China can’t make up its mind and no one is surprised. While the People’s Bank of China is intending to issue a blockchain fiat token, nobody can make heads or tails of the policy decisions coming out of Beijing otherwise.
China’s All Over The Place
On the one hand, it’s okay to hold cryptocurrency, as a Chinese judge ruled some months ago.
To this day, it’s technically illegal to spend or receive cryptocurrency in China.
Chinese exchanges have been under increased scrutiny.
Next time people tell you bitcoin is banned in China, show him this pic. pic.twitter.com/MC3Q2yzBcx
— cnLedger (@cnLedger) February 8, 2018
Just like the Internet itself, China’s primary interest will ultimately be in having a native version of the blockchain which it feels it ultimately has control of.
Companies like Tencent know well that the government can instill virtually any regulation it likes, with little legal protection encoded in the laws of the land.
All the same, China already has a few blockchain projects of its own, including NEO and Waltonchain. NEO, which began as Antpool some years ago, has a number of decentralized applications on its platform.
When Will China Make Up Its Mind?
China’s President Xi Jinping has previously said that he is in support of blockchain technologies. What he likely meant to say was that he is in favor of Chinese-native blockchain projects developing. As PYMNTS wrote:
“What might seem to be bullish news for bitcoin — on the face of it, anyway — was coolly received by those who trade bitcoin. Consider the fact that, at this writing, the price of bitcoin was actually down to about $9,311.”
China, as a government, has already utilized a few blockchain technologies including tracking probationers released into society.
NEO, sometimes called the “Ethereum of China,” has a number of wonderful decentralized applications via something called the O3 Desktop application.
The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of BitStarz News. BitStarz News employees may also have an active investment in any profiled products and/or companies.
