The Chinese exchange Bter, which supports trading in CNY fiat as well as multiple altcoin pairs, has issued a warning that it will suspend CNY deposits, citing "notice" of "regulations" that "make it impossible to avoid the temporary suspension of deposits".
The company did not get into specifics of the "notice" it received or when it plans to end the "temporary suspension". It can very well be a confirmation on exchanges and payment processors, ordering partnering banks to close their accounts.
The announcement comes nearly at the same time , allowing it for trading against Bitcoin and Litecoin. It stops short of allowing full-blown yuan but may still attract investment from those looking to employ yuan in crypto trading as an ominous Cloud hangs over exchanges dealing with Chinese currency.
Such a suspension is an ironic twist for Bter. It is the Crytpsy for China, supporting many cryptocurrency pairs including various "exotic" coins. This all happens as deposits and trading with USD fiat.
Surprisingly, Bitcoin and crypto markets have not reacted too harshly to the development, at least thus far. After tumbling once the rumors emerged, trading over the past 12 hours seems to have stabilized, with Bitcoin on several exchanges hanging in the $440-$450 trough. Perhaps the market has already priced in eventuality of these rumors materializing, the only remaining question being how well exchanges will be able to get around such restrictions.
On Huobi, Bitcoin is trending slightly lower and recently set a new low of 2670 CNY, or $427. The next few hours will tell if there's a latency effect on USD markets, or if they are not biting at the negativity gripping their Chinese counterparts.
