Bitcoin resilient in spite of Chinese crackdown

Bitcoin refused to slow down on Monday even though reports continued to circulate that Beijing had decided to move forward with a crackdown that would see it hit with a wide range of sanctions in China, one of its biggest markets.

The plan, revealed to cryptocurrency firms during a closed-door meeting in Beijing on Friday, was said to go further than a simple shutdown of exchanges.

According to the Wall Street Journal, Chinese regulators had planned to close off any and all channels for exchanging the cryptocurrency, not just commercial ones as initially thought.

Bitcoin dropped 16% against the US dollar on Thursday as a result of the initial report but had eliminated the majority of those losses by Friday despite two of China's biggest Bitcoin exchanges, OKCoin and Huobi, releasing statements saying they intended to shut down all trading between RMB and Bitcoin on their exchanges.

As of 1555 BST, Bitcoin had jumped back up to $4,076.51 after hitting a low of $2,980 on Friday.

Coindesk's Omkar Godbole said on Monday that a "bullish reversal confirmation followed by a break above $4,250 would add credence to the rebound from the 100-DMA and shall boost the odds of the digital currency rallying to fresh record highs above $5,000."

He also noted that a daily close below $3,600 would likely revive a more bearish view towards the cryptocurrency.