China ban on Bitcoin is getting real
Liu He, China’s Vice Premier stated last Friday about the government’s plan to put a stop or end to bitcoin mining and trading for the sake of achieving financial stability in the country. Even though Liu He did not elaborate much on the government plans. But Inner Mongolia has issued guidelines in the form of a draft for banning crypto mining. This is the first form of confirmation regarding a ban being imposed on Bitcoin by China.
As per the notice from Inner Mongolia’s Development and Reform Commission, big data centers and cloud computing companies will no longer have preferential policies from the government. Business licenses will be revoked or suspended for telecommunication companies, or internet firms if they have engaged previously with crypto mining. Anyone who will be found to indulge in money laundering through cryptocurrency will be reported over to the judicial authorities and any government employee if found guilty of using cryptocurrency will be sent over to the anti-corruption agency.
This draft will be open for public comment till June 1. And there is a chance that other provinces may also take similar regulatory measures, though not so drastic, as Bill Bishop, a veteran China analyst has commented.
The trade through cryptocurrency has been banned in China since 2017. However, the mining of the assets, virtual currencies, and Bitcoin has been in use for a long time now. If China imposes a ban on Bitcoin, then it could be a beginning of de-China-isation, as Wang Jong, an associate professor had predicted.
