Domestic regulatory documents for Bitcoin are being promoted and may be issued in June

According to Caixin reporters, people close to the regulators said that based on the results of the previous on-site inspections, the central bank plans to issue administrative penalty notices to OKCoin, Huobi.com and Bitcoin China, three bitcoin trading platforms. Two documents on the management of bitcoin trading platforms and the anti-money laundering regulations for bitcoin platforms are being promoted and may be issued in June.

• While the price of Bitcoin has soared again recently, the on-site inspections of Bitcoin trading platforms conducted by domestic regulatory authorities since January this year have also come to an end.

[Caixin.com] (Reporter Wu Yujian) While prices have soared again recently, the on-site inspections of Bitcoin trading platforms conducted by domestic regulatory authorities since January this year have also come to an end.

Influenced by favorable international policies and other factors, the price of Bitcoin in China has broken through strongly since April 20. As of May 9, the price of Bitcoin in China exceeded 9,740 yuan, setting a new record high for Bitcoin in China. However, this rise was driven by overseas markets. Currently, the price of Bitcoin on overseas trading platforms is more than 2,600 yuan higher than that in China.

At the same time, Caixin reporters learned from people close to the regulator that based on the results of the previous on-site inspection, the central bank plans to issue administrative penalty notices to OKCoin, Huobi.com and Bitcoin China, three bitcoin trading platforms. The two documents on the management of bitcoin trading platforms and the anti-money laundering regulations for bitcoin platforms are being promoted and may be issued in June.

Bitcoin rises to 10,000 yuan, breaking the historical high

Affected by international factors, the price of Bitcoin has continued to rise both at home and abroad since April, reaching a historical high.

According to data from Huobi.com, the price of Bitcoin in China has been rising strongly since April 20. As of 17:00 on May 9, the price of Bitcoin in China exceeded 9,740 yuan, with the highest daily increase of 10.6%, setting a new record high for Bitcoin in China.

The rise was led by overseas markets. Today, Bitcoin on Bitfinex, a Bitcoin-to-US dollar trading platform, rose 5.4%, with the highest price reaching $1,779, or RMB 12,287.9; the highest price on BitFlyer, a Japanese Bitcoin trading platform, reached 2.214 million yen, or RMB 13,004; the highest price on Bithumb, a South Korean Bitcoin trading platform, reached 2,318,000 won, or RMB 14,082.

At present, the price of Bitcoin on overseas trading platforms is more than 2,600 yuan higher than that on domestic platforms. Industry insiders pointed out that the reason for the price difference between China and foreign countries is mainly because domestic trading platforms are still temporarily suspending withdrawals, which reduces the liquidity of Bitcoin.

Huobi.com analysts believe that since April, the price of Bitcoin has been rising amid fluctuations, greatly affected by international events. On April 1, the Payment Services Amendment Act signed by the Japanese Cabinet officially came into effect, and the legality of virtual currency payment methods such as Bitcoin was recognized. 260,000 stores in Japan will accept Bitcoin payments. The recent surge is also closely related to the approaching date of the US Securities and Exchange Commission's review of the Bitcoin ETF on May 10, US time: If the Bitcoin ETF is approved for listing by the US Securities and Exchange Commission, Bitcoin's global investment status will enter a new historical stage.

It is worth mentioning that, judging from the data, Japan has become the world's largest Bitcoin trading market. According to the statistics of Huobi Blockchain Research Department, Japan accounted for 46.4% of the global Bitcoin trading volume last week, followed by the United States with 26.4%, while China's trading volume dropped to 10.%, ranking third.

Previously, domestic Bitcoin trading platforms generally waived transaction fees, and there were a large number of high-frequency transactions. Bitcoin transactions in China once accounted for more than 80% of global transactions. After the People's Bank of China entered the market for inspection, it was proposed to comply with anti-money laundering regulations. Various Bitcoin and other virtual currency trading platforms began to charge transaction fees, high-frequency transactions were blocked, and the transaction volume from China in public data plummeted.

On-site inspection is coming to an end

When the price of Bitcoin exceeded 10,000, the domestic central bank's on-site inspection of Bitcoin trading platforms was also coming to an end.

In January this year, Bitcoin received regulatory attention after a surge. After interviewing the heads of the three major Bitcoin platforms and urging them to conduct self-examination and rectification, the central bank launched a joint comprehensive law enforcement inspection of China's three major Bitcoin trading platforms. This is the most stringent regulatory action taken by regulatory authorities against Bitcoin exchanges so far (see Caixin.com Exclusive | The central bank's thunderous action to clean up the three major Bitcoin platforms is imminent).

According to the above-mentioned official, the inspection found that some trading platforms had problems mainly in two aspects: one was illegal financing and currency lending business, and the other was an incomplete anti-money laundering internal control system. At present, the on-site inspection has entered the final stage. According to the inspection results, the relevant administrative penalty resolution has been drafted internally and is currently "going through the formalities."

At the same time, two management measures for Bitcoin are still being promoted: one is the management measures for Bitcoin trading platforms, and the other is the anti-money laundering regulations for Bitcoin platforms. The aforementioned person said that the two measures may be issued in June. At the same time, he also suggested that the restrictions on Bitcoin withdrawals in China should be temporarily suspended and can be opened after the measures are formulated.

During this year's Two Sessions, Zhou Xuedong, deputy to the National People's Congress and director of the Business Management Department of the People's Bank of China, said in an exclusive interview with Caixin reporters that virtual commodity trading platforms and websites such as Bitcoin need to clarify the bottom line of supervision and establish a negative business list, including not using leveraged trading or financing and currency lending, not using methods such as waiving transaction fees to push up trading volume and manipulate the market (for details, see Caixin.com's "Representative Zhou Xuedong: It is recommended to strengthen the supervision of virtual commodity trading platforms such as Bitcoin").

At the same time, in order to regulate the anti-money laundering work of virtual commodity trading platforms such as Bitcoin in Beijing, the Central Bank's Business Management Department has discussed relevant regulations with some Bitcoin platforms (see Caixin.com for details. The Central Bank regulates Bitcoin platforms starting with anti-money laundering.