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Sidney Leng

With the announcement that it plans to block all websites related to cryptocurrency trading and initial coin offerings – including foreign platforms – Beijing has left no one in any doubt of its position on the highly volatile commodity.
But its views on the currency, or asset class – depending on your point of view – has not always been so fervent, as this timeline shows:
China to stamp out cryptocurrency trading completely with ban on foreign platforms
Pre-2013
Bitcoin is barely on the radar of financial regulators as China adopts a relatively hands off approach to the cryptocurrency.
December 2013
The People’s Bank of China (PBOC) and four other financial regulators issue a joint notice outlining the risks associated with bitcoin.
Beijing states that it is not a currency, and prohibits banks and other financial institutes from trading in it. At the same time, the government acknowledges the cryptocurrency as a “commodity traded online” and allows the public to buy and sell it as they please, with its only proviso being that they do so at their own risk. 

April 2014
Central bank governor Zhou Xiaochuan describes bitcoin as an asset class – like rare stamps – and says the government is not even considering banning it.


January 2016
The PBOC says it plans to issue a sovereign digital currency that could help to reduce the cost of circulating banknotes, promote economic activity and aid the fight against money-laundering.
The Chinese bitcoin mining machine sellers immune to the cryptocurrency crackdown
January 2017
After conducting investigations at China’s three biggest bitcoin exchanges – BTC China, Huobi and OkCoin – in Beijing and Shanghai, the central bank accuses them of a lack of internal risk controls and issues a warning to investors to that effect.




Following the inspections, the exchanges begin upgrading their security and anti-money-laundering systems, which leads to a temporary suspension on all withdrawals of bitcoin and Litecoin being introduced in February.

Early 2017
The central bank sets up a research institute dedicated to digital currencies. 
Bitcoin latest: prices, policies and politics
July 2017
Chinese exchanges lift their suspension on withdrawals of cryptocurrencies.

September 2017
Beijing deems initial coin offerings illegal and orders all mainland-based cryptocurrency exchanges to shut down.


Lloyd’s Bank to ban credit card owners from buying bitcoin, says report
January 2018
The Leading Group of Internet Financial Risks Remediation – China’s top internet-finance regulator – issues a notice asking local governments to “actively guide” bitcoin-mining operations to “orderly” quit the business.
The central bank – according to a report by the official Securities Times – orders financial institutions to stop providing banking services or funding for any activity related to cryptocurrencies.




Hong Kong’s biggest crypto exchange HashKey wins listing nod in test of investor appetite

Experts doubt China will lift bitcoin mining ban despite uptick and excess energy supply

Global stablecoin surge highlights overlooked risks in crypto finance

Bitcoin’s bruising month shows the perils of going mainstream

Bitcoin

Beijing bans bitcoin, but when did it all go wrong for cryptocurrencies in China?

Employees work at BTCChina (BTCC)'s office, in Shanghai's financial district, China, 13 January 2017. BTCC was founded in 2011, and is now one of China's largest Bitcoin exchange platforms. According to its CEO Bobby Lee, Chinese people like the 'online gambling' feel of Bitcoin's instability; also, with the Chinese government's restrictions on many investment channels, people welcome new ways to invest their money. EPA/LIU XINGZHE/CHINAFILE

(140311) -- BEIJING, March 11, 2014 (Xinhua) -- Zhou Xiaochuan, governor of the People's Bank of China (PBC), speaks at a press conference for the second session of China's 12th National People's Congress (NPC) on financial reform in Beijing, capital of China, March 11, 2014. (Xinhua/Xiao Yijiu) (zkr)

epa06062673 (02/26) An employee resembles calculation board at a Bitcoin mine in Sichuan Province, China, 27 September 2016. China, the world's leader in Bitcoin mining, is dominating both the currency's generation and the global trade in the currency. Sichuan has become known as 'the capital of bitcoin mining' as entrepreneurial Chinese set up 'mines' there due to its abundance of hydropower, perfect for the high electricity needs of the large number of computers required for Bitcoin mining. Bitcoin mines are buildings with warehouse-like structures equipped with massive numbers of microprocessors with which 'miners' solve complex math problems and are rewarded in the digital currency. The industry exists in a legal gray zone in China, and the miners in this story, concerned about attention from the government, asked not to have their full names or the names of the villages where their mines are located mentioned in this story. EPA/LIU XINGZHE/CHINAFILE ATTENTION: For the full PHOTO E

China has announced plans to block all websites related to cryptocurrency trading and initial coin offerings, including foreign platforms. Photo: Bloomberg