Bitcoin prices retreated on Wednesday following reports that China’s central bank is holding a closed-door meeting with several local cryptocurrency exchanges.
Bitcoin prices retreated Wednesday following reports that China’s central bank is holding a closed-door meeting with several local cryptocurrency exchanges.
The news, first reported by Bloomberg, revived fears that authorities in one of bitcoin’s biggest markets are planning to crack down on the digital currency market, said Charles Hayter, founder and chief executive officer of CryptoCompare. Until recently, Chinese authorities had allowed bitcoin trading to flourish with relatively few restrictions.
Money laundering was one of the topics up for discussion at the meeting, according to the Bloomberg report.
News emerged late last year that Chinese authorities were exploring how to better monitor, and possibly restrict, digital-currency trading to prevent market manipulation and money laundering.
