The opinions on cryptocurrency are always interesting to keep an eye on. In China, it seems there is a growing movement against Bitcoin and outcomes. That situation may change soon, thanks to the new PBoC Chief. His recent statement of how “Bitcoin provides Freedom” is rather surprising.
The PBoC doesn’t have the best of relations with cryptocurrency. In fact, the bank has taken a rather aggressive stance on cryptocurrencies overall. Just last year, they prohibited all exchanges from providing CNY trading for this industry. It is a problematic development, albeit one most people saw coming.
The PBoC and Cryptocurrency
It now seems the tide is turning in favor of cryptocurrencies. More specifically, the PBoC is opening its payments market to foreign firms. That in itself is a surprise, as it has never happened before. Competition within the country between national and foreign firms is pretty interesting to keep an eye on. It also opens the door for cryptocurrency firms in general.
More importantly, the new PBoC chief Yi Gang is quite positive about Bitcoin. In his opinion, this new currency provides freedom to everyone who uses it. Not the type of comment one would expect from an official in this position. Additionally, he also claims how the world’s leading cryptocurrency is transparent. This rebuts some earlier assumptions about Bitcoin being anonymous.
The big question is whether or not this spells a positive future for Bitcoin in China. Right now, it seems unlikely much will change. Even so, things are changing rapidly within China’s financial industry. That can only be considered to be a good thing in general. More competition will benefit consumers in the end. We may very well see a more open-minded approach to cryptocurrency in the near future.
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