Bitcoin a threat? Here's what is going on in China's cryptocurrency market

Any announcement from China will affect the market outlook greatly, for better or worse

If you have been keeping an eye on the cryptocurrency market this week, you would have noticed that the values of most tokens are falling significantly. Why is the market free-falling? What is going on in China’s cryptocurrency scene? Are we entering a bear market? Welcome to State of the Blockchain, where we take a look at all the events that happened in the blockchain scene in the past week.
 
Free-falling market

The total market capitalization of all cryptocurrencies decreased from about $164 billion to below $119 billion in the last week, according to data from Coinmarketcap. Bitcoin lost more than a quarter of its value in that time period as it fell from $4,639 to hit below $3,300 yesterday. Ethereum suffered a similar loss, as its value nosedived from $330 to below $230 yesterday.
 
The Chinese government is hitting the market hard

Chinese media outlet Caixin reported that the Chinese government has decided to shut down all exchanges that trade RMB for cryptocurrencies.
 
One of China’s largest bitcoin exchanges, BTC China, has since tweeted that it will cease all China-facing trading operations on September 30. Its mining operations and international exchange will continue to operate normally.
 

However, amidst the current uncertain investment climate, it appears that the Chinese government has not made an official statement. Other major Chinese cryptocurrency exchanges such as Huobi have not received clear notice to cease operations, according to cnLedger.
 
Any public announcement from the Chinese government will surely affect the market outlook greatly, for better or worse. We have seen the market fall after recent news of China reportedly banning initial coin offerings (ICOs).

This article was first published in Tech In Asia. You can read the full article here