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Since entering June, my country has further strengthened its supervision of virtual currency transactions and mining, continuing the strict supervision policy since May. On the one hand, many departments have warned of the risks of virtual currency transactions and speculation, and have launched a heavy blow from the banking and payment sides; on the other hand, many places have completely cleared out mining companies, starting from the source of the Bitcoin industry chain.
Industry experts generally believe that it is inevitable that virtual currency mining companies will go overseas. With the further implementation of relevant policies, virtual currency will have little development opportunities in China.
In sharp contrast to the strict regulation of virtual currencies, the top-level design of the blockchain industry development was basically completed in June. Cultivating famous blockchain products, enterprises and parks is one of the important development directions for the next decade. At the same time, local governments are also actively supporting the development of blockchain technology and industry with "real money" to promote the application of blockchain enterprises as soon as possible.
Ding Feipeng, director of the criminal department of Beijing Shangguang Law Firm, told the Securities Daily reporter that virtual currency and blockchain technology are not the same thing. The underlying technology of virtual currency is blockchain, but it is only one of the many applications of blockchain technology. "At present, many fields have been using blockchain technology for empowerment, and a number of representative applications have emerged. Blockchain technology is a key core technology, and we should continue to increase support for it, research and development investment, and accelerate the innovative development of blockchain technology and industry. Excessive hype of virtual currency is prone to many problems and requires strict supervision."
With the continuous upgrading of supervision, the complete liquidation of mining companies may become a foregone conclusion. Regulatory policies continue to be strengthened, and the "chaos" in the virtual currency market is facing a comprehensive rectification.
On June 7, at the 2021 National Working Group Meeting on Combating Cross-Border Gambling, the Cyberspace Administration of China proposed to "increase monitoring of blockchain platforms and derivative platform applications." On June 9, the China Payment and Clearing Association issued a message emphasizing the risks of "using virtual currency and blockchain technology to evade fund tracing, using virtual currency as a medium for gambling points, or using virtual currency for recharge transactions."
On June 21, the People's Bank of China released a major news that recently, the relevant departments of the People's Bank of China interviewed several banks and payment institutions such as the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China regarding the issue of banks and payment institutions providing services for virtual currency transactions and speculation. After the interview, the interviewed banks and payment institutions responded one after another, issued statements and proposed cooperation measures. This is another important measure to combat virtual currency. From the banking and payment end, a heavy blow was taken to combat virtual currency transactions and speculation, and virtual currency was further "encircled".
Su Xiaorui, a special researcher at Suxi Zhiyan, told the Securities Daily reporter that "the main reason for the People's Bank of China's talks is that the speculative risk of virtual currency speculation is extremely high, and there are potential risks such as money laundering after it is out of regulatory sight, which is not conducive to maintaining financial stability."
"To eradicate the speculation of virtual currencies, on the one hand, we should improve legal provisions and refine specific rules; on the other hand, we can increase technological investment at the payment level, improve identification capabilities, and cut off the payment chain in a timely manner once discovered. But are occasional transactions by ordinary people illegal? Should they also be banned? This also needs to be clarified in policy as soon as possible." Ding Feipeng told reporters.
While multiple departments continue to crack down on virtual currency transactions and speculation, local governments are also taking active actions to clear out virtual currency mining companies. After Inner Mongolia took the lead in clearing out mining companies, Sichuan, Qinghai, Xinjiang and other places also took action in June.
According to multiple media reports, on June 9, the Development and Reform Commission of Changji Hui Autonomous Prefecture in Xinjiang issued a notice requiring the Management Committee of Xinjiang Zhundong Development Zone to immediately order all enterprises engaged in virtual currency mining to stop production and rectify before 14:00 on June 9. On the same day, the Department of Industry and Information Technology of Qinghai Province issued a notice requiring all regions in the province to clean up and rectify the activities related to virtual currency mining. On June 18, the Development and Reform Commission and Energy Bureau of Sichuan Province issued a relevant notice, proposing to "crack down on Bitcoin mining activities" and complete the identification, cleaning and closure before June 20, and include it in the daily monitoring and management of the National Development and Reform Commission, with a focus on monitoring its electricity consumption.
So far, under the intensive supervision, mining companies, whether they are mainly thermal power or hydropower, have been cleaned up and rectified, and the trend of virtual currency mining to completely withdraw from the country has been determined. It is understood that some virtual currency mines have been settled in Texas, Kazakhstan and other places.
Zheng Lei, chief economist of Baoxing Financial, told the Securities Daily reporter that with the introduction of regulatory policies, a large number of mining machines are flowing from the mainland to overseas. There may still be small-scale private mining activities, and social supervision should continue to be strengthened, and relevant issues reported should be dealt with seriously.
Local governments use “real money”
Strong support for industrial blockchain. While strictly regulating virtual currencies, multiple departments are also vigorously supporting the blockchain industry and accelerating the innovative development of blockchain technology and industry.
On June 7, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology and the Cyberspace Administration of China jointly issued the "Guiding Opinions on Accelerating the Application of Blockchain Technology and Industrial Development" (hereinafter referred to as the "Guiding Opinions"), which proposed five key tasks and 22 sub-tasks for blockchain, and emphasized the need to cultivate a number of famous blockchain products, companies, and parks, and build an open source ecosystem.
Yu Weiren, vice president of the Shenzhen Information Service Industry Blockchain Association, told the Securities Daily reporter: "The release of the Guiding Opinions shows the country's support for the application of blockchain technology, which will help further consolidate the foundation for the development of blockchain in my country and strengthen the confidence of blockchain companies in promoting the implementation of blockchain applications. This is extremely beneficial to the development of the industry."
In terms of the support of local governments, Yunnan Province, Wuhan City, Hubei Province and other provinces and cities proposed in June to reward qualified blockchain enterprises and projects with "real money", which coincides with the "cultivation of famous products, enterprises and parks" proposed in the Guiding Opinions. On June 30, the Wuhan Municipal People's Government issued the "Opinions on Accelerating the Innovation and Development of Blockchain Technology and Industry", proposing to build Wuhan into a "blockchain city" with national influence, and to reward 2 million yuan at a time for the first time to enter the top 100 blockchain enterprises in the country released by authoritative institutions. Yunnan Province has also proposed many reward systems, for example, selecting 3 projects each year, with a maximum subsidy of no more than 10 million yuan.
The Cyberspace Administration of China also released the fifth batch of 223 domestic blockchain information service names and registration numbers in mid-June. So far, more than 1,200 blockchain information services have been registered, and financial and government affairs scenarios have become popular areas. The China Blockchain Innovation Application Platform was also officially launched in June, which not only centrally and visually displayed representative national blockchain innovation application cases, but also attracted and discovered more outstanding blockchain innovation application cases.
Yu Weiren said: "As infrastructure is gradually improved and users gradually become more aware of it, blockchain technology will be widely used in areas such as supply chain finance and smart cities in the future, and will play an important role in the construction of the data factor market."
Zheng Lei believes: "The application direction of blockchain technology has been clarified and is about to enter a steady advancement stage. However, there are still some bottlenecks in blockchain computing and storage that need to be resolved to meet the needs of high-frequency applications." (Securities Daily) |
