Since the beginning of 2017 bitcoin traders have been focused on the ongoing developments between China’s central bank and bitcoin exchanges residing within the country. Over the past two months, withdrawals have been suspended across nearly every major Chinese bitcoin trading platform with no word on when suspensions will be lifted.

Also read: Japan Declares Sale of Bitcoin Exempt from Consumption Tax

Chinese Bitcoin Traders Deal With Over Two Months of BTC Withdrawal Suspensions

2017 has seen quite the shakeup in regards to Chinese bitcoin exchanges as each company has been facing the regulatory wrath of the People’s Bank of China (PBOC). Ongoing inspections and discussions have led to stricter AML/KYC regulation, and Chinese traders have not been able to withdraw bitcoins for over two months. Chinese trading platforms have also revealed new types of KYC verification processes like on-site validation and remote video identification.

This week the Chinese exchange Okcoin has revealed the platform is upgrading to a multi-signature withdrawal system but has not detailed when the company will lift the suspension. After April 23rd the company’s customers will be using a multi-signature controlled wallet for bitcoin and litecoin holdings.

The other two top bitcoin exchanges in China, Huobi and BTCC have recently told the public that all bitcoin exchanges in China are adhering to new regulatory policies and withdrawals should commence after the upgrades are finished. Huobi explains in their most recent announcement stating;

Once approved by the regulatory body, you can resume your digital currency business. Please pay attention to the official announcement from Huobi for when withdrawals will be granted.

Young Traders in China Have Been Making Big Money Trading Bitcoin

A recent report has also detailed that young bitcoin traders in China have been making a lucrative living trading the decentralized cryptocurrency. For instance, Huai Yang, a 27-year old living in Beijing says he is making 1m yuan per month trading bitcoins. Yang has been involved with cryptocurrency for quite some time but has been trading bitcoin for a living over the past six months. “I want a more splendid life,” explains the Chinese bitcoin trader.  

Another Chinese trader named Chenxing explains how he quit his government engineering job to trade bitcoin this year. During a good month, Chenxing pockets about five BTC but quickly converts it to yuan. Chenxing details the bitcoin environment in Beijing is growing, and he expects the cryptocurrency phenomenon to continue to prosper in China.

Localbitcoins Continues to Capture the Lion’s Share of Chinese Bitcoin Trading

The Chinese traders highlighted in the report didn’t seem too concerned with the PBOC’s recent regulatory actions. Meanwhile, Bitcoin proponents have noticed a significant influx of traders moving to over-the-counter (OTC) and peer-to-peer (P2P) platforms like Localbitcoins. The P2P trading platform continues to see record volumes within the country. However, some Chinese traders have been afraid of police investigations and fraudsters on Localbitcoins.

For now, OTC markets and Localbitcoins trades are the only options for big cryptocurrency traders in China, while the entire world wonders when Chinese exchanges will resume withdrawals.

What do you think about the situation in China concerning bitcoin exchanges? Let us know in the comments below.  

Images via Shutterstock, The Guardian, and Coin Dance.

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Tags in this story

AML, bitcoin exchanges, BTC Withdrawals, BTCC, China, Chinese Traders, Huobi, KYC, LocalBitcoins, OKcoin, OTC

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Jamie Redman

Jamie Redman is a financial tech journalist living in Florida. Redman has been an active member of the cryptocurrency community since 2011. He has a passion for Bitcoin, open source code, and decentralized applications. Redman has written thousands of articles for news.Bitcoin.com about the disruptive protocols emerging today.