Is China’s Ban on Cryptocurrency Fake?

Chinese media recently reported that the local community of the country is allowed to own Bitcoin (BTC) and holding it on cryptocurrency wallets does not constitute a crime, despite the cryptocurrency ban.

Only ICOs are Banned, Says a Chinese Expert

Sa Xiao, a legislation expert from the Bank of China, says that storing Bitcoin (BTC) in China is legal.

1/ "It is legal to own bitcoins in China" says Sa Xiao, Council Member at Bank of China Law Research Association, cited by The Beijing News. Besides, Xiao considers occasional exchange of bitcoins between individuals and individuals is legal
Source(in CN): https://t.co/lQRaBECcIC

— cnLedger (@cnLedger) May 22, 2019

According to the expert, Bitcoin has been considered private property in China since 2013, protected by Chinese laws.

Not just this, even OTC cryptocurrency trading is also believed not to be a crime, says Sa Xiao. Chinese laws illustrate it as two individuals exchanging their property, and the state can’t interfere with it.

Although it is entirely different when it is about merchants, according to the recent reports by Chinese giant Tencent, it is shutting down all merchant accounts on its mobile messaging app WeChat (the most popular in China at the moment), which accepts cryptocurrency payments.

Cryptocurrency Ban Targets Only Scammers, says Expert

It is clarified by Sa Xiao that China’s ICO ban was introduced just to fight against scammers who were luring money out of inexperienced investors.

Though, non-P2P cryptocurrency trading might be illustrated as a crime in accordance with Article 225 of the Criminal Law in China: “Other illegal business operations that seriously disrupt market order.”

However, some other experts warn that it is safe not to trade Bitcoin in China, even via P2P operations, as no law permits it clearly.

Kapil Gauhar

Kapil Gauhar is the founder of Blogger’s Gyan. He is a Passionate Blogger, a Big Thinker and a Creative Writer. His passion for doing friendship with words and letting people know about the wonders of the Digital World is what motivates him to take writing as a career.