China’s Longest-Running Crypto Exchange Closes Bitcoin Business Following Crackdowns
BTCChina is the country’s first bitcoin exchange, completely exited from bitcoin-related businesses as it jumps in line with the country’s latest anti-crypto crackdowns.
BTCChina, was founded by Huang Xiaoyu and Yang Linke in 2011, who helped push the idea of bitcoin to Chinese investors when it was still a foreign concept to most people in the country, including the government. The company once claimed that it accounted for 80 per cent of the world’s cryptocurrency trading, but it was later caught up in the China’s various cryptocurrency crackdowns. In 2017, the company said it would stop trading cryptocurrencies following the government’s ban at the time.
The company’s stake in Singapore-registered bitcoin exchange ZG.com was sold to a foundation in Dubai a little over a year ago.
In 2018, the exchange side of BTCC was acquired by an unidentified Hong Kong-based blockchain investment fund, but continued to operate as normal for investors outside of China’s great firewall. The closure represents the final nail in the coffin for the crypto trading side of BTCC’s operations.
The company will pivot to blockchain uses outside of trading.
The move comes as China ratchets up pressure against anything related to cryptocurrencies, including mining and trading, which it views as a threat to its sovereignty.
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