On Friday, China stepped up its crackdown on virtual assets by banning all cryptocurrency transactions, in what has been noted as the country’s most powerful restriction on the sector so far. On Friday, the People’s Bank of China said in a statement that virtual currencies “are not legal and do not and cannot be used as currency in the market. “ They have the same legal prestige as fiat money, the central bank added, because they are issued through a non-monetary government and use encryption technology. The news caused bitcoin to fall to about $40,000 on Friday, a drop of…