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BTCC opened up about the visit by a group of regulators consisting of the Shanghai branch of the People’s Bank of China, the Shanghai Financial Affairs office, and other related government agencies to its offices on January 11th, 2017.
BTCC clarified that all operations at BTCC are normal and they continue to actively work with regulators to ensure that they remain compliant. The visit was a follow up on prior discussions and shared details about their business model and operations with the group.
BTCC also expects more meetings to follow later this week.
The Central Bank launched spot checks on major bitcoin exchanges in Beijing and Shanghai on Wednesday. The bitcoin exchanges being probed include BTCC, Huobi and OKCoin.
The Shanghai arm of the PBOC on Wednesday stated that, “The checks focused on whether the firm was operating out of its business scope, whether it was launching unauthorised financing, payment, forex business or other related businesses, whether it was involved in market manipulation, anti-money laundering or (carried) fund security risks.”
In an effort to contain the Yuan devaluation crisis, the Chinese authorities have bumped up their efforts to stop capital outflow as it is believed that Bitcoin is being used by Chinese investors to circumvent rules that limit the amount of foreign exchange individuals can buy each year.
This step by the authorities has sent the Bitcoin price crashing down by 10 percent to a new three-week low. The step comes right after the announcement by PBOC last week which publicly urged investors to take a rational and cautious approach to investing in Bitcoin.
Bobby Lee, the CEO of BTCC, is not calling this an investigation and believes that the regulators are working closely with them in order to understand their business model and the bitcoin exchange industry. He described the meeting as fruitful and does not believe that the company was out of line.
Also, a representative from Huobi confirmed the PBOC visit to their office on Wednesday but remained tight lipped about the details. And a spokeswoman for OKCoin told Reuters its platform was operating normally, and the exchange was working with the authorities.
