China warns exchanges

BTC price slide; China's stance; Bitstamp funding; cryptocurrency volatility; Zcash impact View this email in your browser January 6th, 2017 "The trouble is you can shut your eyes but you can't shut your mind." – Terry Pratchett Got this from a friend? SUBSCRIBE HERE The People's Bank of China (PBoC) has confirmed that it met with representatives of major Chinese bitcoin exchanges earlier this week. The objective of the meeting was to urge compliance with "relevant laws and regulations", and to remind potential investors that bitcoin was a "virtual good", not a currency.   While we do not have a clear idea of what was actually said at the meeting, the news is likely to spook markets, given China's weight in trading volumes.   This draws parallels to the end of 2013, when the PBoC issued a warning to financial institutions to stay away from bitcoin, which resulted in the price (which had breached $1,000) falling by $300 in an hour.   It is too early to tell whether this is the first step in a strong cryptocurrency crackdown on the part of the Chinese government, an attempt to influence the BTC price, or simply part of a series of encounters with industry participants. You can be sure we'll be following closely.   Read the whole story Tweet Share Chain has had an interesting 2016, and has even bigger plans for this year.   Ryan Smith, CTO of Chain, will give a talk at CONSTRUCT, our invite-only developer conference in San Francisco, USA on January 30-31. Come and join Ryan, other industry leaders and senior engineers, to catch up with recent innovation in the sector and to get ahead of upcoming updates.  😎 APPLY TO ATTEND 😎 Wait, there's more: Déjà vu? Bitcoin Price Slips Below $900 Amid China News Will the news that the People's Bank of China met with leading bitcoin exchanges send the markets into a long-term slump? Or will the dip be shrugged off, as the outlook remains bullish? Although the timing is unclear, it appears that BTC prices were falling before the news was released. What the eventual impact will be remains to be seen. Read more. Bitcoin Exchange BTCC Responds to Central Bank Statements Chinese bitcoin exchange BTCC has issued a statement in response to comments from the People's Bank of China (PBoC) about the meeting with BTCC and other major exchanges. In the statement, BTCC confirms that it meets regularly with representatives from the PBoC, that it complies with all current regulations in China, and adheres to strict AML/KYC policies. It reiterates the PBoC's advice that users should be aware of the risks of investing in bitcoin. Read more. What IoT's History Reveals About Blockchain's 2017 Challenges *Year in Review*: Dave Hudson, author, developer and VP of software architecture at Peernova, draws parallels between the early struggles of IoT, and the blockchain ecosystem today. Back then, connected things were going to revolutionize our economy, but many ideas turned out to be impractical. So, rather than get excited about all the possible applications, we should focus on where blockchain really can make a difference, and work on the improvements needed to make the application more simple and robust. Read more.   Bitcoin Boomed in 2016, But Zcash Made History *Year in Review*: Nolan Bauerle, former writer for the Canadian Senate Banking Committee and a member of CoinDesk's research team, argues that Zcash can be seen as a continuation of the movement towards broader digital privacy for all. He argues that with the launch of Zcash we can now talk about the real value of the blockchain revolution: individually controlled ownership rights of digital information. Read more. Volatility + Liquidity: How Bitcoin Compares to its Competitors In this guest article, cryptocurrency trader and entrepreneur Willy Woo takes a look at the relative volatility and liquidity of the major privacy-focused cryptocurrencies. He argues that low volatility is more important than high liquidity in encouraging adoption. Among the coins studied, bitcoin has the highest liquidity and the lowest volatility, but its lead is not unassailable. Read more. Bitcoin-Powered Internet Advances With $4M Blockstack Funding Blockstack, a New-York based bitcoin startup building a new type of internet, has raised $4m in a Series A round led by Union Square Ventures, with Lux Capital, Naval Ravikant, Digital Currency Group, Compound, Version One, Kal Vepuri and Rising Tide also participating. Read more. Bitstamp Collects $1.3M As Funding Campaign Continues Bitcoin exchange Bitstamp's online funding campaign on the BnkToTheFuture platform has collected more than $1.3m, with 21 days still to go. Its original goal was $1.2m. Read more.   Go to CoinDesk BTC: $901.93 -5.7%  ETH: $9.99 +2.8% @10:00 EST - More price details PRESS RELEASES   06, Jan - Press Release: UNICEF, UK Home Office and BTCC to speak at London Blockchain Week 2017 05, Jan - Press Release: Introducing World's First Bitcoin Marketplace for Digital Goods 05, Jan - Press Release: The Seam to form Cotton Blockchain Consortium with IBM on Hyperledger Fabric It certainly has been an interesting start to the year. Do drop us a line and let us know what you think. Just hit "Reply". 😊 Share Tweet Copyright © 2017 CoinDesk, All rights reserved. You're receiving this email because you subscribed for updates on our website. Our mailing address is: CoinDesk 636 Avenue of the Americas New York City, NY 10011 Add us to your address book Want to change how you receive these emails? You can update your preferences or unsubscribe from this list