China’s biggest bitcoin exchange site, BTC China, has halted local-currency deposits to their customers China Merchant Bank Co. accounts, due to them closing down accounts that has been used to deal with Bitcoin exchanges. This is due to government sanctions, ordering banks to discontinue transactions for Bitcoin usage.
BTC China made the suspension in order to protect their customers and their funds, as well as to ensure that their operation can continue to run stable. They made the announcement on their microblog yesterday and explained why they decided to do what they did.
“We saw the bank’s statement and we took the initiative,” CEO of BTC China said to Bloomberg, referring to Merchant Bank’s statement from April 25th, where they said they will ban accounts being used for Bitcoin transactions. BTC China expects this whole thing to be just another bump on the road that will not hurt their business, as there are several other lenders that their customers can use instead.
Other banks have also banned accounts for being used for Bitcoin transactions, which has caused problems for other Bitcoin exchange sites within China. They are all looking for a better long term solution to the problem of receiving and sending funds from and to customers.