May said she would seriously consider cracking down on Bitcoin! Many countries expressed their views on Bitcoin today

More and more governments are beginning to regulate Bitcoin, and the next country that may take a closer look at cryptocurrencies may be the United Kingdom.

According to Bloomberg, British Prime Minister Theresa May has begun to seriously consider restricting Bitcoin because she is worried that cryptocurrencies are used by criminals. May said that cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin should be taken seriously and certain actions need to be taken against them because they can be widely used, including by criminals.

Image source: Visual China

A month ago, Andrew Bailey, CEO of the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), the UK's top regulator, warned investors that Bitcoin buyers should be prepared to "lose all their money." He said that Bitcoin lacks the endorsement and support of the government and central bank, and its risk level is no different from gambling.

As Bitcoin speculation and crazy speculation become more and more popular, its price fluctuations have also attracted more and more attention from regulators in various countries. The UK is by no means the only country to issue risk warnings and regulatory signals for Bitcoin. Several major countries, including Canada and Russia, have also launched intensive regulatory offensives on Bitcoin today.

Bank of Canada Governor Stephen Poloz said today that Bitcoin has no intrinsic value, is not an analyzable asset, and is basically just speculation or gambling. Poloz said the bank is looking into developing regulations around cryptocurrencies, but will be cautious so as not to stifle innovation. He added that blockchain technology is a true stroke of genius and will be applied to many areas of the economy.

The Russian Ministry of Finance today released a draft law on digital assets, stating that non-qualified investors can only invest a maximum of 50,000 rubles in each ICO project; when non-qualified investors trade digital assets, they can only deposit or withdraw digital assets from special accounts opened by operators specializing in digital asset transactions (digital wallet owners).

The rules for opening and using such special accounts are set by the Central Bank of Russia; the types of transactions that digital asset owners are entitled to conduct include: transactions between one digital asset and another digital asset, and transactions between digital assets and rubles/foreign currencies. Transactions can only be conducted through digital asset trading operators. Digital assets are not a legal means of payment in Russia.

Earlier this month, some Indian banks suspended transactions on the accounts of local bitcoin exchanges, including the top 10 exchanges, citing suspicious transactions.

The banks also asked bitcoin exchanges to provide additional collateral for their loans, “as they have been asking for additional one-to-one collateral since last month,” and they restricted withdrawals from the few accounts that were still operating.

South Korean Finance Minister Kim Dong-yeon also said earlier that the government's position is to regulate cryptocurrency investment because it is a large-scale speculation. "Closing virtual currency exchanges is still one of the options."

Wall Street Journal previously mentioned that Russia is currently the largest country that defines Bitcoin as illegal, China is one of the largest restricted markets for Bitcoin, and India is one of the largest countries that has not commented on Bitcoin and has not yet introduced relevant policies.

North America and Western Europe are the regions with the highest acceptance of Bitcoin, and most countries recognize it as legal. The Middle East and Latin America have a clear divergence in their views on Bitcoin . Iraq, Iran, Turkey, and Brazil are all legal Bitcoin markets, while Afghanistan, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Bolivia, etc. have certain restrictions on its trading and use. More Latin American countries have not yet spoken out about Bitcoin.

Among the 246 countries and regions surveyed worldwide, 99 countries (40%) do not impose restrictions on the trading and use of Bitcoin (legal or neutral markets), 7 countries (3%) are restricted markets, 10 countries (or 4%) define Bitcoin as illegal, and 130 countries (53%) have no more information on how to treat digital currencies.

This shows that the majority of countries in the world ( 53% , more than half) are still watching the legality of digital currencies led by Bitcoin in their countries. It also means that the " black swan risk" of Bitcoin is still very large , because some of these countries may eventually make legislative decisions to restrict digital currencies.