With China accounting for 80% of the global bitcoin trading volume, it was only a matter of time before the country’s own authorities paid heed to the cryptocurrency.
In a recent publication on October 13, the Cyberspace Administration of China (CAC) has, in no uncertain terms, claimed that we have entered the “post-Bitcoin era,” and “Can no longer ignore its revolutionary changes” despite people thinking bitcoin and block chain technology is or was not stable.
The publication began with the CAC taking note of the deeming of bitcoin as a commodity by the United States Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC). It also added that although the recommendation of third-party bitcoin transfers be included in banking regulations remains a proposal at this stage, such an endeavor “will promote economic regulation of electronic money.”
The CAC also believes in the promise and potential of bitcoin’s underlying technology – block chain. The translated text reads:
“Block chain provides a decentralized [technology] for various industries [such as] finance, including [a way] to establish information verification.”
The authority points to Europe which is currently seeing an increased investment and interest from banks and financial institutions towards block chain and cryptocurrency.
“Recently more and more attention to the technology of traditional financial sector,” the publication adds. “For example, according to the European Banking Association (EBA) in the latest report, the block chain technology with lower costs, improve product supply and improve the speed potential.”
Citing “innovation” and “revolutionary changes,” the CAC acknowledges the development that bitcoin has brought with the “expansion of distributed payment and settlement mechanism.”
The text also confirms that in a regulated environment for development, it would be possible to explore core functions of bitcoin such as payment and settlement functions would help in the evolution of a stable, real electronic money.
Merely days later, the Harvard Business Review China hosted the 1st global block chain summit in Shanghai, two factors that may have possibly influenced the increased buying demand for bitcoin in China, coinciding with the global increase in the value of the cryptocurrency.
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