--FILE--An employee is seen at the office of BTC China, the oldest Bitcoin exchange in China, in Shanghai, China, 26 November 2013. The Peoples Bank of China ordered banks and all third-party payment services to stop dealing with anyone in the bitcoin business. The new ruling, seen in document form by Caixin newspaper, effectively de-funds all bitcoin trading websites as they will no longer have bank accounts. There is not yet an official notice in the PBOC website. This is a major new blow from Chinas central bank against bitcoin and all virtual currencies. It first started in December when authorities stated that Bitcoin cannot be used as a currency. Shortly after that, payment services like Alibabas Alipay and Tencents Tenpay were told to halt processing all payments by consumers at any Bitcoin exchanges. Todays move goes a lot further, effectively cutting those exchanges off from the conventional banking system.
