By
Steve Muchoki
November 28th, 2023
Chinese bitcoin exchange FXBTC is set to be closed on May 10th due to the growing restrictions from the People’s Bank of China.
Bitcoin exchange FXBTC, which is based in China, has announced its plans to close on May 10th.
FXBTC said that the main reason of the closure is the increased negative pressure from the People’s Bank of China (PBOC). Moreover, central bank’s policies imposed restrictions on its banking services.
FXBTC management team decided to shut down the exchange due to the financial losses resulted from a “blockade” by PBOC. The management team could not predict a successful future for the exchange as negative pressure from PBOC is growing.
The team said: “The website has been online for over a year, and has continually earned customer support despite running into problems; however, no matter how hard we work, when faced with the PBOC’s blockade, we are essentially powerless.”
They added: “After long-term losses, we have finally decided to stop operating FXBTC.”
Users of the site can withdraw their bitcoin funds until the official FXBTC closure on May 10th. The digital currency exchange facilitated the purchase and sale of bitcoins and litcoins.
The closure reflects PBOC’s commitment to limit interactions of its traditional financial sector has with the digital currency community.
FXBTC announced new deposit freezes in the beginning of April after it received information that its commercial banking partners were going to shut down certain accounts.
Besides FXBTC closed debit-card deposits and temporarily stopped withdrawals, it will continue interactions with key processing partners.
China’s central bank continues placing restrictions for banks and payment processors on working with bitcoin exchanges in China. The rumors of possible future restrictions together with recent developments resulted in bitcoin prices reductions.
In March 2014, financial news site called Caixin informed that the PBOC plans to impose more regulations on bitcoin operations.
That report noted that China would enforce this new interpretation by 15th April, although this deadline passed without the negative results many were afraid of.
Certain companies decided to distance themselves from bitcoin and related services. It is also unknown whether further actions will be taken.
