Central Bank: The "Bitcoin Trading Activity Management Measures" circulated on the Internet are not true

Beijing News Express: Today, a document "Interim Measures for the Administration of Bitcoin Trading Activities (Draft for Comments)" (hereinafter referred to as "Measures") was circulated in the market. The document requires Bitcoin platforms to be registered with the central bank and to establish a third-party custody service for customer funds. A person related to the central bank told the Beijing News reporter today that the above report is not true and the central bank did not issue this document.

According to a document circulating online, the People's Bank of China, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, and the Ministry of Public Security have jointly issued the "Interim Measures for the Management of Bitcoin Trading Activities (Draft for Comments)" (hereinafter referred to as the "Measures"), requiring the establishment of Bitcoin trading information intermediaries to be registered with the People's Bank of China. At the same time, it is necessary to establish a third-party custody service for customer funds and Bitcoin, and select qualified banking financial institutions or third-party payment institutions as custodians of customer funds and Bitcoin.

Since the beginning of this year, virtual "currencies" represented by Bitcoin have attracted attention from all parties due to their risks such as sharp rise and fall and money laundering. Previously, the regulatory authorities had entered Bitcoin trading platforms such as "Huobi.com" and "Bihang" and conducted on-site inspections, and pointed out that the above platforms had problems such as financing and currency lending.

As early as 2013, the central bank and other ministries and commissions had issued a notice to clarify that Bitcoin is not issued by the monetary authorities, does not have monetary attributes such as legal tender and compulsory nature, and is not a real currency. As of around 12:15 today, the price of Bitcoin is hovering around 29,000.