BTCC (company)

BTCC is a cryptocurrency exchange established in June 2011. Originally known as BTC China, the exchange underwent significant restructuring after it was acquired by a Hong Kong–based blockchain investment fund in 2018, ceasing operations in China and expanding internationally.

BTCC

Trade name	BTCC
Industry	Bitcoin Exchange
Founded	2011
Founder	Huang Xiaoyu Yang Linke Bobby C. Lee
Headquarters	London , United Kingdom
Website	www.btcc.com

History

'2011-2017: Company beginnings

BTCC was founded by Bobby Lee, Yang Linke, and Huang Xiaoyu in 2011. Initially, it was a part-time project for Lee. BTCC (then known as BTC China) incorporated in 2013 and acquired investors, established a headquarters in Shanghai, and had 20 employees. Lee became chief executive officer. Usage of BTCC increased following the elimination of trading fees and it became the largest bitcoin exchange by volume in the world in November 2013.^[1][2][3] That month, BTCC received US$5 million in Series A funding from Lightspeed China Partners and Lightspeed Venture Partners.^[2]

The company stopped accepting deposits of yuan in December 2013 due to regulatory changes by the People's Bank of China that barred financial institutions from trading in bitcoin, leading third-party payment providers to end their service to BTCC.^[4] The company began taking yuan again in January 2014 after it further examined rules, which specifically barred banks from participating in bitcoin business activities.^[5] It rebranded in 2015, changing its name to BTCC.^[6]

In September 2017, BTCC announced it would cease all trading, reacting to Chinese authorities banning initial coin offerings (ICOs) one week prior.^[7] Later in January 2018, BTCC was acquired by an unnamed Hong Kong–based blockchain investment fund with the intent to move its operations out of China.^[8]

In 2018, BTCC reorganized and established multilingual regional businesses in Taiwan,^{[9][better source needed]} and South Korea. Localized language revisions were released at the same time. However, on August 18, 2022, it was reported that BTCC was among 16 foreign cryptocurrency businesses that lacked the proper registration to operate in South Korea. An intelligence unit of the Financial Services Commission reported the businesses to the nation’s investigative body and asked other agencies to block access to the firms’ local websites.^[10]