China Is Blocking And Banning All Cryptocurrency Exchanges Including Foreign Platforms

China is ready to wipe out the cryptocurrency trading by blocking all those websites which are related to the initial coin offerings (ICOs) and cryptocurrency trading. This includes all the foreign websites as well. The Chinese publication Financial News, which is affiliated with the People’s Bank of China (PBOC) has published an article recently which is outlining the plans that the country’s government is making to remove the cryptocurrency trading in the country. The government of China already made attempts to stop the cryptocurrency trading by banning ICOs and shutting down domestic exchanges.

The latest plans to eradicate cryptocurrency fully in the state involves the usage of China’s formidable firewall to completely stop the access to these sites. The article published by Financial News states, “ICOs and virtual currency trading did not completely withdraw from China following the official ban … after the closure of the domestic virtual currency exchanges, many people turned to overseas platforms to continue participating in virtual currency transactions. To prevent financial risks, China will step up measures to remove any onshore or offshore platforms related to virtual currency trading or ICOs.”

The further regulation that is being adopted by the state is coming at a bad time for all the cryptocurrencies. Bitcoin, which is already suffering a huge declining in its value will suffer even more after this. The worry over the upcoming regulation has already shaken the cryptocurrency world in the last month which caused a huge loss to the overall value of the market. Bitcoin’s worth has fallen below $7000 while it was at a sky-high price of $20000 just last year in December. If the ban is applied, it will affect the cryptocurrency market a lot since any trader from China will not be able to access their funds. The news can make a lot of people to sell their cryptocurrency assets. A financial analyst at Spreadex, Connor Campbell, said, “The cryptocurrency has had a horror show week already, dragged lower by regulation changes in South Korea and news that Facebook is banning adverts for the product on its site. Already feeling delicate, then, bitcoin was dealt another major blow this Friday, plunging 10.5% to 8,000 following reports that the US Commodity Futures Trading Commission is investigating the cryptocurrencies ludicrous end of 2017 rise for signs of market manipulation.”

Apart from China, South Korea and India, the cryptocurrency traders are also under attack by Europe as well. Europe is also discussing the possibility to apply its own regulation on the cryptocurrencies. French finance minister recently has ordered a former chief of the central bank to formulate some rules and create a draft. The finance minister, Le Maire, has concerns about the ‘risks of speculation and possible financial manipulation’ which is linked to Bitcoin and other currencies. Even though many countries are trying to regulate the market, however, the nature of cryptocurrency makes it very difficult to localize.

A member of the board of Germany’s Bundesbank, Joachim Wuermeling, says that the effective way of regulation is not to apply a national approach. In a conference in Germany earlier this year, he said, “Effective regulation of virtual currencies would therefore only be achievable through the greatest possible international cooperation because the regulatory power of nation-states is obviously limited.” He might be making a point here but it still won’t be stopping every country to take the market into their own hands and taking steps to regulate the big impact that it will be making on the market.