China to ‘maintain a high-pressure situation’ on crypto, official says

Published at: Aug. 27, 2021

China has reportedly doubled down on its crypto crackdown with a public reminder stating that Bitcoin (BTC) and other digital currencies “are not legal tender and have no actual value.”

In a local media briefing, Yin Youping, the deputy director of the Financial Consumer Rights Protection Bureau of the People’s Bank of China (PBoC), said the central bank will maintain a “high-pressure situation” and continue to crack down on digital currency-related transactions.

At the briefing session, which was coincidently held during China’s “Financial Knowledge Popularization Month,” Youping stated that digital currency-related transactions are pure investment hype. Youping said that the public should increase its risk awareness and stay away from crypto investments.

Despite the government’s continued prosecution of the crypto industry, Youping cited the possibility of a rebound in crypto trading operations in China. As a countermeasure, the PBoC will work with local authorities to detect traders using offshore crypto exchanges and, as a result, will increase efforts to block trading websites, apps and corporate channels.

The PBoC is reportedly working with the China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission to develop systems for monitoring and combating the use of digital currencies. 

Related: Chinese province to cut off Bitcoin miners from hydropower stations

In addition to the pressures laid down by the PBoC, local governments in China have also started taking proactive measures to stop crypto activities. Regulators from Yingjiang County have asked hydropower plants to cut the power supply for crypto miners in the area.

Powerplants have also been asked to notify the National Development and Reform Commission after delisting crypto miners from their respective grids. While Chinese miners continue to settle abroad in countries with crypto-friendly regulations, China has reportedly started to redirect the saved electricity to build infrastructure for electric cars.

Tags
Bitcoin
Regulation
China
Cryptocurrency Investment
Related Posts
OTC crypto shops flood Hong Kong, but regulations may impact their presence
Hong Kong, one of the most significant and leading financial centers in the world, has played a large role in the development of cryptocurrencies. For instance, the Chinese territory has birthed some of the most established and successful crypto companies to date including the crypto derivatives exchange FTX, along with the digital asset platform Crypto.com. Yet, as trillions of dollars are traded regularly through crypto exchanges founded in Hong Kong, the “Vertical City” also contains an abundance of physical over-the-counter crypto shops as well. Henri Arslanian, PwC crypto lead and former chairman of the Fintech Association of Hong Kong, told …
Bitcoin / Oct. 24, 2021
CoinEx crypto exchange to remove all mainland China users in October
CoinEx cryptocurrency exchange is winding down operations in mainland China to comply with local anti-crypto regulations. The company officially announced on Thursday that it was going to completely retire user accounts verified as mainland China citizens as well as those linked to a mobile phone number from mainland China. The exchange has asked mainland China-based users to withdraw their crypto assets from the platform before Oct. 31, 2021. CoinEx then plans to disable accounts with zero assets starting from Thursday, Sept. 30. “All access will no longer be available to your accounts,” the exchange stated. Despite CoinEx’s aggressive measures to …
Bitcoin / Sept. 30, 2021
A trade war misstep? China is vacating crypto battlefield to US banks
At the same time that China has declared war on cryptocurrencies, giant American banks appear to be embracing crypto — evident the final week of July with the news that crypto firm Lukka will provide State Street Bank’s private fund’s clients with digital and crypto asset fund administration services. This follows forays into the crypto space from the likes of BNY Mellon, JPMorgan, Citigroup and Goldman Sachs among traditional bank heavyweights. Is it too early to speak of trend and counter-trend? And if a trade war has broken out between the United States and China, as many believe, why is …
Bitcoin / July 30, 2021
Bitcoin hash rate rebounds as major miners are coming back online
China’s stringent crypto regulations meant closing shop for many Chinese businesses within the Bitcoin (BTC) mining ecosystem. The sudden disappearance of Bitcoin miners from the grid has resulted in falling hash rates. The hashing performance, the cumulative computing power of the Bitcoin network, dropped from an all-time high of 180 exahashes per second (EH/s) to 84 EH/s in just 21 days. While the hash rate drop was directly attributable to the drop in the number of Chinese miners, Blockchain.com Explorer data suggests there has been a steady increase in mining difficulty since June 3. Since the drop, the hash rate …
Bitcoin / July 29, 2021
China: Veteran Regulator Tells Sichuan to Tap Hydropower for Blockchain
A veteran Chinese regulator has told those tasked with steering the strategic development of Sichuan province to tap surplus hydropower for the blockchain industry. Jiang Yang — former vice-chairman of the China Securities Regulatory Commission — advised strategists that: “Sichuan should study further about how the province’s cheap hydropower resources can attract digital currency-related businesses.” Yang’s remarks were noted in an Oct. 30 report from South China Morning Post. Use cryptocurrency mining to absorb excess output Sichuan, located in south-western China, has a protracted rainy season and is thus the country’s biggest producer of hydropower. In 2018 alone, the province …
Blockchain / Oct. 31, 2019