The People’s Bank of China has issued an official document this...

The People’s Bank of China has issued an official document this Thursday (5) regarding the statute of the cryptocurrency in the country. The regulator announced that although it doesn’t consider Bitcoin a threat to the country’s financial system and it won’t forbid the trading made by “ordinary people”, it still believes Bitcoin carries risks to financial institutions.
Based on this, the authority decided to forbid any connection between digital currency and the Chinese banks and other similar institutions. In a document published on the People’s Bank of China’s website, it’s possible to read that, “at this stage, financial and payment-processing institutions are not allowed to trade Bitcoin”.
However, the bank didn’t ban trading platforms like the world’s leader BtcChina, but is now making them register with the proper authorities. Besides, user anonymity is not permitted anymore, so the cryptocurrency exchanges operating in China now must request identification documents from their customers. The companies also have to report any suspicious transactions to the authorities, in order to prevent illegalities and money laundering.

http://bitcoinexaminer.org/china-considers-bitcoin-a-virtual-good-and-forbids-banks-of-dealing-with-cryptocurrency/

A 'first shot across the bow'...and to the Chinese way of things...a first warning?

I remain agnostic as to the future Bitcoins hold as a true form of currency, and still question the decision by SMA to be involved. It seems a convenient way to 'mask' the lower than anticipated growth in their core business?

Cheers