PBOC Archives

Did Bitcoin finally slay the dragon?

Posted on February 21, 2017 | by [email protected]

Just a couple of months ago, China was a major fundamental driving factor for cryptocurrencies. Bitcoin price fluctuation is a flagship example of how one of the world’s biggest economies can manipulate the markets at will. Whether what has transpired was helpful or hindering for Bitcoin growth is debatable, it surely did have staggering effects on the cryptocurrency’s interesting journey. With PBOC’s intervention in the activities of major Chinese exchanges for the past three months, Bitcoin prices have been experiencing heavy volatility. But after Bitcoin markets took repeated blows, finally when the Chinese Bitcoin exchanges announced ban on withdrawals for a month, the price drop impact was relatively lower than expected. But it is evident that the prices sustained because the volumes were manifested elsewhere. Let’s dive deep into how adoption has beaten Chinese supremacy in Bitcoin markets:

The Chinese grip:

For a long time, China has had good control over Bitcoin with over 96% of Bitcoin volumes coming from China. With PBOC’s policies of devaluation of Yuan to increase the return on the imports, investors looked up to Bitcoin as a hedging instrument. Also, automated trading dominates the Chinese volumes owing to the zero transaction fees. With PBOC’s restriction and tightening grip over the activities of the exchange, things looked ominous for Bitcoin’s bullishness. But before China could do further damage, things stabilized and the prices regained traction.

The adoption and the towering expectations:

With exchanges shutting down withdrawals, there was a significant drop in volumes. This was immediately covered by the new found heavy adoption in Japan at merchant and institutional level. Bitcoin legislation in Japan turned favorable with the abolishment of 8% sales tax that attracted Chinese automated traders immediately after the exchanges levied transaction fee. With realistic policies and good regulations, Japan, South Korea, Singapore and the Philippines are handling increasing volumes easily and effectively. The start of 2017 marked a tectonic shift in the Bitcoin ecosystem. China’s authority over Bitcoin slipped away with increasing and probing regulations. This manifested in other Bitcoin markets which reflects the currency’s growth.

The prices are mooning owing to the speculations over Winklevoss ETF. If the ETF is approved we can surely see the currency sky rocketing by mid 2017.

Bitcoin Bull Run staggered as Major Chinese Exchanges halt withdrawals temporarily

Posted on February 9, 2017 | by [email protected]

For the past couple of months, whenever Bitcoin price gets momentum and is approaching the all-time high, China has played a spoil sport in ruining the price rise. This happened once at the start of 2017 when the probing of Chinese authorities into the operational model of the exchanges tanked the prices all the way back to $750 from near all-time high. The story of Bitcoin on 9^th February is no different, the cryptocurrency was in a study Bull Run and the currency’s proponents were expecting a high breach sometime this week. While everything looked compact, the new announcement of the leading Chinese exchanges Huobi and OkCoin came up with an announcement that made the markets instantly bearish on the short term scale. Let’s dive deep into the details of what exactly happened:

The announcement:

Two of China’s top three Bitcoin exchanges Huobi and OkCoin announced that they will suspend Bitcoin and Litecoin withdrawals for a month effective immediately. During this one month period both the exchanges would set up automated monitoring systems and checks in place to prevent money laundering. While these restrictions are in place, Reminibi withdrawals wouldn’t be affected and no limit is set upon them. Both the exchanges indicated that the upgrade would be to combat “money laundering, exchange, pyramid schemes and other illegal activities”. No update was provided by BTC China on this front.

The reason behind the scrutiny:

China has been facing the problem of ‘Capital Flight’ for some time now. Implementation of ‘Capital Controls’ over various assets hasn’t been fruitful. During the course of 2016, Chinese Government has realized that while Yuan was being devalued, Bitcoin experienced unusual surge in prices. This was because investors were shifting their funds from traditional Chinese assets to Bitcoin. Chinese officials and PBOC have come to a conclusion that Bitcoin is being used for ‘Capital Flight’ and are keen to impose capital controls over the digital currency in 2017.

Effect on Bitcoin Price:

While the currency temporarily is experiencing a short term bearish trend, things would look better after a month’s period when the exchanges become fully functional. The impact of the move shouldn’t last long as Japan has already begun eating into China’s volumes owing to their growing adoption. When the Chinese exchanges imposed transaction fee and put a check on leverage available, the automated traders have sought Japanese exchanges as their new haven. After a little setback, technically Bitcoin market should be able to recover in quick time.

Chinese Bitcoin Exchanges Impose 0.25% Fees To Appease Regulators

Posted on February 8, 2017 | by [email protected]

Bitcoin investors might want to pay more attention to developments in China going forward because the Bitcoin industry tends to catch a cold every time Chine sneezes. China is one of Bitcoin’s biggest markets and the cryptocurrency has an impressive adoption and market penetration in the country. In fact, analysts have submitted that Chinese Bitcoin exchanges recorded about 42% of Bitcoin transactions globally in 2016.

In the last couple of weeks however, Bitcoin has been facing increased pressure stemming from the Chinese government’s efforts to put a muzzle on the use of Bitcoin in the country. The People’s Bank of China (PBOC) has said that it considers Bitcoin as a commodity (probably on par with gold) and not a currency. The PBOC also hinted that it would step up its regulatory oversight on the use of Bitcoin in the country. The development in China caused Bitcoin to lose its footing from around $1100 to its current $923 trading price.

China’s Bitcoin exchanges impose trading fees to appease regulators

Breaking news on Monday (January 23) shows that Bitcoin exchanges in China are trying to appease regulators by charging a 0.2% fee per Bitcoin transaction starting on Tuesday (January 24). The three biggest Bitcoin exchanges in China, BTCC, Houbi, and OKCcoin have all released statements on their intent to start charging 0.25% per transactions. All the three exchanges in separate statements noted that the reason for the charges is to “to further curb market manipulation and extreme volatility.”

At the start 2017, the People’s Bank of China has called for stricter regulation on the use of Bitcoin in China. The PBOC said it would start investigating Bitcoin transactions in order know the extent to which the cryptocurrency is being used to aid illegal transactions such as money laundering. Of a truth, many people in China are using Bitcoin to evade the country’s draconian laws aimed to stopping capital outflow from the country.

However, the increased adoption of Bitcoin for transactions and payments at lieu of the Chinese Yuan has reduced the demand for the Yuan and the Yuan is under pressure in the forex markets. For instance, in 2016, the Yuan CNY=CFXS declined 6.6% against the USD to mark its weakest full year performance since 1994. Hence, it doesn’t take much analysis to deduce that the PBOC is mounting pressure on Bitcoin in order to reduce interest in the cryptocurrency.

How far will China’s exchanges go to please regulators

Chinese authorities are worried (and with good reason) that people are using Bitcoin to move their wealth out of China. Hence, they have a strong enough motive to frustrate Bitcoin users in the country. Bitcoin exchanges are businesses and they must remain in the good books of the government to succeed especially in places like China where the government lords it over all.

In addition to the transaction charges, the three biggest Bitcoin exchanges in China have also stopped leverage trades that allow people to do something akin to margin trading with Bitcoin. The ending of leveraged trades will also reduce the speculator element in Bitcoin transactions.

The fact that the exchanges all decided to start charging 0.25 transaction fee (on the same day) suggests that the move was a coordinated action even though the exchanges have avoided hinting that they made the decision under duress. Hence, we can submit that the exchanges won’t mind caving in to some of the demands of regulators inasmuch as the demand would help them stay in business even if it causes a ‘little’ inconvenience for their clients.