ViaBTC to close due to Chinese government sentiment towards digital currencies

The Chinese ICO ban affected the cryptocurrency market in China like no other event before. Amidst the rumors that cryptocurrency exchanges might become the next step, the oldest cryptocurrency exchange in China, BTCC, has stated it will cease its operations by the end of this month (September 2017). After this decision, it was only a matter of time before other market players decided that risks outweigh the benefits and did the same. The announcement about the cease of operations has appeared on the official ViaBTC website.

These decisions are not based on pure suspicions – the news media Yicai told yesterday that Shanghai's Municipal Finance Service Office had warned all cryptocurrency exchanges and stated that they must cease operations by the 30th of September.

According to the founder of Litecoin, other two major Chinese exchanges, OkCoin and Huobi, are to meet Chinese regulators today and they might “change their tune” after it. At the press time, both still worked as usual.