Bitcoin Drops; China’s State-backed Media Denies Report of Country-Backed Crypto

Investing.com – Bitcoin prices dropped after state-backed media denied reports that China was almost ready to issue its own digital assets.

Bitcoin was down 2.5% to $9,488.7 by 8:10 PM ET (02:10 GMT), Ethereum fell 2.3% to $169.0, XRP slipped 0.1% to 0.25650, while Litecoin fell 5.2% to $63.630.

Citing sources, Forbes reported that the People’s Bank of China (PBOC) will launch a state-owned cryptocurrency and issue it to seven institutions, including Alibaba and Tencent.

Paul Schulte, who worked as global head of financial strategy for China Construction, said in the Forbes report that the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, the Bank of China, the Agricultural Bank of China, Alibaba and Tencent are among the firms that will receive the cryptocurrency.

Citing another unnamed source, Forbes said that China’s central bank plans to launch the cryptocurrency this November, and it hopes that the new digital coin will eventually be made available in the U.S. and other parts of the world, but “that won’t happen right away.”

However, the Global Times, China’s national English language tabloid, said the report is an “exaggeration” and that the PBOC will not issue a digital coin any time soon.

“Refuting media reports of launching a state-backed cryptocurrency in the coming months, China’s central bank terms them as ‘inaccurate speculation.’”

Bitcoin was already under pressure prior to the release of the Global Times report. The coin lost almost 7% in less than an hour on Thursday, and plunged below the $10,000 level.

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