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© 2021 AFPChina declares all cryptocurrency transactions illegal
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dagon
China's central bank on Friday said all financial transactions involving cryptocurrencies are illegal, sounding the death knell for the digital trade in China after a crackdown on the volatile currencies.
The whales are stabilizing the prices now but it is a major step. In keeping with the Party wanting total control. I wouldn't put it beyond them to create a state sanctioned version of digital currency sometime in the future though.
isoducky
Interesting. China’s housing market is crashing, the Macau and the casino’s are staring at a crackdown, and crypto has been made illegal. Looks like China is pulling an internal cash grab.
kwatt
Because CCP can't control such cryptocurrencies at all so such money are banned. Xi hates extremely rich people using cryptocurrencies to make more money.
GBR48
BitCoin is NOT a digital currency. It is a digital commodity like NFTs.
A digital currency can easily be pegged to a national currency limiting volatility, and does not need to be 'mined' with the ensuing environmental hit. Movement of digital currency no more needs to be tracked than banknotes and coinage have been for over a century. It can move around using distributed, secure wallets, allowing those in countries with lousy currencies, lousy economies or lousy governments to protect their cash by holding it in a stable denomination like the USD or Yen.
There is no reason why governments should have the right to control and micro-manage every aspect of our lives. Chinese levels of dictatorial overreach combined with regimes whitelisting what we can do, what we can buy and what we can surf to, are a twisted fascist fantasy that generations of our ancestors fought wars to avoid us being subjected to. If the Chinese dislike or fear a technology, we should embrace it.
The antagonism towards BitCoin of people who don't buy it, use it or have anything to do with it is bizarre. Are they jealous that some people have made money by trading it? Upset that others have lost money? Well, that's how the stock markets work. Are they just shills for dictatorial government perhaps, or just engaging in a bout of moral panic?
Governments can prosecute criminals successfully without turning our society into an Orwellian dystopia. There have been successful and large seizures by LEAs of BitCoin held by criminal gangs.
Met Police seize record £180m of cryptocurrency in London. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-57816644
If Xi has frozen or erased the value of Chinese-held BitCoin, then he has added many more people to the cumulative number that his Communist purity drive has impoverished. Even a 'glorious leader' can only make so many enemies before he is replaced, by one means or another. And given his crackdown on multiple sectors that underpinned growth in China, are foreign entities who have invested there considering pulling out?
The immediate impact of the ban was a fall in value, but it may be good for BitCoin. It could increase the value, as 70% of 'miners' are Chinese. As with any commodity, as the mining goes down, the availability and value may go up. Chinese influence over BitCoin was holding it back from global/Western acceptance. Xi has now removed that concern.
Strangerland
Copies of the private key in a safe deposit box.
YuriOtani
China is doing the right thing and the rest of the world needs to do the same thing. This "currency" is causing lots of problems from pollution to criminal transfers of money.
Strangerland
Unless you’re smart enough to leave a will.
Peter Neil
Banks and their credit cards, debit cards and Wall Street stockbrokers and peddlers of junk "securities" can't make any money off you when you use or invest in crypto currencies.
It'll eventually be banned by the US and European countries. The owners of the economy won't allow it.
You have to remember that crypto is based on nothing. It's created out of thin air. Oh, wait, so are all other currencies...
Yeah, but, but, the men in suits can't have people bartering for goods or services on their own. They need to control it, uh, you.
Strangerland
How do you know?
Strangerland
A deadbeat relative could steal money from your bank too. It happens all the time. Your point is irrelevant.
Strangerland
Are the pass keys (whatever they are called since I don't use cryptocoin) included on the will? In plain text?
No, in the safety deposit box. Or with a lawyer etc. This really isn’t hard. Maybe you should spend some time looking into it.
GBR48
Sorry, typo - mining goes down, availability declines and value may go up.
kwatt
I've heard young sons/daughters of very rich fathers of CEO are now using cryptocurrencies to make more money. It seems they buy very nice Benz/BMW/Ferrari and others for such currencies, not fathers money.
quercetum
This is perfect for those who wish not to engage with China. If the rest of the world is embracing crypto, then China will be left behind.
