The central bank once again talks with Bitcoin platforms to curb Bitcoin speculation

Yesterday afternoon, an industry insider revealed that the central bank had another meeting with the Bitcoin platform. The central bank’s renewed action against the Bitcoin platform also caused a significant drop in the price of Bitcoin yesterday.

According to an insider, the content of the central bank's talks this time should be related to further curbing Bitcoin speculation. The insider further said that the central bank did not talk to the three major platforms it had previously talked to, but to smaller Bitcoin trading platforms in the industry.

Previously, three large Bitcoin trading platforms had already closed leverage and charged transaction fees, but other small platforms did not synchronize. The above-mentioned insider expected that other smaller platforms would probably take precautions against Bitcoin risks under the unified requirements of the central bank.

It is worth noting that as soon as the news of the central bank's meeting with the person in charge of the trading platform came out, the price of Bitcoin began to fall. According to data from Huobi.com, the price of Bitcoin reached 7,525 yuan at 14:00 yesterday, a record high in the past month. After the news of the central bank's meeting with the Bitcoin trading platform came out in the afternoon, the price of Bitcoin began to fall, and by 17:00 the price had fallen to 7,257 yuan.

The central bank has taken action against Bitcoin platforms several times this year. In early January this year, the price of Bitcoin rose rapidly and reached a peak on January 5, with the price close to 9,000 yuan.

However, on January 5, the central bank sent out a signal of regulation. The central bank's Shanghai headquarters and the Beijing central bank's business management department both issued announcements to warn of Bitcoin risks. At the same time, the central bank's Shanghai headquarters also interviewed the main person in charge of the Bitcoin trading platform in Shanghai.

Since January 11, the Beijing Municipal Operations Department of the People's Bank of China has also begun on-site inspections of Bitcoin trading platforms, and the on-site inspections of the Beijing Municipal Operations Department of the People's Bank of China have not yet been completed.

During the inspection, the Beijing Operations Management Department of the People's Bank of China announced that after a joint inspection team composed of the Business Management Department of the People's Bank of China and relevant departments entered "Bihang" and "Huobi.com", they initially found that these Bitcoin trading platforms conducted financing and currency lending businesses in violation of regulations, resulting in abnormal market fluctuations; the inspection also found that these platforms had not established and improved relevant anti-money laundering internal control systems as required.

Subsequently, platforms such as Huobi.com successively closed their margin trading functions. An industry insider said that the central bank may be intentionally stabilizing the price of Bitcoin. Requiring platforms to deleverage means that short selling is not possible.

In fact, the price of Bitcoin is prone to roller coaster trends. In 2014, the price of Bitcoin soared from $200 to nearly $1,000 due to the irrational enthusiasm of Chinese investors. After the central bank denied the legal status of Bitcoin in December of that year, the price of Bitcoin fell back to $300 to $400 and remained unchanged for several years.