2 of China's biggest cryptocurrency exchanges are shutting down trading — but bitcoin is soaring

pulse

September 15, 2017 4:17 PM

OkCoin and Huobi announced they will stop all trading between bitcoin and yuan at the end of October.

NEW YORK - Two of the largest cryptocurrency exchanges in China, OKCoin and Huobi, have released statements saying they will shutdown all trading between bitcoin and yuan on their exchanges by October 31.They released seperate announcements on their websites Friday morning. Trading between digital coins will still be permitted for the time being, however.

Bitcoin, which was reeling amid reports Thursday of a crackdown on Chinese cryptocurrency exchanges by regulators, is actually rallying now. The cryptocurrency was up 14.1% at $3,706 a coin at 10:59 a.m. ET Friday.

The price of bitcoin collapsed 16% against the dollar on Thursday and continued its slide until early Friday morning amid uncertainty about the future of the cryptocurrency and other digital coins in China, one of the biggest markets for cryptocurrencies.

Thursday night, however, there were some signs that Chinese regulators could have a change of heart.

Charlie Lee, the creator of litecoin, one of the largest cryptocurrencies by market cap, tweeted that OKCoin and Huobi were set to meet with regulators on Friday. Many people in the cryptocurrency community viewed this as a possible turning point, hoping the exchanges would be able to convince regulators to "change their tune."

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