Bitcoin’s
price has marked a spectacular increase of around 10 percent over the past
couple of days in a move that was nothing if not sudden. Comparing Bitcoin’s
situation now to that of 2016, analysts and industry experts think that the
instability of China’s yuan relative to the dollar could soon shift the
country’s position with regard to crypto.
China’s
Bitcoin Fever in 2016-2017
Many are
comparing Bitcoin’s parabolic price movement of 2019 to that of 2016 and 2017,
when the cryptocurrency reached its all-time high price of around $20,000. Now
that Bitcoin is up more than 270 percent since the beginning of 2019, it seems
only reasonable to make the comparison.
However,
many industry experts and analysts, including Alex Saunders, CEO and Founder of
Blockchain Education, tweeted that one of the key differences between then and
now was China’s position.
Notably,
back before China issued a blanket ban on all crypto trading and exchange
operations, the country was among the leading nations in cryptocurrency.
Chinese investors represented a significant share of the overall market, and
they had a serious impact on its development.
Two of the
world’s largest cryptocurrency mining chip manufacturers, Bitmain and Canaan,
are Chinese companies, and they comprised a serious proportion of the network’s
hashrate.
What
followed, however, was a full-blown clash with cryptocurrency, as the country’s
central bank, the People’s Bank of China (PBoC), banned security token
offerings as well. China went on to ban all crypto-related commercial activity
as well.
Is
Bitcoin Becoming a Hedge Amid Uncertain International Economics?
In 2019,
however, the situation couldn’t be more different. China’s stance on Bitcoin
and cryptocurrency remains legislatively negative. However, there have been
some positive developments in this regard. Last year, President Xi Jinping
called blockchain technology a part of a “new industrial revolution,” sparking
expectations of a potential lift on the blanket ban.
Going
further, there are growing tensions between China and the US, especially after
US President Donald Trump’s recent announcement of yet another round of tariffs
on $300 billion worth of Chinese goods intended for import to the US.
It’s also
the case that the Chinese yuan is increasingly unstable against the US dollar,
recently breaking below the 7-peg and hitting 11-year lows.
The question
that everyone is trying to answer now is whether we are on the eve of yet
another Chinese comeback, similar to the one that we saw back in 2016.
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