China’s first bitcoin exchange operator is reportedly getting out of cryptocurrency

BTCChina, the operator of China’s oldest Bitcoin (BTC) exchange, is no longer in the crypto business, according to several reports.

The company has sold its stake in the Singapore-registered bitcoin exchange ZG.com to an undisclosed company in Dubai, the Chinese news agency The 21 Century Business Herald recently reported.

According to the report, ZG.com is a fully independent cryptocurrency exchange registered in the US, Singapore, Estonia, Seychelles and other countries. BTCChina invested in ZG.com in January 2019.

As the South China Morning Post reports, BTCChina left the Bitcoin business “in response to Chinese government policy,” alluding to the massive crackdown on crypto mining and related activities in the country.

BTCChina was founded in 2011 by Huang Xiaoyu and Yang Linke and had to stop trading cryptocurrencies in October 2017 after the Chinese government banned crypto trading. The company then sold its stock exchange operations to a blockchain mutual fund based in Hong Kong. The exchange will continue to operate under the name BTCC, with the exception of customers with Chinese IP addresses.

BTCC’s post-sale activity sparked speculation that it was affiliated with BTCChina and that Yang still controls the exchange – claims the company has denied..

BTCC announced last week that the company has not been affected by China’s crypto crackdown. “BTCC is not currently affected because BTCC does not trade in cryptocurrencies, but instead offers derivatives of cryptocurrencies,” said the company.

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ZG.com and BTCC did not immediately respond to Cointelegraph’s request for comment.

The Chinese government has cracked down on cryptocurrencies in recent months, resulting in numerous closings of key crypto mining centers in the country, including provinces such as Sichuan, Yunnan, Xinjiang and Inner Mongolia, and Thanh Hai. In addition, major Chinese banks like the Agricultural Bank of China confirmed that Chinese authorities are also working to ban all crypto-related transactions on bank accounts in China.