Share this article
World's Largest Bitcoin Exchange BTC China Now Requires ID
Users of BTC China claim they must now provide identification to use their trading accounts.
Updated Dec 10, 2022, 9:31 p.m. Published Dec 9, 2013, 12:18 p.m.
Users of the world’s largest bitcoin exchange, BTC China, claim the site now requires them to provide some form of identification to create or use a trading account.
Logging into BTC China produces the following message: “In response to a recent policy shift, BTC China now requires users to submit identification or a passport number. Existing users will need to provide this information upon login. We apologise for any inconvenience.”
STORY CONTINUES BELOW
Don't miss another story.Subscribe to the Crypto Daybook Americas Newsletter today. See all newsletters
Despite the ID requirement, there does not seem to be an ID verification process for users outside China. Some users posted on reddit that they were able to continue trading immediately after submitting a number.
The exchange still permits only Chinese yuan (CNY) deposits and withdrawals.
People's Bank of China
BTC China’s move comes after last week’s clarification by the People’s Bank of China on bitcoin’s status.
While the Bank appeared to forbid any traditional financial institutions from trading digital currencies themselves, it added that other merchants and bitcoin exchanges should be able to continue with their business, so long as they complied with the necessary Know Your Client (KYC) and Anti-Money Laundering (AML) regulations.
As China’s oldest and largest bitcoin exchange, BTC China has always said it seeks to be open and compliant with any necessary regulations, so the new ID requirement is hardly surprising.
At the time of writing, its bitcoin price was listed as 4,778 CNY ($785).
Elsewhere
, one of the original bitcoin exchanges, and still one of the largest (despite its own regulatory headaches), has required ID with verificationhttps://www.mtgox.com/press_release_20130530.html for deposits and withdrawals in non-bitcoin currencies since May 2013.
Government fears of criminal activity involving large amounts of bitcoin and the abrupt closures of other, smaller exchanges have all led to a general reduction in anonymity for bitcoin users using online trading platforms.
Face-to-face trades of fiat currency for bitcoins via LocalBitcoins, Satoshi Squares and meetup groups, however, remain mostly anonymous and unregulated.
China Passport Image via Shutterstock
More For You
What to know:
- As of October 2025, GoPlus has generated $4.7M in total revenue across its product lines. The GoPlus App is the primary revenue driver, contributing $2.5M (approx. 53%), followed by the SafeToken Protocol at $1.7M.
- GoPlus Intelligence's Token Security API averaged 717 million monthly calls year-to-date in 2025 , with a peak of nearly 1 billion calls in February 2025. Total blockchain-level requests, including transaction simulations, averaged an additional 350 million per month.
- Since its January 2025 launch , the $GPS token has registered over $5B in total spot volume and $10B in derivatives volume in 2025. Monthly spot volume peaked in March 2025 at over $1.1B , while derivatives volume peaked the same month at over $4B.
More For You
Asia Morning Briefing: Bitcoin Drifts Near $89K as Traders Step Back and Balance Sheets Step In
FlowDesk sees fading post-Fed demand and low leverage, while Glassnode data show digital asset treasuries quietly resuming bitcoin accumulation in a range-bound market.
What to know:
- Bitcoin traded near $89,000 as liquidity thinned and demand faded following a recent Fed rate cut.
- Market caution persists with BTC and ETH retracing gains, while altcoins remain under pressure.
- Gold maintains near-record highs due to rate cuts and central bank demand, while Asian markets opened lower amid cautious investor sentiment.
Top Stories
