Taobao to ban Bitcoin

Taobao.com, one of China's leading e-commerce platforms, will ban sales of virtual currencies including Bitcoin and related software on its platform starting from January 14, the company said on late Tuesday.

Taobao vendors should abide by regulations released by the People's Bank of China in December, which said that the country's financial and payment institutions should not accept Bitcoin as legal tender.

The price of a Bitcoin stood at 5,660 yuan ($935.03) on Bitcoin trading platform btcchina.com on Tuesday, and dropped to as low as 4,718.51 yuan on Wednesday.