China’s three biggest bitcoin providers suspended withdrawals almost four months ago following increased scrutiny from Chinese authorities on concerns of money laundering. Now these exchanges have resumed withdrawals again.
BTC China, Huobi, and OkCoin exchanges have reportedly regained withdrawals of the cryptocurrency.
China Securities Journal on Thursday says that China's third largest bitcoin exchange, OkCoin, now allows investors to withdraw the coins, according to investors who took out coins on May 31, according to reports.
BTC China was testing the functionality of withdrawals, its CEO, Bobby Lee, said in a statement on Thursday. Meanwhile, Huobi, another exchange company, also said it would resume coin withdrawals in a statement on Thursday.
China's central bank PBOC /CFP Photo
China is one of the largest market places for bitcoin trading, however volumes collapsed after China's central bank, the People's Bank of China (PBOC), started checking on the exchanges at the start of the year.
China's major exchanges halted withdrawals of bitcoin trading in early February. Trading fees was introduced more widely as scrutiny by authorities stepped up.
The PBOC convened a closed door meeting with nine major trading platforms on February 8, calling on platforms to impose trading fees. An inspection team from the PBOC met and gave verbal warnings to company officials of nine Beijing-based Bitcoin trading platforms.
A bitcoin mine site manager checks mining equipment inside a bitcoin mine in Sichuan Province. /CFP Photo
The decision to resume withdrawal of the coins comes with the price of bitcoin at an all-time high. After soaring to a record high of 19,084 yuan (2,784 US dollars) on May 25, the price of Bitcoin has skyrocketed more than 130 percent since the beginning of the year.
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