Strangerland
If anything this makes Bitcoin a good investment now. Crypto currencies aren’t going anywhere, and the price will only rise.
For those of you that have a problem with Bitcoin and supposedly are for democracy, the power of. Bitcoin should be more apparent now by the fear it puts in the CCP. They hate it because it gives power to the common man by removing the banks and government from oversight of their money.
Strangerland
I don’t know who this popescu is, but it sounds like they made a mistake. I don’t see how their mistake invalidates the value of cryptocurrencies. What you seem to be criticizing is a feature that gives them value - the government can’t control your crypto money.
Strangerland
What is the goal of the "non-crypto crowd"? Do they have a goal?
Hiro
I am glad china is doing something about it. I am sick of seeing spam messages everywhere on the net promoting bitcoin and how everyone can get rich by doing nothing at home.
Legrande
This story apparently originated with Bloomberg...meanwhile big institutions are scooping up Bitcoin behind the scenes...
[ Bloomberg, the anti-bitcoin publisher of the pre-internet age, has sent out outright fake ‘breaking news’ that sent bitcoin’s price down by $2,000 from $45,000 to $43,000.
As can be seen above Bloomberg said, without linking to a source, “the Chinese central bank says all cryptocurrency-related transactions are illegal.”
That’s false. What China’s central bank said is just a re-iteration of what they said in 2017. Published on September 15th, PBOC stated:
“Virtual currency-related business activities are illegal financial activities. Carrying out legal currency and virtual currency exchange business, exchange business between virtual currencies, buying and selling virtual currencies as a central counterparty, providing information intermediary and pricing services for virtual currency transactions, token issuance financing, virtual currency derivatives transactions and other virtual currency related Business activities suspected of illegal sale of tokens and tickets, unauthorized public issuance of securities, illegal operation of futures business, illegal fund-raising and other illegal financial activities are strictly prohibited and resolutely banned in accordance with the law. Those who carry out related illegal financial activities constitute a crime shall be investigated for criminal responsibility in accordance with the law.”
This has been their position for five years and nothing has changed except they say people in China that aid overseas companies that provide crypto services to the Chinese may be investigated. Again, what you’d expect. ]
YeahRight
And El Salvador named it its legal currency.
https://theconversation.com/bitcoin-is-now-legal-tender-in-el-salvador-heres-what-that-means-167099
theFu
I'm torn about BC and other crypto-currencies. China isn't wrong.
They left out that the CCP high-ups don't get their cut of the fraud.
And that complete texts of what the CCP considers subversive material have been placed onto the BC blockchain which must be replicated to participate. All those people doing BC (and many other crypto-currencies) have these texts on their systems, which is illegal in CCP-China and now in the SARs too.
The blockchain is decentralized, so there isn't any central power that can stop it and recording transactions. In the comment for a micro-transaction, put any text you like and it will be replicated across the world AND guaranteed to be unmodified. That's a key aspect. For China, like all repressive govts, it isn't all about the money. It is also about controlling information.
India isn't happy either - because transfers from overseas skip the Indian govt taxes. Same for Turkey and some other countries. Tax avoidance is illegal, so they all have a point.
While transactions aren't anonymous with BC, the wallet holding some BC can be. As long as the BC is used to trade with other anonymous BC wallets and nobody in either chain can be traced, it is difficult to tell who bought what. But try to make 0.00001BC into USD - and a real name, person, will become uncovered. The larger the transaction size, the more likely the person accepting the payment will know who the other person actually is, in the real world. Pressure can be applied.
On the other end of the spectrum is Ecuador, which has made BC legal currency.
theFu
If you keep all your eggs in 1 basket, with trivial access, then you should expect them to be stolen. I have multiple wallets. Each has multiple copies and simple (for me) 2FA required to access them - inside other encryption. They aren't on any running computing device when they aren't actively used.
Ingvar
Cryptocurrencies are the epitome of gambling. Even the most fervent of cryptocurrency enthusiasts admit there are no hard assets behind them. National currencies in theory have gold, other minerals, industry and etc behind them.
