Major Chinese Bitcoin Exchanges Prepare to Move Operations Overseas

| Updated
by Konstantin Lazarev · 3 min read
Major Chinese Bitcoin Exchanges Prepare to Move Operations Overseas
Chinese bitcoin exchanges Huobi and OKCoin responded to PBOC pressure by drafting plans to move some of their business out of the country. Photo: Antana/Flickr

In case PBOC (People’s Bank of China) decides to tighten the restrictions of financial services that are operating with industry, major Chinese bitcoin exchanges will be ready to move their operations.

Huobi and OKcoin, major bitcoin exchanges in China, are reporting that their financial partners sent a notice regarding the termination of certain deposit services by April 14.

On the 10th April, the Chinese exchanges BTCTrade, BTC100 and Huobi made an announcement confirming that their banking partners informed about an official deposit shutdown.

OKCoin exchange disclosed via its website that a third-party payment processor prompted it to stop servicing deposits via prepaid card with this partner on 2nd April. However, none of the debit cards and yuan withdrawals got affected.

After all the previous news that have been circulating around all the account freezes, the most notable reaction could be seen from the side of major china-based exchanges that at the moment are already looking for reacted to the previous announcement added more information about accounts freezes. China-based exchanges are already looking for a realization of a contingency plan to maintain enable further operations.

In case PBOC decides to tighten the restrictions of financial services that are operating with industry, exchanges will be ready to move their operations.

Huobi mentioned in one of the posts that it is “actively developing business cooperations with onshore financial institutions” and “reached agreements with many institutions to ensure that Huobi can have normal RMB deposits and withdrawals”.

Huobi also said that it is ready to continuing operations overseas: “Huobi has already registered for and opened overseas incorporation and offshore accounts, and can use them at any time.”

Moreover, OKCoin exchange posted a restructuring plan with the idea of opening an overseas website. The new trading platform is under construction, as it was mentioned by the exchange a website will be more secure and stable.

All the announcements are seen as evidences to the previous rumors of further restrictions will happen.

There were no official documentation received by exchanges, even though the official notices were received.

Huobi’s stated: “No bank branch has received official documents requesting the termination of business relationships with bitcoin exchanges”.

The first oral notice from China Merchants Bank was sent to OKCoin, then the exchange released its statement on 6:00 GMT that the deposit services would be determined.

Right after that Huobi announced at 9:00 GMT that China Merchants Bank had prompted to freeze bank deposits by April 14.

The post by Huobi: “User withdrawals will not be affected, and Huobi will announce immediately any additional news.”

OKCoin also mentioned that withdrawals were not affected, and its other bank accounts were still active. Moreover OKCoin offered a plan for its future operations. to use a recharge code or voucher, service for deposits and withdrawals.

Users would be using a recharge voucher to withdraw money, before transferring the code. There is no fee to charge for operations to code. Then also exchange users can trade the code between themselves.

Huobi is stating that the PBOC is tightening restrictions as it has concerns about the security of its domestic financial system.

The statement proposed that the PBOC should be careful not to force its exchanges to close down or move abroad, arguing that exchanges would be easy to regulate.

On the 11thZhou Xiaochuan, a governor from PBOC, said that central bank will not bank bitcoin.

Bitcoin News, Cryptocurrency news, News
Konstantin Lazarev
Co-Founder & CIO Konstantin Lazarev

Konstantin has always been at the forefront of the global virtual currency scene since first discovering cryptocurrencies the same year that Satoshi Nakomoto created bitcoin in 2009. Konstantin is the owner of a number of small businesses in trucking and mobile development, and co-founded CoinSpeaker in 2014. He graduated from Belarusian State University in 2009 with a degree in Mathematics and Mechanics. You can contact Konstantin via [email protected]

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