--FILE--An employee is seen at the office of BTC China, the oldest Bitcoin exchange in China, in Shanghai, China, 26 November 2013. Alipay and Tenpay terminated payment and clearing services for crypto-currencies after the Chinese central bank Peoples Bank of China (PBOC) issued a ban which forbids payment companies from doing business with Bitcoin exchanges. The PBOC met with around ten top Chinese third-party payment providers, banning banks and third-party payment firms from providing settlement and clearance services for transactions based on virtual currencies, like Bitcoin and Litecoin, as well as other peer-to-peer currency trading sites. Tencents payment service Tenpay confirmed that it has halted cooperation with two major domestic exchange sites BTC China and Okcoin, while a representative from Alipay disclosed that the company has not establish cooperation with any virtual currency sites yet.
