China’s central bank says institutions must not provide trading, clearing and settlement for crypto transactions.
The People’s Bank of China (PBOC) on Monday told the country’s major financial institutions to stop facilitating virtual-currency transactions, increasing the negative sentiment in crypto markets.
Reacting to the news, the market crashed and Bitcoin tumbled more than 11% on Monday as recent volatility in the cryptocurrency market showed no signs of dampening down.
Bitcoin fell as low as $31,705 to its lowest in 12 days, dragging smaller coins down with market players citing jitters over China’s expanding crackdown on bitcoin mining in thin liquidity for the losses.
The world’s biggest cryptocurrency, long plagued by volatility, has lost over 20% in the last six days alone and is down by half from its April peak of almost $65,000. Bitcoin is still up about 10% year-to-date.
