Chinese microblogging website Sina Weibo deactivated the accounts of three major bitcoin trading exchanges in China, media reports said. The three exchanges whose accounts were deactivated are Huobi, OKEx and Binance. The recent development led to concerns over tightening regulation on cryptocurrency in China.
In a statement, Weibo said that these accounts had abnormal practices, and contains safety risks. In China, authorities banned exchanges of cryptocurrencies in the country last year.
The recent developments could be related to the fact that China is working on its own digital currency. The Asian superpower has already carried out pilot programmes testing the digital yuan so far. In order to do so, it is collaborating with the likes of Chinese ecommerce giant JD.com.
Earlier this month, it was reported that China’s Inner Mongolia has banned cryptocurrency mining and declared it will shut all such projects by April. According to a draft plan posted on the Inner Mongolia Development and Reform Commission’s website, the region has also banned new digital coin projects.
The value of bitcoin has been soaring significantly in the last year. It passed the $55,000 level on Wednesday, for the first time in two weeks. Its value has increased more than 300 percent recently.
Ashish Singhal, chief executive officer and co-founder, CoinSwitch Kuber told the media, “Bitcoin has found a safe spot trading above $50,000. The price march is despite the fact that both the treasury yields and the US dollar index are moving up, which is not the usual behavior. Also, bitcoin balances held in exchanges are at the lowest level, indicating that most people won’t be selling their positions.”