Peter Neil
Wait, so Peter Gabriel, who's lyrics you copied, is a totalitarian songwriter/singer?
JeffLee
China was the only major economy to avoid the 2008 global financial crisis. The reason was state ownership of the major financial institutions and its harsh, zero-tolerance treatment of the private sector ones. That's a great strategy and it's in line with its latest stance on Bitcoin. It is def. doing the right thing.
SuperLib
Bitcoin is bigger than China. I have it as part of my portfolio with a 10-20 year hold.
FtGuy2017
You are so wrong and obviously need to learn more about crypto, blockchains are recording all transactions from the genesis block, and, unlike banks and USD, transactions are exposed and available to everyone so nothing can beat blockchain for traceability, any exchange to CRYPTO back to USD fiat can trace all the path of the crypto should they want to. As for the economy, you are obviously not aware of all the decentralized finance economy which is growing very fast around the blockchain and smart contracts.
GdTokyo
So that is why cyber terrorists, ransomware thieves and narcs all demand payment in Bit Coin.....Because it is so eminently traceable..... Right......
Peter14
Not even close to being true.
Countries that avoided the financial crisis and who's economies continued to grow while the majority of the world experienced recession.
Australia, Bolivia, China, Columbia, India, Indonesia, Moldova, Poland, Slovakia, South Korea and Uruguay.
China will need to reverse its decision eventually as the rest of the world will continue to utilize digital currencies and further develop security around them. It can be left behind or it can rejoin the world.
El Rata
https://cointelegraph.com/news/crypto-has-recovered-from-china-s-fud-nearly-two-dozen-times-in-the-last-12-years
In the crypto community " China bans crypto, again" basically refers to any FUD coming from China.
Peter Neil
No, they do not. You don't know what you're talking about.
Peter Neil
How does that differ from western governments?
theFu
What? Use bitcoin when it makes sense. Don't use it when it doesn't.
A govt not being able to seize money has always been an issue. People bury cash that isn't found if they want to keep it away from the govt. For the amount of money that 99.99% of individuals have, govt doesn't really need to grab their cash. Taking their home and other assets is just as good.
The vast majority of countries do a poor job of managing their national currencies. Some get to the point where they throw out their own currency and standardize on USD instead.
Even large countries have terrible currency management - just look at any place with hyper-inflation the last 20 yrs. I spent 3 weeks in Argentina during a hyper inflation period. We would only convert from USD the money we needed for 1 day at a local ATM. Locals had their pay adjusted up monthly and would try to get hard assets ASAP for any money they didn't spend the week they were paid, because the next week, it could be worth 30% less. In those locations BC would be extremely helpful for the regular people who need to buy food next week, even with the volatility of BC valuation. It is still better than their local currency.
Money is just a tool. Anything has an agreed value which can be traded. BC can be convenient OR very difficult to spend. But it is really easy to transfer to anyone else in the world - 1-to-1 with very small fees, unlike the 3-4.5% we pay to use credit cards.
sf2k
well if China closes all the crypto servers in China that should cripple the ridiculous hobby that never made any sense on a planet with finite resources.
nishikat
If Crypto is so great then how do can it be passed down through inheritance? Just ask Mircea Popescu. If you have a locked bank account with real currency the probate judge can force the bank to unlock it then it goes to who has a right to it. Crypto? It's gone man!
GdTokyo
Crypto "currencies" are unregulated, untraceable vehicles, not for exchanging goods and services or as a store of wealth, but as a means for drug traffickers, money launderers, cyber terrorists, human traffickers and general criminals to cover their tracks. The most charitable version is that it is a vehicle for currency speculators. Hardly adding value to an economy.
At least as a fiat currency, the USD has the full faith and credit (admittedly going down at the moment....) and the ability of a central bank to regulate it and the budgetary authority to tax it.
Not normally one to side with the totalitarians in Beijing, but I think they made the right call here.
El Rata
Haha China bans crypto... like for the 10th time. Isn't there a different FUD script already?
