Chinese bitcoin traders still wield enormous influence
Chinese bitcoin traders continue to thrive despite Beijing’s four-year crackdown on cryptocurrencies, experts told CNBC. But tough words from Beijing are not new. In 2017, China shut down local cryptocurrency exchanges and banned so-called initial coin offerings (ICOs), a way to raise money for crypto companies by issuing digital tokens.
China’s role in bitcoin was thrust back into the spotlight last week after authorities reiterated that financial institutions should not get involved in cryptocurrency businesses such as trading or helping to exchange fiat into digital coins. These were not new regulations. But it was one of the reasons for the plunge in bitcoin last Wednesday, which at one point fell 30% to just over $30,000 before seeing a recovery.
What has happened to Chinese bitcoin trading?
As China increased its scrutiny of the cryptocurrency sector, a sort of grey market was created. Chinese exchanges such Huobi and OKEx moved offshore since they were not able to be licensed on the mainland. Some of these platforms offer crypto-to-crypto trading such as buying bitcoin with the U.S. dollar-linked stablecoin called tether (USDT). Some platforms offer a renminbi to USDT conversion service which allows Chinese users to get the crypto required to buy bitcoin.
Top Cryptocurrencies with Price Predictions
| # | Crypto | Prediction | Accuracy | CVIX | Price | 24h | 7d | Market Cap | 7d price change | |
| 1 |  BTC |
Bitcoin predictions | 60% | 87 | $28 953.50 | -4.17% | -3.67% | $551 514 958 969 |  |
|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2 |  ETH |
Ethereum predictions | 61.6% | 88 | $1 929.37 | -6.11% | -6.26% | $233 271 604 070 |  |
|
| 3 |  USDT |
Tether predictions | 95.6% | 1 | $0.999062 | 0% | 0.01% | $73 206 337 226 |  |
|
| 4 |  USDC |
USD Coin predictions | 96% | 1 | $1.000165 | 0.02% | 0.01% | $53 264 489 963 |  |
|
| 5 |  BNB |
Binance Coin predictions | 58% | 88 | $316.54 | -3.99% | 4.58% | $51 683 254 368 |  |
|
| 6 |  XRP |
XRP predictions | 58.4% | 91 | $0.397236 | -6.29% | -7.17% | $19 203 606 558 |  |
|
| 7 |  BUSD |
Binance USD predictions | 91.6% | 1 | $1.000278 | 0.11% | 0.03% | $18 328 809 687 |  |
|
| 8 |  ADA |
Cardano predictions | 56.4% | 93 | $0.502003 | -7.81% | -12.64% | $16 943 898 369 |  |
|
| 9 |  SOL |
Solana predictions | 58.4% | 91 | $48.07 | -9.25% | -12.69% | $16 307 952 335 |  |
|
| 10 |  DOGE |
Dogecoin predictions | 60.8% | 90 | $0.081327 | -5.98% | -8.79% | $10 789 659 758 |  |
|
| 11 |  DOT |
Polkadot predictions | 55.2% | 90 | $9.73 | -6.72% | -10.15% | $9 613 488 110 |  |
|
| 12 |  WBTC |
Wrapped Bitcoin predictions | 56.8% | 87 | $28 897.59 | -4.37% | -3.70% | $7 993 157 722 |  |
|
| 13 |  TRX |
TRON predictions | 73.2% | 56 | $0.079994 | 5.25% | 13.91% | $7 570 190 446 |  |
|
| 14 |  AVAX |
Avalanche predictions | 55.6% | 93 | $27.44 | -12.43% | -18.78% | $7 390 659 271 |  |
|
| 15 |  DAI |
Dai predictions | 93.2% | 1 | $0.999659 | -0.06% | -0.01% | $6 569 292 513 |  |
