Cryptocurrencies recovered some of their losses after a turbulent weekend, floating up into the green following another session in which they were spooked by China.
On Sunday, the largest cryptocurrency bitcoin (BTC-USD) sank following reports Chinese social media site Weibo suspended “key opinion leaders” (KOL), reigniting fears of further crack down in the country.
By Monday midday, bitcoin was 1.6% up, to trade at $36,580.
Ethereum (ETH-USD) — the world’s second largest crypto by market cap — was more than 4.4% higher, by midday in London to trade at $2,831.
Meme-inspired dogecoin (DOGE-USD), which had lost as much as 6% over the weekend, ticked up 1.5%.
Weibo (WB), blocked some crypto influencer accounts on Saturday, Coindesk reported, citing violation of unspecified laws and Weibo community rules. However, accounts not involved in ads of exchanges have not been blocked, according to Chinese crypto journalist Colin Wu.
Read more: Bitcoin and other cryptos fall after Chinese social media site Weibo blocks
Further action from the country is expected which would link crypto more directly with criminal law, the Guardian reported, citing analysts and a financial regulator.
The country is testing its own digital currency, which could lead to ramped up regulation on crypto.
Watch: What are the risks of investing in cryptocurrencies?
Weibo’s action comes following a campaign by Chinese media to step up reporting against crypto trading.
This included reports from the Xinhua news agency on a number of crypto-related scams.
CCTV, the state broadcaster also said that, as an asset which sees light regulation, it is often used in black market trade.
The environmental impact of cryptos has also been a source of much concern lately and North American bitcoin miners are working to bring transparency to their energy consumption, through the Bitcoin Mining Council.
US financial services firm, Square announced on Saturday it will invest $5m to build a solar-powered Bitcoin mining facility at a Blockstream Mining site in America through a partnership with the blockchain technology provider.
Tesla (TSLA) boss Elon Musk also sparked a sell-off after saying the electric carmaker was abandoning plans to accept bitcoin as payment due to environmental concerns.
Watch: What is bitcoin?