Chinese regulators are preparing the biggest clean-up on the
cryptocurrency.
China is clamping down even more on bitcoin trading, as it gets
ready to shut down all digital token exchanges, according to a report from The
Wall Street Journal.
The plan, which regulators disclosed to cryptocurrency executives
on Friday during a private meeting in Beijing, is the biggest step China has
taken so far to shut down trading of the virtual currency.
Earlier in September,
regulators banned commercial exchanges trading bitcoins & other digital
tokens. But last week's meeting indicated the government is looking to put a stop
to all bitcoin trading, including peer-to-peer trading, which lets individual
traders to find each other on the internet & trade digital tokens.
Since its founding in 2009, bitcoin has made a name for
itself by allowing for anonymous transactions. The digital currency is now
accepted by more than 100,000 merchants globally, including Microsoft, Dish &
Subway.
But its lack of government backing & regulation has led
to unpredictability. As its valuation has skyrocketed, it has attracted the
attention of investors. But security concerns & the potential for scams,
has made regulators in many countries uneasy, including the US Securities &
Exchange Commission. This summer the SEC called for bitcoin & other virtual
currency trading to be regulated like other securities.
Now China, which the Journal reports has digitized its
financial sector faster than any other nation, is pulling back too. China's onslaught on bitcoin is the most wide
scale attempt by any country to control the cryptocurrency, according to the
Journal.
Chinese regulators see bitcoin & other virtual
currencies as a potential threat to the yuan. The regulatory onslaught also
comes as China's top leaders battle money laundering, as the country prepares
for a leadership transition this fall, the Journal reports.