China’s Crackdown and Jim Cramer May Have Helped Push Bitcoin to a Two-week Low

The cryptocurrency market has been seeing a lot of red again, with the number one digital currency Bitcoin falling to a two-week low.

The drop may mainly be the result of China intensifying its crypto mining crackdown in the country.

The digital asset hit as low as $31,760 on Monday morning, the first time it has dropped under $32,000 since June 8th.

According to reports, China’s crackdown on mining for cryptocurrency has now extended to the southwestern province of Sichuan.

The People’s Bank of China revealed on Monday that it had urged Alipay and some major banks to crack down on crypto trading.

Alipay is the payments service run by Alibaba affiliate Ant Group. China has already banned financial institutions from providing crypto-related services.

Several bitcoin mines in Sichuan were closed Sunday after authorities in the southwestern Chinese province ordered a halt to crypto mining, according to a Global Times report. More than 90% of China’s bitcoin mining capacity is estimated to be shut down, the paper said.

Bloomberg and Reuters also reported this move from Sichuan authorities.

“China often does this,” Charles Hayter, CEO of crypto data firm CryptoCompare, told
CNBC via email however.

“When China sneezes, bitcoin catches a cold. But this flexing of regulatory muscle is often just that — in the past eight years, this story has risen its head at least three times.”

It also doesn’t help that Mad Money’s Jim Cramer has said that he has ‘sold almost all’ of his bitcoin after China’s crypto crackdown.