Crypto is here to stay and blockchain is the new internet, people will be using it without even knowing it. Don't want to get on board? No worries, enjoy being a wage slave for the rest of your life.
sourpuss
Will Bitcoin et al ever achieve global dominance? Governments are developing their own crypto-currencies and will look to regulate Bitcoin. They need to control money. China is the just first big mover on this, but definitely not the last.
Is Bitcoin a scam? The wrong people have bought up oodles of it for speculation and use their position to talk it up and down just like Elon Musk. Dogecoin? He has made a killing using (abusing) his soapbox and the unfortunate people who are the fair-weather crypto buyers fall right into this kind of trap. Anyone who says "it's a great way to build inter-generational wealth" or "you're missing out on the biggest opportunity" is doing exactly this. They got in early and want more people to buy it and thus drive up the price. Similar to how pyramid schemes work. Crypto gurus are generally either scam-artists. Intelligent or not, they don't have your best interests in mind.
People who say, "you need to read up more" or "you don't understand" have probably bought into some crypto guru psycho-babble. They deny any nuanced take on crypto. No reasoned arguments can reach them.
I'm sure the original Bitcoin developer had different motives, but the way it is being used and abused means that it's no more of a sure thing than any other "investment" these days.
The most reasoned crypto-buyers are hobbyists who aren't in it for speculation, rather they enjoy playing around with the new technology and actively use it to buy things or pay each other. They are not keeping it to make money, and will probably not try to sell you on it.
Buyer be aware. Make sure you're not buying it for FOMO on speculation and to make big bucks. That's not what it was made for.
lostrune2
Remember when China wanted its own digital currency? Lol
Legrande
https://cointelegraph.com/news/crypto-has-recovered-from-china-s-fud-nearly-two-dozen-times-in-the-last-12-years
In the crypto community " China bans crypto, again" basically refers to any FUD coming from China.
Exactly. As usual uninformed people speaking off the top of their heads.
From the article-
[ The events have a ring to them — in September 2017, the original “ban” announcement sent Bitcoin tumbling, only to recover to its original levels within weeks and set a new all-time high of $20,000 less than three months later.
The fact was not lost on long-time market participants, including those on social media, where the China news had initially resurfaced and sparked panic. ]
Strangerland
I can't say - I'm not "pro" or "anti" crypto. It would be like being for or against sand. It's there, and it's not going anywhere, and no one could get rid of it even if they tried. So all the people who hate crypto currencies: ok. So? If you don't like it, don't use it. It's very, very easy.
Strangerland
And you think you can somehow get rid of crytpcurrencies?
Strangerland
Yes, the government should impose laws to have oversight of people's money. The people cannot be allowed to have control of their money without government oversight, right? More government intervention into private citizens' affairs is the way government should be moving right? The CCP is how other governments should be modeling their behavior, right?
kurisupisu
I’m actively buying as the price falls…
GBR48
-The goal is to retain monetary sovereignty over our national currencies so that our governments have the full range of fiscal and monetary tools to deal with any economic crises, natural disasters etc.
Digital currencies do not affect monetary sovereignty over national currencies in any way. They are additional pan-national currencies that give citizens the opportunity to bank their cash in an alternative, or another nation's currency, because their government is hopelessly corrupt or incompetent. They do not interfere with the control a government has over its own currency at all.
Crypto is a commodity not a currency. Unless you want to trade in a volatile commodity, you should avoid it.
I do find it quaint that there are people out there that trust their governments, given the mess they make of almost everything, the enormous debts they rack up, the wars they start, the civil rights they abuse, and their high levels of corruption. Or maybe these people are being paid to post these comments, by their governments.
Kyo wa heiwa dayo ne
Iam not a fan of cryptocurrency .
Not fond of China too much either.
Bit surprised China would ban cryptocurrency.
Money laundering and fraud is huge in China.
Kyo wa heiwa dayo ne
China wants only one digital currency that the government controls and no paper money.
Kyo wa heiwa dayo ne
Iam so surprised that people still think they actually own their money.
You don't actually own it anyway.
But you can own gold.
The Avenger
At the end of the day with Tulips at least you had a pretty flower.
