Chinese bitcoin exchange BTCChina will stop all trading from 30 September onwards

Representational image: AFP[/caption]BTCChina, which also runs an international exchange out of Hong Kong, also said on its official microblog that it would stop registration of new users from 30 September.

China has boomed as a cryptocurrency trading venue in recent years as its domestic exchanges had previously allowed users to conduct trades for free, attracting investors and speculators who boosted demand.

However, regulators have cracked down on the industry amid concerns that Chinese investors are speculatively piling into cryptocurrencies. Last week, they banned so-called “initial coin offerings”, or the practice of creating and selling digital currencies or tokens to investors in order to finance start-up projects.

Recently China’s largest bitcoin exchanges were awaiting clarification from the government following more media reports that Beijing is planning to ban trading of virtual currencies on domestic exchanges, but markets were largely subdued on 11 September.

Bitcoin was trading lower by around 1.3 percent at $4,170 on the Bitstamp platform on 11 September. On 2 September, it hit a record high of nearly $5,000.

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China has boomed as a cryptocurrency trading venue in recent years as its domestic exchanges had previously allowed users to conduct trades for free, attracting investors and speculators who boosted demand and encouraging volumes.

With inputs from Reuters