After reporting the demise of cryptocurrency exchanges in China, Chinese financial paper CaiXin followed up a rumor that exchange YunBi will close within 3 months. Journalists from CaiXin interviewed Xiaolai Li (李笑来) who indicated that YunBi will Progressively shut down in 3 months (There are no other official sources to back this up, other than the Caixin Journalist). Xiaolai Li is known to be a major investor in YunBi and is known to have investments in the ICO platform, ICOINFO. It is important to note that YunBi is the only large exchange talking about a potential shut-down, other exchanges such as BTCC, Huobi, OKCoin, Btc38 and Viabtc have all come out to say they haven’t received any notices from the government.
BTC is trading for lower on Yunbi
A look at Coinmarketcap shows that BTC is trading at a lower price than competitors such as OKcoin. Currently Yunbi is trading at $3950 USD per bitcoin whilst OKcoin is trading at $4102. This might be sign that OKcoin users are more concerned and choosing to sell their Bitcoin. It is important to note that the current trade volume for Yunbi is only at 1.2 Million USD, which is ranked #141 in terms of trade volume.
ICO connection?
It is possible that YunBi is under additional scrutiny because of its ties ICO trading. They previously unlisted coins such as QTUM, GXS, EOS, ANS, DGD, 1ST, GNT, REP, SNT, OMG, PAY, LUN, VEN. Their investor Xiaolai Li is also connected to ICOINFO, so this might make them a larger target for potential government control. The government explicitly wanted to break up the connection between ICO platforms and Exchanges, hence separating the streamlined ICO listing process.
Additional sources:
8BTC: Li Xiaolai: Yunbi Is Winding Down In 3 Months
8BTC: “It Will Take Two or Three Years Before all Exchanges Are Shut Down in China”
韭菜日报:李笑来称云币网将在三月内逐步关闭；聚币网普通交易区或将全部暂停；3ICO 将于12日关站，请投资者尽快提现
