As this most recent wave of the regulatory assault -by the Chinese government- on digital assets trading picks up momentum, it was only a matter of time before news of casualties started doing the rounds. If these reports are anything to go by, the Chinese authorities are not being sluggish about the removal of anything that might threaten the safety of the government issued Yuan.
At this point in time, any Chinese citizens in favour of democratised currencies can count out at least five exchanges that have fallen victim. Among the list of wounded cryptocurrency related operations are notable names like Binance (which had its account on the Weibo blogging platform suspended), Bitsoda and Akdex (the latter two having received formal notifications to terminate all domestic operations).
This next phase of the Chinese authoritarian approach towards digital assets trading marks the biggest move the country’s government has made against cryptocurrency since 2017. However, this should not come as a surprise, as Chinese regulators had already given out a warning of their plan to tighten the noose around crypto trading.
What may have come as a surprise to many, is the timing of these mop up operations, as the come right on the back of President Xi Jinping’s announcement of Beijing fully endorsing the adoption of Blockchain technology. However, to some commentators, this is business as usual (the Chinese way).
“It appears that, like everything else within their borders, China feels it needs to have tighter controls on the crypto market including exchanges, miners and asset issuers,” “I do believe, however, they are moving in a similar direction as Japan and other jurisdictions that have tight and clear regulations for crypto businesses.” This is according to Katie Talati, the Head of Research at Los-Angeles based assets management firm, Arca.
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