Chinese bitcoin exchanges delay reopening as they upgrade systems
Chinese bitcoin exchange owners BTCC, OKCoin and Huobi are putting off their reopening as they overhaul their systems in order to win approval from regulators over compliance with guidelines on anti-money laundering (AML). The new AML precautions have been put in place by the central bank of China. The delay should not cause any loss of funds and users can still convert bitcoin to yuan, however, no date has been given for when any of the exchanges will reopen.
China’s ‘big three’ bitcoin exchanges have all released statements confirming that bitcoin withdrawals will only resume following approval by regulators, as the platforms reinforce their infrastructure to comply with AML and regulatory requirements.

It was a month ago when OkCoin and Huobi, two of China’s ‘big three’ exchanges paused withdrawals of bitcoin in the face of regulatory pressure from the People’s Bank of China. A week later, the other big exchange, BTCC, followed suit and halted withdrawals for a month.

In separate but entirely identical statements today, all three bitcoin exchanges have stated that bitcoin withdrawals will remain closed – with no timeframe – until approval from regulators.

An official statement from Huobi adds that it has complied with the requirements of the regulatory authorities so as to not violate anti-money laundering guidelines and foreign exchange laws for the month. Further, the exchange added it is actively developing and upgrading the system to err on the side of regulatory compliance.

Pointedly, today’s announcement to customers (roughly translated) adds:

Once the regulatory authorities approve, you can resume withdrawals. [However, for] the specified time, please pay attention to the official announcement [on Huobi].

Huobi and OkCoin suspended bitcoin and litecoin withdrawals on February 9to comply with relevant laws and regulations.

An identical notice from BTCC confirms that the bitcoin is coming together with its counterparts to “explore industry standards [and] develop self-discipline [self-regulatory] system”.

The BTCC announcement ended with:

We have been trying to make the Bitcoin industry healthy under the premise of compliance.

Last month’s announcement had a telling impact on bitcoin prices, sinking below the $1,000 figure for a week before bitcoin charted a bullish run that has now scaled all-time highs.

At the time of publishing, data from BTCC’s BTC/CNY charts shows the value drop below ¥8000 for the first time in five days, hitting a low of ¥7600. However, bitcoin is already bouncing back at press time, trading at ¥7975.

Image from Shutterstock. Charts from Bitcoin Wisdom.