An IPO, or initial public offering, offers a chance to make big money quickly by getting in on the ground floor of the next new Google or Facebook. An ICO, or initial coin offering, offers a chance to make big money quickly by getting in on the next new money. It’s a formula that’s led to over two billion dollars being raised so far this year for a range of startups issuing digital tokens, a faster pace than any other early-stage venture capital funding.

One of the biggest bitcoin exchanges in China and the world announced Thursday that it would stop all trading following new Chinese government regulations clamping down on cryptocurrencies.The international value of bitcoin has plunged in recent days amid speculation that the Chinese authorities will shut down the trading platforms following last week's ban on initial coin offerings.BTCC – China's second bitcoin platform in terms of volume and the world's third largest – said o

China plans to ban trading of bitcoin and other virtual currencies on domestic exchanges, dealing another blow to the 150 billion dollars cryptocurrency market after the country outlawed initial coin offerings last week.The ban will only apply to trading of cryptocurrencies on exchanges, according to people familiar with the matter, who asked not to be named because the information is private.

Earlier this week, the world was bombarded with unfavourable news about bitcoin. Chinese media outlet, Caixin, posted an article that said China is planning to shut local bitcoin exchanges. If the report is true, this would be the PBoC's (People’s Bank of China) second move against cryptocurrency in less than a week. The bank declared ICOs (Initial Coin Offerings) illegal on September 4, 2017, which caused bitcoin prices to fall seven percent on September 8, 2017.