The uncertainties sparked by China’s blanket ban on crypto trading have taken a downturn as homegrown crypto exchanges such as Huobi take proactive measures to protect and return existing investments residing on the mainland. Speaking to Cointelegraph in this regard, Du Jun, co-founder of Huobi Group, said that the crypto exchange wants to ensure the safety of the users’ assets as part of its social responsibility: “Customers will be able to transfer their assets to other exchanges or wallets over the next few months. Specific measures and operating rules will be outlined in future announcements.” Citing a possibility of a …

The price of Bitcoin fell 5% today following “breaking” (read: weeks' old) news that the People’s Bank of China, or PBoC, had declared all cryptocurrency transactions illegal. With that in mind, let's take a nostalgic look at the last 12 years of fear, uncertainty and doubt (FUD) coming out of China, and see if we can spot any patterns. China banned 'virtual currencies' for the first time in 2009 1: Chinese regulators have never exactly been crypto advocates. When blockchain-based digital currencies were still in their infancy, i.e., 2009, China’s Ministry of Culture and Ministry of Commerce barred the use …

Hebei, a province in Northern China, is its latest jurisdiction to read the riot act to crypto miners and traders. According to Reuters on Tuesday, the province's cyberspace commission has announced plans to curtail cryptocurrency mining and trading activities in the region. The move is in tandem with a broader anti-crypto policy in China that has seen most of the country's cryptocurrency mining establishment forced to relocate overseas. Indeed, these measures resulted in the largest hash rate drop in Bitcoin history as several miners were forced to go offline temporarily. In a statement by the commission quoted by Reuters, authorities …

Google has delisted eight allegedly fraudulent mobile apps from its Play Store that were duping crypto enthusiasts by charging fees for an illegitimate cloud mining service. Fraudulent mobile applications have now become a popular method to mislead unwary users with high success rates. Trend Micro’s latest research discovered eight Android applications that were exploiting crypto users by charging a monthly fee under the false pretext of running a legitimate cloud mining service. Further analysis into the matter uncovered that the malicious apps hosted by Google — posing as crypto mining applications — were deceiving users into watching paid ads and …

Bitcoin's (BTC) latest rebound from below $30,000 has increased its prospects of extending its retracement move higher, at least according to one classic technical pattern. Dubbed as Broadening Formation, the megaphone-shaped pattern appears when the price moves inside two diverging trendlines. Investopedia states that a broadening formation represents disagreement over the next potential bias among investors. As a result, the price forms higher interim peaks and lower interim lows. Bitcoin appears to be trading inside a similar structure, as shown in the chart below. Nonetheless, the cryptocurrency lacks volatility, one of the key features of the broadening formation pattern. Should …

India’s stance on crypto adoption has been a gray area ever since the birth of Bitcoin (BTC). In what seems like another blow for the Indian crypto community, one of the biggest financial services, ICICI Bank, has warned users not to use their remittance services for transferring any form of crypto or digital currency. In ICICI’s latest iteration of the Retail Outward Remittance Application form, the bank has clearly stated its intent to stop users from using the service for crypto transfers. Based on the Foreign Exchange Management Act (FEMA) 1999, the declaration states: “The above remittance is NOT for …

Crypto exchange platform Huobi has updated its user agreement document, banning crypto derivatives trading for customers in China. According to the updated user agreement section of the Huobi Global website, the ban on crypto derivatives trading covers users in jurisdictions such as China, Taiwan, Israel and Iraq. Other banned countries include the United Kingdom — restricted to retail customers — as well as Bolivia, Bangladesh and Ecuador, to mention a few. The crypto derivatives trading ban is also in addition to longstanding prohibitions of the use of its platform in places such as Hong Kong, Japan, Cuba, Iran, North Korea, …

The Bank of Tanzania is reportedly working to overturn its ban on crypto amid favorable cryptocurrency comments made by the country’s president. According to Reuters, Tanzania’s central bank has begun working on directives from the country’s federal government that could see a reversal of its November 2019 crypto ban. As previously reported by Cointelegraph, president Hassan urged the central bank to begin exploring Bitcoin (BTC) and digital assets earlier this month. At the time, Hassan enjoined the Bank of Tanzania to keep up with the times, given the growing popularity of cryptocurrencies. These favorable comments on crypto came on the …

Numerous governments are attempting to ban cryptocurrencies, with recent examples from China, India, Turkey and Nigeria. The reason for doing so is simple: The decentralized nature of cryptocurrencies poses a threat to the legacy financial system, and as the technology itself is still in its infancy, it seems to attract hackers. Even so, banning crypto will not dissuade hackers or scammers in the slightest. Hackers remain drawn to cryptocurrency Ever since the inception of cryptocurrency, hackers have shown an appetite for this form of money. The perceived appeal of being anonymous when receiving payments has created an aura of invincibility …

China, once home to about 65% of the total Bitcoin (BTC) mining hash power, has given the boot to several miners in the country. The country’s Bitcoin mining ban means miners have been forced to shut down their operations with some establishments already moving hardware overseas. Tweeting on Wednesday, Kevin Zhang, vice president of crypto mining advisory outfit Foundry, said the mood among Chinese miners has grown sour, adding: “Sentiment is obviously quite dreary and the reality is setting in that it’s GG for mining in China. Some mining friends have stuck around Sichuan since the Bitmain conference to drink …

China’s crackdown on Bitcoin (BTC) mining and cryptocurrency trading recently became a primary driver for the red candlesticks on crypto market charts. But one Bitcoin mining engineer believes China’s ban on crypto is “fantastic news.” Brandon Arvanaghi, a former security engineer at crypto exchange Gemini, compared China’s harsh stance against Bitcoin with the country’s ban on Facebook and Google. Arvanaghi called getting banned in China a rite of passage for free technology and stressed that the crackdown means that Bitcoin is working, not that it’s failing. “It’s making nations shiver in their boots,” he added. He said that nations are …

The Ministry of Interior of the Islamic Republic of Iran has blocked the activities of the Iran Blockchain Community (IBC), but the association claims they still haven’t received direct notice. The Social Affairs Organization of the Ministry required reports on IBC’s financial performance and dealings with cryptocurrency exchanges via a notice posted in local newspaper Hamshahri Online last week, according to local sources. Over the weekend, the ministry blocked the association’s activities, but IBC spokesperson Sepehr Mohammadi, who is also the CEO of one of two crypto exchanges listed as sponsors of the association’s website, said no verbal or written …