16 Apr 2014 / CNBC – The price of bitcoin rose on Tuesday despite growing uncertainty regarding regulation in China, including a possible deadline for the country’s banks to stop handling the virtual currency.
The price of bitcoin hit $500 by 10:00 a.m. London time on Tuesday, according to industry website CoinDesk, appreciating 40 percent since the recent low of $355 it reached on Friday.
Chinese media had reported that April 15 was a possible deadline set by the People’s Bank of China (PBoC) for Chinese banks to freeze the accounts of bitcoin exchanges. Chinese bitcoin companies BTC Trade and Huobi.com backed those reports last week. Both exchanges signaled that their banks were due to close their accounts before, or close to, Tuesday’s deadline.
A spokesperson for BTC Trade told CNBC via email on Tuesday that it had received a phone call from the Agricultural Bank of China (ABC), informing that it would no longer be supported by the bank. However, BTC Trade added that no written confirmation had been sent and that it was now looking at the possibility of opening up in a different country. ABC was not immediately available for comment when contacted by CNBC…. Read more
