Chinese “exchange ban” cause sell-off

A new article appeared on Chinese news media outlet caixin, claiming that Chinese authorities are looking to close cryptocurrency exchanges due to risks of money laundering. Caixin.com posted an article titled “虚拟货币交易所时代结束” (the age of crypto exchanges is over) and sparked off a massive sell-off that caused Bitcoin and ethereum prices to drop 5-10%. Whilst it was previously discussed that rumors are sometimes the precursor to legislation, this should be taken with a grain of salt. Due diligence needs to be done as to where the rumors come from (eg. state run media or just regular media). In this case, this rumor was posted on regular media with very little sources of information (no new quotes from government officials etc).

Here is how Twitter responded to this situation:

What we know so far:

• Article was posted at 9:56PM, an unlikely time for real government announcements
• Similar news was posted on Tencent news, perhaps interpreting same article?
• BTCC, okcoin and Huobi have reported no notices or changes from the government
• Article did not state any additional sources

Other media interpretations

Quartz : https://qz.com/1073049/the-ethereum-eth-price-and-bitcoin-btc-prices-are-crashing-on-a-china-trading-ban/?unique_ID=636405021008563934
8BTC: http://news.8btc.com/game-over-bitcoin-exchanges