Investing.com – Bitcoin slipped on Monday and continued to hover near $7,000 amid a lack of meaningful data. Although not a directional driver, a report by the PBOC caught some attention as it indicated the country’s tough stance on crypto trading has proven to be successful.
Bitcoin was trading at $6,640.4 by 10:45AM ET (02:45 GMT) on the Bitfinex exchange, down 1.1% over the previous 24 hours.
Ethereum, the world’s second largest cryptocurrency by market cap, slipped 5.0% to $459.99 on the Bitfinex exchange.
Ripple’s XRP token fell 2.6% to $0.46557 on the Poloniex exchange.
Meanwhile, Litecoin traded 4.1% lower to $78.927.
A report published by the People’s Bank of China (PBOC) revealed that the cryptocurrency ban imposed by regulators in China seemed to be rather successful, as the PBOC said crypto trading in China has “all but gone away”.
The PBOC also noted in the report that Chinese regulators are not planning to lift the ban on crypto trading in the near future, as such trading pose large financial risks for Chinese investors.
Hong Kong-based media source The Asia Times recently reported that the Chinese yuan is now utilized in only less than 1% of all Bitcoin exchange trade, compared with over 90% of all global trades a year ago before the crypto ban in China took place.
“This indicates that the policy has been very successful. It is within expectations that the yuan’s share in global Bitcoin transactions would drop after China announced the ban,” said Guo Dazhi, research director at Zhongguancun Internet Finance.
In other news, Nobel prize-winning economist Joseph Stiglitz warned on Monday that the anonymity nature of Bitcoin opens the door for criminal enterprises.
"You cannot have a means of payment that is based on secrecy when you’re trying to create a transparent banking system," said Stiglitz. "If you open up a hole like bitcoin, then all the nefarious activity will go through that hole, and no government can allow that.”
Stiglitz then said further growth in the crypto market would likely bring more regulation from authorities: “Once it becomes significant they will use the hammer.”