“Central Bank always said BTC Exchanges Are Legitimate and Legal” - BTC China CEO, Bobby Lee

The price of Bitcoin has been steadily climbing upwards in the past two days as the April 15 deadline for Chinese-based lenders and payment companies to close the trading accounts of more than 10 domestic Bitcoin exchange platforms, has come and went.

Seeing through the smoke

First, not every exchange has received a notice about the closing of their accounts. Second, Bobby Lee, CEO of BTC China, has clarified that it’s “business as usual” and that nothing has changed despite rumors, which he dubbed as fake.

In a cnbc report, Bobby Lee confirmed that the rumors were in fact just that:

“As far as BTC China is concerned, over the last few weeks we have not received any notices from any banks nor the Central Bank about any of these new regulations. So the rumors mentioned April 15, and the day has come and we have not received any calls or seen any changes in regulation.”

BTC exchanges are legal

In the interview, Bobby Lee also asserted the position of BTC China on the issue of potential government regulation.

“We have always expressed in the media and in conversation with banks and the central bank that we are pro-government to regulate the Bitcoin exchange industry,” explained Lee, in order for “business to thrive” in China.

“As far as we know the Central bank has always said that Bitcoin exchanges are legitimate and legal,” said Lee, citing fake rumors as being the reasons for the recent price fluctuations and knee-jerk reactions by the market to any word from China.

After the collapse of the Japanese Mt. Gox, China-based cryptocurrency exchanges such as BTC China and OKCoin now process the most virtual currency transactions by volume. Hence, any hearsay of a looming crackdown by the government has been seen as a major hurdle to Bitcoin’s growth.