China Expands Bitcoin Crackdown - "Most Draconian Measures Ever"

We all saw the plunge under $3000 Bitcoin took after the news broke that China would halt the trading of BTC of local exchanges. Since this news, which broke last week, BTC has risen to $4,000 in a resilient bounce back towards its highs.

While Bitcoin may be recovering from its big drop last week, China is still not done with its crackdown. In fact, the WSJ is reporting this morning that Beijing is moving toward a "broad clampdown on bitcoin trading" in what the paper is calling the "most draconian measures any government has taken to control bitcoin."

Zero Hedge repots:

According to the WSJ, regulators have decided on a "comprehensive ban on channels for the buying or selling of the virtual currency in China" that goes beyond plans to shut commercial bitcoin exchanges. The still unofficial policy was communicated to several industry executives at a closed-door meeting in Beijing on Friday, "according to people who were at the meeting."

The move is notable because until last week, many China bitcoin entrepreneurs thought authorities might shut down only commercial trading activity while tolerating peer-to-peer, or over-the-counter, bitcoin platforms, which enable buyers and sellers to find each other and trade directly. However, it now appears that this was only the beginning as two years after we first warned that bitcoin will be used largely to circumvent Chinese capital controls (and said it would soar as a result when its price was just $230), the government has decided to put a complete end to the use cryptocurrencies as a means of offshoring "hot money." Word of a more serious tightening spread after the meeting and at least one Chinese platform last week announced it would halt one-on-one trading services per official instructions.

Read full article HERE.

This is exactly what the Crypto community should expect from governments who have the desire to track every transaction it's citizens make. Li Lihui, a National Internet Finance Association of China official, literally told a technology conference in Shanghai on Friday that the goal of China’s monetary regulation on Bitcoin is to ensure that “the source and destination of every piece of money can be tracked."

China is a complete spy state. So if you trade in BTC- or any crypto for that manner - you should expect your social credit rating by the government to take a quick hit because bypassing any capital controls is something a slave must not do.