A 'digital currency' is not the same as a 'crypto' currency of the Bitcoin type. A cryptocurrency is supposed to be out of the control of state banks, for China where everything is about the control of the CCP that's just impossible.
Strangerland
Which requires government oversight and bank fees. The lack of these is the value behind cryptocurrencies. So while your correct that cryptocurrencies don’t have these, it’s like saying a motorcycle is no good because you can’t carry cargo like a truck. People aren’t buying a motorcycle in place of a truck. Same as Cryptocurrencies provide an alternate type of valur from standard fiat currencies. You’re complaining that they don’t do the same thing, when the whole point of them is not to do the same thing.
Strangerland
I don't think they've ever made it illegal before. They made mining illegal a few months ago, that's the only thing I can think of.
Jacobo
China shoots herself in the foot.
Jacobo
M3M3M3
The goal is to retain monetary sovereignty over our national currencies so that our governments have the full range of fiscal and monetary tools to deal with any economic crises, natural disasters etc. If everyone starts using a currency we have no control over, we will end up like Greece during the Euro crisis.
M3M3M3
You can't get rid of them but you can prevent the negative effects of widespread adoption by making their use illegal. Most people tend to abide by the law.
starpunk
In a theorectical way, it's logical. Under the Communist totalitarian way which the government controls everything anyway, having something like cryptocurrency (which would be working outside the realm of the Party control) would be contradictory to the totalitarian principals and ideals. Everything has to be under the watch, gaze and thumb of the CCP and anything outside of that would be verboten.
starpunk
In a totalitarian nation the ruling party runs everything. It's all
One doubt
One voice
One war
One truth
One dream.
Everything within the state, nothing outside the state. That's how it is in Communist China, Myanmar, and other totalitarian states - western, eastern, past and present.
starpunk
No. He's remarking that that is how those governments work. He's remarking about their twisted ugly ideologies. Peter Gabriel is making a commentary, he's smart. He has long been an advocate for freedom and human rights.
nishikat
You get a lot more protections from the bank and the government insurance authority. Again, what about probate? Is is really smart to print those keys on the will in plain text? How will Mircea Popescu's Coin be recovered? With Crypto Coin one wrong move and your Coin is gone forever. With real currency you have backup systems in place to manage it legally.
nishikat
If someone breaks in there and steals those keys your Coin is gone.
M3M3M3
What does Bitcoin have to do with promoting democracy? It's quite the opposite. If the people vote to raise taxes on the wealthy or financial speculators, how will we enforce this against those with encrypted assets? If I win a court judgement against someone who's harmed me, how can I seize the assets I'm entitled to under law?
In reality, Bitcoin damages democracy by eroding he power of taxation and legal enforcement from the people. You may not like being taxed and regulated by others, bit that's what society and democracy have always been about.
sdf_crew_member
I wouldn't really care if crypto exists or not if it would use ASICs to mine. Crypto is the main reason of insane graphics cards prices today and probably the future disaster for related industries e.g. computer components.
Strangerland
Really? I'm curious as to your reasoning behind this. What requirement that defines a currency do cryptocurrencies not meet, and what requirement that defines a commodity do they meet?
nishikat
And you have a deadbeat relative who steals the key?
Are the pass keys (whatever they are called since I don't use cryptocoin) included on the will? In plain text?
Mircea Popescu did. Billions reported. Now he's gone (drowned) and so is his Coin. There is one confirmed report of it. What are the crypto people personally on JT doing to make sure their Coin can get handed down when they die. For conventional currency even if you don't have a will, it goes somewhere in a legal process and a legal path to who has a right to it. It doesn't disappear in thin air like with Mircea Popescu. Popescu disappeared in the water and so did his billions (with a "B") in Coin. Ain't coming back.
Wakarimasen
Extremely rich people mostly dont care about crypto.
PharaohChromium
Oh look, it's this story again. And the uneducated still flock to the comment section to feel vindicated for never buying in.
goldnugget
Ever tried it? Please educate yourself, Crypto has been around a long time, we are reaping the rewards now!
It's a great asset for wealth creation.