Chinese Bitcoin Exchanges Have Reportedly Found a Loophole in the Ban

Could China soon regain the mantle of the world’s largest Bitcoin trading market? Reports from the country indicate that at least two of the biggest players in the local industry are looking for ways to keep operating on the mainland after China’s cryptocurrency trading ban comes into effect on October 31, 2017.

OKEx and Huobi.pro will soon launch P2P OTC Bitcoin trading offerings with various fiat currency support, instead of a standard exchange model. This is according to Chinese blockchain news source cnLedger, which has been right about many developments in the country before.

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If and when this really comes to pass, it will be interesting to see if the regulators at the People’s Bank of China will allow this to go on or just update the wording of the ban to include P2P exchanges. At any point, considering the huge importance Chinese trading had on the global Bitcoin market up until the ban, once the direction becomes known it will surely affect prices, in the short term at least.

Background

OKEx is the Hong-Kong based derivatives exchange from the team behind Chinese Bitcoin trading giant OKCoin, which recently announced the addition of support for Tether (USDT) trading to its platform. Regulation in cryptocurrency markets will be discussed at length in the 2017 Finance Magnates London Summit.

Huobi.pro is the new international offering of Huobi, once one of the largest Bitcoin trading venues in the world. The company added new offices in Hong Kong and Singapore to continue its international exchange service and further expand into global markets to compensate for the loss of its home market.