Submitted via IRC for SoyCow5743
When the Chinese government announced a ban on initial coin offerings last week, it looked like an attempt to rein in the speculative excesses of the cryptocurrency economy. But now it seems like it might have been the start of something more ambitious: a coordinated campaign to shut down use of cryptocurrency in the Middle Kingdom.
The full extent of the Chinese crackdown isn't clear yet, in part because key decisions have only been communicated privately to Chinese Bitcoin exchanges. But a couple of Bitcoin exchanges have now announced that they are shutting down. And leaked documents suggest that the rest will be required to do so before the end of the month. Chinese users will be given a chance to withdraw their funds before the exchanges shut down.
"BTCChina encourages customers to withdraw their funds as quickly as possible," one of the exchanges wrote in a Friday tweet. "Customers can withdraw their funds whenever they want."
Bitcoin has always been something of an awkward fit for China, which strictly regulates financial markets and limits the flow of funds overseas. Chinese officials have apparently concluded that Bitcoin has become too popular as a way to circumvent those regulations.
Source: https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2017/09/china-may-be-getting-ready-to-ban-bitcoin/
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Previously: It Seems China is Shutting Down its Blockchain Economy
(Score: 2, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday September 17 2017, @03:55PM (2 children)
Few years ago we had the same situation, that China banned bitcoin and related currencies (price crashed due to all the FUD). Now they do it again? For how long?
My guess is that Chinese in good positions want to have this FUD again to buy in at lower prices.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday September 17 2017, @04:12PM
Yes, how many times are they going to do this? This is why when they say "China will ban gas cars by 2040", etc it is difficult to take seriously. Maybe the word being translated as "ban" has a different meaning than in English?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday September 17 2017, @04:48PM
I guess its possible for for a few key individuals to influence public policy for their own benefit, but otherwise FUD to drive prices down seems pretty ridiculous for the entire Chinese government. Cracking down on individuals using BTC to circumvent rules seems MUCH more likely.
(Score: 2, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday September 17 2017, @04:16PM (1 child)
Is that China just wants to know who is doing what with the money, same as ISP's requiring real ID's etc.
Once the government comes up with some rules so they can track who is buying/selling bitcoins they will authorise exchanges to reopen.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday September 18 2017, @02:11AM
The reason Bitcoin is so popular in China is that China has draconian currency control measures. Citizens are not allowed to take more than 20,000 yuan (~$3,050) outside of the country.
Of course that's hardly enough money to do much of anything, so everybody violates it - and Bitcoin has been one of the most effective ways of doing so. The point being is that if China somehow manages to begin to be able to physically track bitcoin exchanges, then it loses its utility.
(Score: -1, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday September 17 2017, @04:53PM (7 children)
Cryptocurrencies may be used to destabilize a country. I think that is what is happening. China is in the crosshairs of the jewish conspirators who want to destabilize it and take what belongs to the Chinese. The American dollar is falling and going out of dominance. The Americans under jewish conspiratorial guidance want to return total control to the American dollar.
(Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday September 17 2017, @05:04PM (4 children)
Hey conspiratard! Yeah you, racist fucking MORON!
The whole middle east situation is about control of energy, and the US spends a shit ton of money on Israel in order to maintain a military (and nuclear) presence. This "omgerd der jeeeeewws" is a fucking tired meme pushed by the dregs left over from the 40's.
(Score: -1, Offtopic) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday September 17 2017, @05:18PM (2 children)
Why are boys' cocks surgically reconstructed by obstetrician/gynecologists?
Because two Jews (an OB/GYN, and an engineer) created the GOMCO clamp and tenaciously promoted circumcision as an OB/GYN "service".
You don't need an explicit conspiratorial cabal in the traditional sense; a shared culture, and a strong work ethic achieve the same effect.
When Jews are on the correct side of an issue, they are a fantastic asset; when Jews are on the wrong side of an issue, they are menace to the species.
(Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday September 17 2017, @05:53PM (1 child)
No fucking shit, ditto the Germans, ditto the Japanese, ditto the Russians / Chinese / Saudi Arabians / Swedes / Spaniards / Ugandans / do I need to continue?
You're a total and complete git.
(Score: 2) by maxwell demon on Sunday September 17 2017, @06:56PM
You mean he can be used for version control? :-)
The Tao of math: The numbers you can count are not the real numbers.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday September 17 2017, @06:19PM
What are you hiding behind, JIDF warrior?
Did you hear that oil is being replaced with batteries? When there is low usage of oil for the world, the American dollar will go permanently. China is moving away from the American dollar and oil too, and hence the destabilization attempts at China. The jewish scum does not like its permanent supply of money going dry, hence the cryptocurrencies hype and then the Chinese blocking them.
Also, did you hear that crypto currencies are also Fiat currencies and have nothing backing them? They can go away in one night. You of all people should know that, jew rat.
Everybody, expose the jew for the jew does not like it.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday September 17 2017, @08:10PM
LOL pal, do you think china got western technology all by themselves? europe raised the usa and the ussr, they raised china, china is raising africa. eu will be the new africa. We have always been at war with eastasia.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday September 18 2017, @02:09AM
I'm not certain bitcoins were a major consideration in BRICS' decision to move away from the US dollar after the riots next year. The major concern was the capability to buy oil without being tied to a dying empire's currency.
As we all learned one winter morning in 2025, that dying empire would rather be the last empire for maybe 1,000 years than allow another empire to usurp its crown.
