Does China have a new relationship with crypto?

In 2017 China banned cryptocurrency exchanges and since then the country’s relationship with crypto has been challenging for onlookers, and those who want to advance crypto in this populous country.

Last year was something of an unmitigated disaster for cryptocurrency prices, although we should remember that there was plenty of good news as well, and numerous blockchain projects make steady advances. Neither did the downturn in the market deter the idea of tokenisation, or of digital currencies, including stablecoins.

This year has been rather better, and we have seen bitcoin and the other leading altcoins rally. There have been many sighs of relief from crypto owners, and bitcoin in particular certainly appears to be consolidating its position as the leading crypto for analysts, retail investors and more.

Indeed, even China appears to be warming to the idea of bitcoin. Billy Bambrough writing at Forbes, reports that the state-owned Bank of China, which by the way is the world’s fourth biggest bank, has posted a pro-bitcoin infographic on its website, explaining the history of bitcoin and how cryptocurrencies work. This posting came shortly after the Chinese courts legally recognised bitcoin as a “digital property’.

It appears that the bitcoin sentiment is changing in China and the wider bitcoin community has naturally welcomed this. China should like bitcoin considering that China contributes some 60% of bitcoin’s total computing power and a considerable level of trading volume, despite the ban on crypto exchanges. However, Chinese citizens can own crypto, as long as they don’t try to exchange it for fiat money.

Samson Mow, chief strategy officer of bitcoin and blockchain technology company Blockstream tweeted about the Bank of China’s new bitcoin information, saying: “They explained how [bitcoin] works, why the price is going up, and why it’s valuable. Never thought I’d see that happen,” he added, describing it as “bullish.”

He was joined by other Chinese crypto enthusiasts on Twitter, who posted that they thought the bank’s infographic indicated that it is was generally in favour of bitcoin.

As with many things, this situation could become a simple numbers game. China has a population of 1.4 billion and if the majority of them are encouraged to own or use bitcoin it could significantly progress bitcoin’s mainstream adoption.