Regulators have ordered Chinese bitcoin exchanges to close, two business newspapers reported yesterday, after uncertainty about the digital currency’s future in China caused its price to plunge.
Regulators in Shanghai, the country’s financial center, gave verbal instructions to exchange operators to shut down, China Business News and 21st Century Economic Report said on their websites.
The central bank has yet to respond to questions about bitcoin’s future in China but earlier warned it was traded without regulatory oversight and might be linked to fraud. The bank banned initial offerings of new digital currencies last week.
Bitcoin is created and exchanged without the involvement of banks or governments. Rumors that China planned to ban bitcoin has caused its market price to tumble 20 percent since Sept. 8.
