcements
- Similar news was posted on Tencent news, perhaps interpreting same article?
- BTCC, okcoin and Huobi have reported no notices or changes from the government
- Article did not state any additional sources
Other media interpretations
Quartz : https://qz.com/1073049/the-ethereum-eth-price-and-bitcoin-btc-prices-are-crashing-on-a-china-trading-ban/?unique_ID=636405021008563934
will this be for real or maybe another troll news from the Chinese Gov.?
It is just interesting how many times this kind of China related news will push cryptocurrencies down.
Bitcoin trading did boom in China for so many times. It is still legal. New Chinese exchanges and mining companies are still opening... There may be some limitations on ICOs, but very low possibility of total crypto ban.
What is your expert opinion guys?
I personally think (based on all the insights I researched so far) that the probability of total Chinese crypto ban is 5-7%. It is not enough and it is not so dangerous. Even if we loose China at all, how many worldwide crypto investors will we loose? 15%? Well, a lot of good cryptos falling more than that even after any kind of news about any kind of China ban. Hugely overreacted! :)
China is dealing with the problem of capital flight, as a result of attempting to maintain their peg of the yuan to the dollar. As a result, I wouldn't put it past them to do something like this. Eventually, they will have to capitulate and devalue the yuan (again). But, until then, we may see them try numerous things to prevent capital from leaving the country, and these won't be limited to cryptocurrencies.
At the same time, massive bitcoin mining operations in China bring $billions into the economy. So, I have a hard time believing they would go so far as to try and ban cryptocurrencies on the whole.
I saw a quote in the news from the CEO of ViaBTC about this which seems like it would be FUD since Bitcoin Cash seems to spike a bit when BTC price drops.
"ViaBTC CEO Haipo Yang tweeted that 'China will shut down all exchanges,' lending credence to the rumors that the country will make it illegal to operate a bitcoin exchange."
seems like china doesn't know whats happening too.
Very upset
This might be a good opportunity to get some coins cheap for your portfolio :)
sad news
Interesting post. I wonder how this situation will develop? No matter what, I am confident in the long term success of bitcoin. Following and looking forward to hearing more from you!
I am pretty sure China will not make such move. China's ban on ICO is also temporary. Here is my thought why. Discussion welcome. https://steemit.com/bitcoin/@ljiang/my-two-cent-on-china-ico-ban
they should make a CHINA cryptocurrency lol
Seems the weekly Friday dip has happened yet again... this is getting pretty reliable.
Disclaimer: I am just a bot trying to be helpful.