OKEx to Unfreeze Bitcoin Trading in China
“On October 31, OKEx will open the world's first C2C trading platform, providing bit-to-point trading services for digital assets such as Bitcoin.”
OKEx, an exchange featuring futures and many digital assets, tweeted a mysterious, yet optimistic message, suggesting there may be ways for the platform to resume work:
See you all at 19:00 (BJ Time) Tomorrow!@starokcoinpic.twitter.com/eYLDdvq6MN — OKEx (@OKEx_) October 30, 2017
The initial news on OKEx resuming exchanges between Bitcoin and the Chinese Yuan came from CNLedger, a generally respected source on cryptocurrencies in China. On October 31, CNLedger tweeted:
OkEx (and likely, Huobi-Pro) will soon launch P2P bitcoin tradings with various fiat currency support. — cnLedger (@cnLedger) October 30, 2017
The announcements for a new form of operations come right after OKEx announced it would cease operations, per the demands of the Chinese government. But while exchanges in China are on the final day of their grace period, many may have discovered new ways to operate from Hong Kong or Japan.
For now, the larger exchange Huobi has not revealed an official announcement on resuming operations, and the possibility is only based on rumors. The rumors may have originated from a fake account, named Huobi Pro.
While the deadline for the Chinese exchanges arrived, the price of Bitcoin has remained above $6,000, touching $6,300 at one point.
Currently, some of the Chinese trading in Bitcoin has moved over to LocalBitcoins, a peer-to-peer site. But trading is practically impossible without the infrastructure of a platform. LocalBitcoins is mostly for small-scale buying.
The presence of Chinese exchanges freely offering Bitcoin for cash has helped raise the price of the cryptocurrency. According to state agencies, the Chinese government is worried Bitcoin may be fuelling crime.
Exchanges, if they work again, would have to comply with anti-money-laundering procedures and set up a know-your-customer verification process. The Chinese exchanges were much more liberal compared to European ones, and some US-based exchanges have tightened their verification procedures as well.
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