China has been casting its shadow on the price of cryptocurrencies in the past week.

The currency went into freefall on Friday, after reports that China was about to ban cryptocurrency exchanges.

Given that the Chinese government and its financial regulators had not released any abrupt regulations on bitcoin, Ethereum and the cryptocurrency market in general, bitcoin price was on an ideal trajectory towards achieving the interim targets of various prominent financial analysts including Max Keiser, who have altered their short-term price target from $5,000 to $10,000. BTC China, also one of China's three largest exchanges, and China's central bank did not immediately respond to Reuters' requests for comment.

A notice from the Banking Regulatory Committee led by the People's Bank of China announced on September 4 an immediate ban on ICOs. The country makes up 23% of Bitcoin trades and interestingly some of the world's biggest Bitcoin Miners are from China.

"Trading volume would definitely shrink, " said Zhou Shuoji, Beijing-based founding partner at FBG Capital, which invests in cryptocurrencies, Bloomberg reported.

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China's influence on global markets is not restricted to just traditional currencies, with the country's biggest exchanges accounting for a fifth of all transactions over the course of the past month.

The clampdown is seen as part of China's efforts to regain greater control over its own currency, the yuan, after the surge in bitcoin's price past year was attributed to eager Chinese buyers looking to sell yuan, fearing its collapse.

The price of Bitcoin dropped sharply after news about a crackdown on virtual currency exchanges emerged on Friday. As regulations tightened, China's share has slid to less than 30%. This is the second major Bitcoin price fall this past two weeks.

China's largest bitcoin exchanges are still awaiting clarification from the government following more media reports that Beijing is planning to ban trading of virtual currencies on domestic exchanges, but markets were largely subdued on Monday.

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