BTCC is a

cryptocurrency exchange A cryptocurrency exchange, or a digital currency exchange (DCE), is a business that allows customers to trade cryptocurrencies or digital currencies for other assets, such as conventional fiat money or other digital currencies. Exchanges may acce ...

established in June 2011. Originally known as BTC China, the exchange underwent significant restructuring after it was acquired by a Hong Kong–based blockchain investment fund in 2018, ceasing operations in China and expanding internationally.

History

BTCC was founded in June 2011. BTCC now stands for 'BTC & Crypto', as stated on the company's official website, although it used to mean 'BTC China'. Before becoming the company's

CEO A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a chief executive or managing director, is the top-ranking corporate officer charged with the management of an organization, usually a company or a nonprofit organization. CEOs find roles in variou ...

, entrepreneur Bobby C. Lee approached the then two-person company in early 2013 and, after investing his own money and attracting investors, oversaw the company's rapid expansion and market share growth by the end of the year. The

Stanford Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University, is a private research university in Stanford, California, United States. It was founded in 1885 by railroad magnate Leland Stanford (the eighth governor of and th ...

computer science Computer science is the study of computation, information, and automation. Computer science spans Theoretical computer science, theoretical disciplines (such as algorithms, theory of computation, and information theory) to Applied science, ...

graduate, whose brother Charlie founded the

cryptocurrency A cryptocurrency (colloquially crypto) is a digital currency designed to work through a computer network that is not reliant on any central authority, such as a government or bank, to uphold or maintain it. Individual coin ownership record ...

Litecoin Litecoin (Abbreviation: LTC; sign: Ł) is a decentralized peer-to-peer cryptocurrency and open-source software project released under the MIT/X11 license. Inspired by Bitcoin, Litecoin was the second cryptocurrency starting in October 2011. In te ...

, previously worked for

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in the United States, and as vice president of technology for Walmart China. In November 2013, BTCChina raised $5 million in

Series A funding A series A is the name typically given to a company's first significant round of venture capital financing. It can be followed by the word round, investment or financing. The name refers to the class of preferred stock sold to investors in excha ...

from investors, Lightspeed China Partners, and

Lightspeed Venture Partners Lightspeed Venture Partners is a global venture capital firm focusing on seed stage, early stage investments and growth stage investments in the enterprise, fintech, consumer and healthcare sectors. Lightspeed has eleven offices globally and as o ...

. On 18 December 2013, BTCChina announced that it was temporarily suspending acceptance of Chinese Yuan deposits, attributing the decision to government regulations, following a December statement from the

People's Bank of China The People's Bank of China (officially PBC and unofficially PBOC) is the central bank of the People's Republic of China. It is responsible for carrying out monetary policy as determined by the ''PRC People's Bank Law'' and the ''PRC Commercia ...

(PBOC). On 30 January 2014, the exchange resumed accepting yuan deposits, after further studying the PBOC statement and other rules. While the PBOC prohibited banks from trading in Bitcoin, BTCChina explained that they were accepting Yuan into their corporate bank account, and transferring that money to their customer accounts, before it was traded for bitcoins. In September 2017, BTCC announced it would cease all trading, reacting to Chinese authorities banning initial coin offerings (ICOs) one week prior. Later in January 2018, BTCC was acquired by an unnamed Hong Kong–based blockchain investment fund with the intent to move its operations out of China. In 2018, BTCC reorganized and established multilingual regional businesses in Taiwan, Japan, and South Korea. Localized language revisions were released at the same time. However, on August 18, 2022, it was reported that BTCC was among 16 foreign cryptocurrency businesses that lacked the proper registration to operate in South Korea. An intelligence unit of the Financial Services Commission reported the businesses to the nation’s investigative body and asked other agencies to block access to the firms’ local websites.

References

External links

* {{Cryptocurrency exchanges Bitcoin exchanges Chinese companies established in 2011