The Chinese government remains very negative for the time being cryptocurrencies as bitcoin (BTC). China’s central bank, the People’s Bank of China (PBoC), says virtual currencies like bitcoin are not legal tender and have no real value. This is reported by the Chinese 8BTCnews on August 27:
People’s Bank of China(PBoC): Virtual currencies such as #Bitcoin are not legal tender and have no actual value support
— 8BTCnews (@btcinchina) August 27, 2021
Yin Youping, deputy director of the Financial Consumer Rights Protection Bureau of the PBoC, says the following about crypto in the People’s Daily, the country’s largest (state) newspaper:
“We are reminding people once again that virtual currencies such as bitcoin are not legal tender and do not support real value. Virtual currency transactions are pure investment speculation, and the public should increase their awareness of the risk, consciously steer clear and protect their wallets.”
Youping also reveals that the central bank will continue to exert high pressure on the crypto sector and crack down on virtual currency transactions. He added that if the public finds evidence of illegal transactions, they should report it to the relevant authorities.
China has banned crypto since 2017, but this only applied to financial institutions and initial coin offerings (ICO’s). However, at the beginning of this summer, the country also began to take strict action against the bitcoin-mining industry in the country. Several provinces have now completely banned it and that led to a large migration of mining companies out of the country.
As a result, the hash rate, or computing power, of the bitcoin network took a heavy blow. The hash rate is slowly starting to recover with which China may in retrospect has only proved the power of the blockchain network. However, the Chinese central bank announced earlier this month that it won’t stop for the time being putting pressure on the crypto market. The crackdown is reportedly related to the upcoming digital yuan/renminbi.
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