I seems to me that whenever there is an all time high in BTC China releases an announcement that shocks the world into selling? They did the exact same thing when they closed the exchanges due to compliance. Now looking back all those exchanges are all open again and it's now a non-event. Did they have to take the drastic action to close them? In my opinion that was way to harsh and they knew the worldwide implications it would have on the cryptocurrency market.
What about giving the exchanges a date to comply and a daily fine thereafter if they didn't. The fine could also escalate daily so no matter how much money they are making they would have to comply sometime.
As soon as BTC hits all time highs again they announce the ban on ICOs. It's actually only going to hurt the Chinese citizens in the end. Alot of the ICOs can be picked up cheaper on the exchanges at some point anyway.
I am guessing they are working on regulating the ICOs and will announce the restrictions at some point in the future and allow Chinese citizens to invest again just with different rules. What will happen to the BTC price then........you guessed it, it will rally again. Then looking back the ICO ban announcement will be a non-event.
The Chinese government could make alot of money repeating this strategy again and again.