China’s central bank which – also known as the People’s Bank of China – has announced an important achievement in decreasing the rate of online lending and suppressing the use of Bitcoin in the country.
While many countries remain sceptical of crypto or at least hold it at arms length some have gone out of their way to embrace it. Most famously El Salvador went all in on Bitcoin, choosing to replace its own nation currency the colón with the non-existent virtual coinage. A move that hasn’t gone well.
Perhaps even more remarkable however is China’s outright loathing of crypto and active measures to keep its use and rise firmly in check, effectively making it a no-go zone for the burgeoning wave of crypto and blockchain based gaming from the Far East and currently thriving globally.
Down with crypto
The Bank released a post on WeChat which reveals how it has spent the last five years trying to bring into law the advice and guidance of the country’s President Xi Jinping.
The Bank went on to state that it will continue to crack down on speculations of virtual currency trade in China. The country’s efforts to extinguish all signs of virtual currency trade have led to “China’s domestic Bitcoin trading volume dropping significantly in the world.”
The WeChat post also revealed that Chinese authorities arrested 93 individuals that were accused of laundering virtual currencies of up to $5.5 billion.
Despite placing a ban on cryptocurrency usage and mining some years ago, the country utilizes every opportunity it can to reinstate and remind people of it in these more crypto-tolerant and enlightened times. This despite Chinese courts ruling that crypto trading IS allowed, as long as they’re classed as virtual assets.
The People’s Bank released its post ahead of the forthcoming kick-off of the 20th National Congress of the Chinese Communist Party which is scheduled to take place on October 16th.
The event is where Xi is likely to be re-appointed for a record third term as President of China. It’s a milestone for Xi as no other previous Chinese head of state has served the country for that long. Being appointed for the third time will see Xi become China’s President for five more years.
Isa Muhammad is a writer and video game journalist covering many aspects of entertainment media including the film industry. He's steadily writing his way to the sharp end of journalism and enjoys staying informed. If he's not reading, playing video games or catching up on his favourite TV series, then he's probably writing about them.
