According to the UK’s Daily Express, the Chinese government has seen its control on the global cryptocurrency market drop from 90% to 1% since 2017.
However, it appears that the original claim by local experts that China had control of 90% of the Bitcoin market has been refuted. Reports in 2017 revealed that the trading volumes of Chinese exchanges before the government ban was put in place were highly exaggerated and were more likely to have represented closer to between 20% and 30% of global Bitcoin markets. Added to this, it has been suggested that cryptocurrency exchanges figures were also inflated by bot trading in early 2017.
Regardless of the accuracy of expert figures, many would nonetheless argue that a drop in the Chinese share of the global crypto market is hardly surprising considering the government imposition of a trading ban, and the request to local banks to cease trading with crypto exchanges in early 2018.
The Chinese Bitcoin market in 2018 has largely moved to Hong Kong, swelling the number of exchanges there and expanding its cryptocurrency market. Such has been the expansion of that market this year there were rumors that Hong Kong might even consider its own CBDC, although it was considering the plan even before the exchange ban on the Chinese mainland came into action.
The current HK government stance is that virtual currencies’ largely unregulated position makes them a risk, pointing out that unlike institutions offering fiat currencies, cryptocurrencies have no specific regulation.
Unlike China, rather than ban cryptocurrencies, the Hong Kong government has chosen the educative path with the Financial Service Treasury Bureau (FSTB) and the Investor Education Center (IEC), all subsidiaries of the Securities and Futures Commission (SFC), teaming up to launch a campaign which began earlier this year, including a TV campaign, warning Hong Kong citizens to stay away from cryptocurrency.
As Bitcoin News reported recently blockchain is very much the new darling of the Chinese authorities until any changes in crypto trading regulations come into place.
Given these current conditions, China is still a major Bitcoin player with 50% to 70% of global mining taking place in the country, although this number is not comparable with its far more significant figures before the ban was actually put in place. However, mining operations are increasingly moving overseas due to the ban.
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