PBOC: Yuan Accounts for Less Than 1% Of BTC Trades
Local news agencies reported that The People’s Bank of China (PBOC), the Chinese central bank, released a report that stated that the Chinese Yuan accounts for less than 1% of all Bitcoin trades across the globe. This is mammoth plunge from 2017, where Chinese BTC trades accounted for more than 90% of all global transactions.
China’s Ban on Crypto Exchanges
These figures released by the Chinese central bank show how far-reaching the impact of the crackdown on the cryptocurrency industry by the government has been. According to the research director of the Zhongguancun Internet Finance Institute, Guo Dazhi, the numbers published by the PBOC show that government policy against cryptocurrencies has been very successful.
In September 2017, the Chinese government imposed a blanket ban on cryptocurrency exchanges as well as ICOs across the country. This ban became even more stringent in January of 2018, when the government broadened the restrictions to include bans on market-making services and platforms.
The crackdown on the cryptocurrency industry didn’t stop there. In February, China went even further by including all offshore crypto exchanges as well as ICO sites in its Great Firewall ban.
According to the PBOC report, these steps by the Chinese government have ensured that the 88 crypto exchanges as well as the 85 ICO platforms exited the country with zero risk.
The Future of Cryptocurrencies in China
According to the latest media reports, the Chinese government is not going to budge from its hardline stance any time soon, since it considers the cryptocurrency market too volatile and that is poses a huge risk for domestic investors.
Interestingly enough, despite taking such an extreme negative stance against cryptocurrencies, the PBOC is still focused on a longer-term target of creating a tightly controlled Blockchain platform which can be integrated into the traditional banking system.
In fact, the central bank filed a new digital wallet patent just two weeks ago. Additionally, the bank also revealed its new system which is Blockchain based and comes equipped with smart contract functionality that can tokenize paper checks.
The People’s Bank of China Governor Yi Gang had stated earlier this year that cryptocurrencies were technologically inevitable and would finally lead to the reduction of traditional cash circulation. However, he stated, the bank also intended to control the unpredictable effects of decentralized cryptocurrencies as well as certain applications Blockchain platforms so that stability and safety could be maintained.