Many wrote off Chinese president Xi Jinping’s recent endorsement of blockchain as non-beneficial for Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies. But this is quickly proving itself to not be true.
For those who missed the memo, a quick interlude. On Friday, Chinese state media outlet Xinhua revealed that China’s leader had called for the adoption of blockchain “as an important breakthrough for independent innovation of core technologies” in a meeting of the Political Bureau of the Chinese Communist Party’s Central Committee. State-run outlet Xinhua revealed that Xi lauded the potential benefits of blockchain technologies in a swath of industries, including finance, education, health care, food security, and more.
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Bitcoin Joins Blockchain in Going Mainstream in China
While President Xi’s focus was evidently on the benefits of blockchain technology, the ripple effects of his statements have affected China’s view on Bitcoin. So much in fact that China’s state-controlled television station, CCTV.com, recently hosted a segment breaking down BTC, according to a prominent trader that closely follows the region’s cryptocurrency scene.
Panda, who propagated evidence of this online, remarked that CCTV “explained the basics of the ‘first-ever blockchain application’ Bitcoin, and how a distributed ledger works” in a recent segment. It isn’t clear how many individuals were watching at this time, but the number was likely easily in the millions. Easily.
China's state controlled television explaining the basics of "first ever blockchain application" #bitcoin $btc, and how a distributed ledger works
Imagine 1.3 billion people got to know bitcoin because state made an effort to explain how it works. pic.twitter.com/VcIMlxmkQM
— ๑ ZimbabweFED ๑ (@NoodleofBinance) October 27, 2019
Trader CL has tacitly corroborated the trend of Bitcoin returning to the mainstream in China. The analyst remarked in his own Twitter post that he noticed that the Chinese government “has organized a nationwide blockchain exam competition,” whose first class is literally titled “Application of Blockchain: Bitcoin.”
Chinese government has organized a nationwide blockchain exam competition. The study material they see?
First class is literally titled: Application of Blockchain: Bitcoin
Goes on to describe how it solved double spending, advantage over AliPay and WechatPay, and so on. Insane. pic.twitter.com/XUjEjNRvcs
— CL (@CL207) October 26, 2019
Still Banned… We Think
While Bitcoin is becoming a part of the Chinese consciousness again after 2018’s precipitous collapse, it still seems that a majority of transactions and operations made using the currency are banned. Holding BTC, notably, has been deemed legal on multiple occasions, yet the trading of cryptocurrencies, especially for Chinese yuan, is believed to still be vehemently restricted due to capital control concerns.
Case in point, AliPay, Alibaba’s primary fintech business, recently wrote on Twitter that its services should not be associated with Bitcoin in accordance with Chinese law, hinting that the anti-crypto restrictions implemented by the People’s Bank of China and other entities are still in place.
It remains to be seen if President Xi’s newfound blockchain strategy will involve less stringent rules placed on cryptocurrency use.
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