China central bank urges rational investment in bitcoin

[January 06, 2017]  BEIJING (Reuters) - China's institutional and individual investors should take a rational approach to investing in virtual currencies such as bitcoin, the central bank said on Friday.

A Bitcoin logo is displayed at the Bitcoin Center New York City in New York's financial district, U.S. on July 28, 2015. REUTERS/Brendan McDermid/File Photo

Bitcoin prices had showed abnormal fluctuations, the Shanghai head office of the People's Bank of China (PBOC) said in a notice.

This prompted branch officials to meet representatives of a major bitcoin trading platform in China, BTCC.

They cautioned against potential risks in the platform's operations and asked it to carry out "self-inspection" according to the law, the bank said.

It stressed bitcoin is not a currency and cannot be circulated as a real currency in the market.

(Reporting by Yawen Chen and Kevin Yao; Editing by Clarence Fernandez)

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