The People’s Bank of China (PBoC) published a document reminding that digital assets are banned within the country and added that operating with exchanges will also be prohibited. As a result, BTC dumped by $3,000 in an hour.

• China’s negative stance on the cryptocurrency space has been wildly known for years, and the nation tends to frequently remind investors about it.
• The central bank highlighted the illegal status of digital assets once more on Friday. The statement also added that financial organizations, payment companies, and internet platforms are banned from facilitating crypto trading.
• The bank promised to enhance its monitoring of all operations related to the digital asset industry.
  Additionally, China’s central bank doubled down on its crackdown against mining, which initially started in May this year.
• As part of its reasoning, the PBoC claimed that these measures are meant to protect investors from the highly corrupt nature of cryptocurrencies, which, according to the bank, lead to criminal activities.
• It’s worth noting, though, that today’s particular statement might actually be dated earlier this month. As pointed out by popular commentators on Twitter, it was announced weeks ago but reached the Internet on September 24th.
• Nevertheless, it still led to massive disruptions in the cryptocurrency market. Bitcoin had just tested $45,000 before a sudden price dump drove it south by $3,000. As of now, BTC struggles at around $42,000.
• The alternative coins have it even worse, with ETH plummeting below $2,900. In total, the crypto market cap went down by roughly $150 billion in an hour or so.