The net is increasingly closing around bitcoins. China and Japan restrict trade in the unregulated crypto coins and financial derivatives. That can lead to a crash, warn asset managers.
Such narrowing by financial supervisors makes a "massive correction" of the value of the coins likely, according to the Swiss investment bank UBS. His economist Axel Weber said Wednesday his fear: the total imploding of the coin.
The market is increasingly investing, but there has been virtually no financial supervision for a long time.
Japan blocked so-called futures on bitcoins and other digital currencies on Tuesday night, while those on American stock exchanges received CBOE and CME. Speculators can since then gamble on a decline or rise in the currency.
Tokyo was the escape hill for many Asian traders after China and South Korea significantly curtailed trade and crypto coin platforms.
Goldman Sachs warns the market. If the bitcoin market collapses, this will have major consequences for the South Korean economy.
Interventions China
China announced Wednesday tough measures against pyramid structures with the coins, while the Chinese national bank to block the complete trade.
AFM director Merel Vroonhoven was also sounding the alarm in the run-up to the parliamentary committee meeting on money laundering and large losses among investors with bitcoin and other cryptos. She pleads with MPs for a ban on derivatives on crypto coins, such as the CFDs, the contract for differences.
This means that investors can earn large profits as well as losses through a leveraged investment.
The coins are extremely volatile, bitcoin lost a quarter of its value in a few days.
In South Korea, where investing in currencies became almost a national sport, the regulator intervened several times in bitcoin payments. Crypto coins such as the bitcoin may from now on only be settled via a bank account if the seller and seller are known by name. That should prevent money laundering by criminals.
Japanese in Europe
The crypto world in Asia focused early Wednesday morning all attention on BitFlyer, with 30% interest one of the largest bitcoin platforms. This was given a so-called Payment Institution license to be able to trade in the European Union. It starts with bitcoin / euro transactions, and follows with litecoin and ethereums.
Regulators worldwide are looking for measures to limit the crypto coins. The G20 meets in March, the meeting of large industrial countries. At the request of the European supervisor ESMA, new interventions will be coordinated.
Ban on trade
Asset manager Nordea went a step further on Tuesday and forbade staff to trade in bitcoins and other cryptocurrencies. Cybersecurity company RisklQ warned that hackers abuse 661 apps for crypto coins, but are in the App Store and Google Play store.
Bitcoin and the underlying network blockchain were rigged as an alternative to regular currencies and the payment system dominated by banks. The decentralized public system for bitcoins is maintained by participants, with unique transaction.