Investing.com – Bitcoin eased slightly from lofty gains on Friday as two of the largest China-based cryptocurrency exchanges announced plans to exit the market after Chinese authorities reportedly ordered all local cryptocurrency exchanges to cease trading.
Chinese exchanges were told by authorities to immediately notify users of their closure, and to stop allowing new user registrations as of Friday, according to a government notice.
On the U.S.-based Bitfinex exchange, bitcoin rose to $3673.9, up $435.8 or 13.46%. Bitcoin is about 30% below its recent peak of $4,969 with a market cap of just shy of $60 billion.
This latest crackdown on Bitcoin activity, yet to be officially confirmed, has shaken up the cryptocurrency landscape in China as a few of the country's largest cryptocurrency exchanges have announced plans to halt trading activity.
Huobi and OKCoin, the two largest cryptocurrency exchanges in China notified users of their plans to exit the market, following similar moves by BTCChina and ViaBTC on Thursday.
The news comes amid a tumultuous week in the cryptocurrency space which saw Bitcoin shaved more than $10 billion off its market cap in less than week, as reports of China’s plan to shutter local exchanges intensified.
Earlier during the week, J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. boss Jamie Dimon sparked a sell-off, warning that bitcoin “is a fraud” and “will eventually blow up”.
Bitcoin Cash and Ethereum mirrored Bitcoin’s move higher but remained on track for a weekly loss.
Bitcoin Cash rose $32.22, or 8.3%, to $420.20, while Ethereum gained 13.65% to $253.53.