Why is Chinas stance on bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies watched so closely?
China's government would like to control the trading of BTC and alts, because they don't want people have a very simple way to send money overseas, which could be a systematic risk for China.
Not only china, almost all countries in the world would like to regulate the trading of bitcoin and other crypto currencies so that governments can track any illegal activities or terrorist funding going on around the country or overseas. Moreover, free trading of crypto currencies also posses threat to government as people dont pay their taxes on the amount the earn from the profits in crypto currencies. All countries want the transactions to be centralized and keep the record of overseas transaction to understand where the money is flowing and for what reason.