- Bitcoin markets slip on Monday to a low of USD 8,910 before recovering above USD 9,000
- China has moved to allay fears of crypto bans, saying it will not shut down legitimate crypto-related accounts
- South Korea will be conducting a legal review of digital won launch
Bitcoin markets have taken a slide today as Monday traders in Asia looked to book in some profits from weeks of trading, perhaps signalling that many medium-term weekly trades have chosen to wind down.
If the strategy is simply to cause a dip, at which to buy, then it certainly seems to have worked, as the price dipped to as low as USD 8,910 (CoinDesk) before settling around USD 9,100 right now before US traders awake.
Past price, the blockchain industry should be happy to hear two pieces of news from jurisdictions in Asia.
The first comes from the Chinese government to quash rumors that China-based banks have been closing down accounts of clients thought to be involved in the trade of digital assets. Reported by Chinatimes, a joint reply by five major banks — China Merchants Bank, Bank of China, Agricultural Bank of China, China Construction Bank and industrial and Commercial Bank of China — have all said that as long as these clients are legitimate and operating legally, with no involvement in financial crime, then there is no need to worry. The statement read:
“As long as the operation is legal, the channel is legal, the virtual currency source is legal and if the web page also supports the bank card service, the bank will not actively freeze the user’s funds. Unless there is any involvement of money laundering and fraud and other illegal related cases.”
Apparently, some investigations were made to examine counter transactions that supported Alipay, WeChat and other bank accounts of these major banks. It was found that when operating transactions, none of these accounts flagged up risk warnings. According to a representative from Alipay management fund security department, as long as there was an Alipay payment page involved, ther operation would have to be legal and would then not result in account or funds being frozen. Nevertheless, the payments company and industry insiders advised users to use a separate account to trade crypto, saying:
“It’s better not to use bank cards with important uses to purchase cryptocurrencies, such as deduction cards and wage cards related to mortgage and car loans.”
Meanwhile, in neighboring South Korea, the central bank has moved to form a legal advisory group that will perform evaluations of any potential issues to arise from the possible launch of a central bank-issued digital currency (CBDC) by the Bank of Korea.
According to the press release issued today by the bank, the group will be comprised of six experts from the academia, legal and banking institutions, and will be operating throughout, even though they are not yet clear indications for when a digital won would be launched.
Two months ago, a pilot scheme was launched that would see trials of digital won take the nation through testing into 2022, with the aim of assessing the logistics of issuing a CBDC. So it is known that the program will operate past the mandate of this new legal advisory group.
South Korean news outlet Yonhap reported recently that merchants in the country would be ready to accept such a CBDC, even those issued by other countries’ central banks. China’s digital yuan will be eyed with much anticipation, and it is largely agreed that the world’s second-largest economy will be the first to issue such a CBDC.
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