When Chinese regulators banned financial institutions from doing business with Bitcoin exchanges last month, the move was thought by many to spell the end for the virtual currency in China. Would-be buyers were told they would no longer be able to transfer cash on to exchanges via digital payment platforms, in effect making it impossible to buy Bitcoins.

“In the darkest hours we thought everything was going to come crashing down and the game was over,” said Bobby Lee, co-founder of BTC China, one of the country’s top exchanges.

But China’s Bitcoin brigades have defied that gloomy outlook to start the new year much as they left off 2013 – with a dominant share of global transactions in the virtual currency.

Read the full article in The Financial times here.