UNLESS
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday September 17 2017, @05:39PM (3 children)
Currency manipulation is kind of their thing. They have seen its potential and want to lower prices so they can allow bitcoin again but not before snapping up a bunch of it.
(Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday September 17 2017, @11:01PM (2 children)
Currency stability is kind of their thing. They have seen how bubbly its getting and dont want the average Chinaman losing his shirt.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday September 18 2017, @03:23AM (1 child)
Mmmhmmm
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday September 18 2017, @02:16PM
Well their 5 yearly love in is just around the corner. Thats the critical time for them to show how smoothly everything is running. Better to force a little crash now and show they are on top of things than risk something 'unexpected' happening later.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by looorg on Sunday September 17 2017, @06:13PM
https://www.coinbase.com/charts [coinbase.com]
I don't know if this is good value chart in general but it's the first one that came up in a search so lets just assume it's at least an ok metric for a discussion. If the Chinese announced this about a week or so ago, there has been a sharp drop in value right afterwards. Certainly so from the peak of almost $5k at the beginning of the month (Sep, 2017). So for the month it might look somewhat dire. If one just changes the perspective to a one year perspective even with the drop this month it is still up massively, a yearly increase as I write this of about 530% in value.
Question might be what happens if the Chinese ban is a permanent ban, will the mining and exchanges just move to some other nation or is this a real and actual blow to the market? Will usage go away or are they just going to try and use some other cryptocurrency besides bitcoin, I'm not quite sure from the article if it's all cryptocurrencies or if its just bitcoins. One would assume this is just the Chinese government trying to assert control of their resources, they could have large problems with money laundering and other fraudulent activities they are trying to crack down on. Question is if it's just a ban or are they sweeping the competition? Lots of national banks are toying with the idea of their own cryptolike or electronic currencies. E-Yuan or whatever they might like to call it if it becomes a reality. If they control it all then it might be a dream from a knowledge standpoint, expect them to be able to follow every little transaction, no anonymity what so ever.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by fritsd on Sunday September 17 2017, @06:17PM
I see more and more advertisements to buy bitcoin, like "this boy bought $15 worth of bitcoin and now he's a millionaire".
I think that means, that somebody is willing to spend good advertising money, in order to convince suckers to buy BTC, IOW that they want to get rid of them ASAP.
Maybe smart people calculated that the bubble's going to burst soon.
(Score: 2) by JoeMerchant on Sunday September 17 2017, @06:36PM
Effectively, this is China following New York in regulating physical presence of BTC exchanges.
Not even the great firewall can stop BTC from crossing (in encrypted forms, steganographic forms, etc.)
🌻🌻 [google.com]
(Score: 2) by maxwell demon on Sunday September 17 2017, @07:01PM (1 child)
The interesting question is: Will they withdraw their funds as Yuan, or will they withdraw them as Bitcoin?
The Tao of math: The numbers you can count are not the real numbers.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday September 17 2017, @07:35PM
Yes, this may lead to a bubble like never seen as chinese investors/traders try to get the last easily available btc over there until this is sorted out. Can all of china wait until the end of the year? BTC might be double or triple the price by then... Of course it could go the other way too but generally there is infinite yuan/dollars/fiat and limited btc so people prefer to grab it while they can.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday September 17 2017, @11:00PM (1 child)
It is easy to move cash into China.
If you have BTC in China in your own wallet, that cash is effectively already out of China.
Having the BTC gives the option of bringing it back in, or not.
Why would one want to convert to cash inside China?
Instead, convert outside and then you can bring the cash in if you need it?
This seems a mixed blessing for the value of BTC.
There may be some demand to cash out, but it also shows a value in a more independent form of value.
Should be interesting to see what happens next.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday September 18 2017, @12:25PM
It might be an incentive to use BTC for the intended use, as a form of payment, as it will be essentially the only way to get BTC while inside China. OTOH, it might be that China also will crack down on BTC payments by simply blocking client connections.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday September 17 2017, @11:24PM (1 child)
Meanwhile back in the real world, several exchanges are working furiously to add Chinese translations to their site, hire Chinese speaking support personnel and find other ways to give the finger to the Chinese govt while inviting the Chinese people to move to better money.
https://www.tradeqwik.com/ [tradeqwik.com] is one exchange that has officially announced plans to Sinoize at all levels in order to turn this crisis into new found faithful customers.
They have announced plans to create an uncensorable peer to peer trading platform specifically to get around the great firewall. They will also give their users debit cards they can use to spend their crypto currency at any place that takes major credit cards.
I know it sounds like an ad, but the truth is these kinds of so called problems are always business opportunities in disguise and even though TQ is the only exchange I know of that has announced their plans, I'm certain many other exchanges are working on similar solutions.
At the end of the day, Money is just speech, it is just a type of information and information cannot truly be constrained, information wants to be free.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday September 18 2017, @01:49AM
Do they accept Yuan? Do you have to mail it to them? You know China has restrictions on sending money out of the country.
The funny bit is where you think they will be able to use debit cards without the Chinese government knowing about it, and declaring them illegal.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by pkrasimirov on Monday September 18 2017, @12:08PM (1 child)
After a Few Harsh Statements from Executive Jamie Dimon, JP Morgan Ltd., and Morgan Stanley Purchase Bitcoin ETNs
https://news.bitcoin.com/after-the-boss-calls-bitcoin-a-fraud-jp-morgan-buys-the-dip/ [bitcoin.com]
(Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Monday September 18 2017, @12:28PM
Hmmm … if I understand correctly, he now has to fire himself, right?