Bitcoin prices were on the slide again on Monday after China’s central bank reiterated its intention to crack down hard on the sector.
On Saturday, the People’s Bank of China (PBoC) published the results of a meeting held on July 30 concerning the country’s progress on the regulation of monetary policy, mentioning that it will promote the development of financial services while severely cracking down on illegal activities concerning digital currency.
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The PBoC also said it will promote the opening up of financial markets, the development of green finance and pursuing the rollout of a digital version of the yuan.
While the bank did not explicitly single out any cryptos, the dedication towards cracking down on illegal activities involving digital currency may be interpreted by many that the attitude of the Chinese Communist Party towards crypto is unlikely to ease any time soon.
Earlier this year, provincial authorities across China moved to ban or severely restrict the ability of crypto miners to operate within their jurisdiction, while the PBoC has ordered all financial institutions to stop facilitating transactions in digital currency.
The actions have caused turbulence in the crypto industry, with prices of many digital assets having tumbled while a large amount of computing power dedicated to mining Bitcoin has been shut off as miners either close down or relocate their operations out of China.
The prospect that the crackdown is likely to persist or worsen saw Bitcoin slide 4.8% in the last 24 hours to US$39,818 in late morning trading on Monday, giving it a market cap of US$747bn.