Despite warning about Bitcoin’s “worthlessness,” China has apparently never prohibited its citizens from hodling the cryptocurrency.
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The government of China has tried hard to make people believe that Bitcoin (BTC) would become worthless, but its predictions to date have been far off the mark. The original cryptocurrency has gained around 36% since the Chinese government stated it would become worthless in 2022.
Amid the bear market, China attempted to capitalize on a massive market decline, warning crypto investors that Bitcoin prices were “heading to zero.”
In June 2022, the Chinese national news media agency, Economic Daily, issued a warning about Bitcoin to assure citizens the asset was a worthless “string of digital codes.”
“In the future, once investors’ confidence collapses or when sovereign countries declare Bitcoin illegal, it will return to its original value, which is utterly worthless,” the article read.
While it’s yet to be seen whether Bitcoin is heading to zero one day, it has not lost any value since the Chinese government issued the warning. On the contrary, Bitcoin has significantly increased since the article was published.
According to data from CoinGecko, Bitcoin traded at around $20,000 when the Economic Daily released the article in June 2022. Twelve months later, at the time of writing, BTC is trading at $28,852, up around 36%.
Bitcoin one-year price chart. Source: CoinGecko
Despite posting notable gains, Bitcoin has seen its ups and downs over the past year. The largest cryptocurrency by market cap dropped to as low as $15,700 in November 2022. Then, in April 2023, Bitcoin briefly crossed the $30,000 price mark.
Related: Hong Kong’s regulatory lead sets it up to be major crypto hub
China was one of the first countries in the world to take regulatory action against crypto. In 2017, Chinese regulators banned cryptocurrency exchanges from providing services in the country. Despite the ban, Bitcoin continued to hit its all-time highs, surging 1,900% all the way up to $20,000 by the end of 2017.
In 2021, China’s central bank announced a new ban on crypto, uniting forces with various Chinese authorities to crack down on local crypto activity. Just a few months after the ban was announced, Bitcoin hit its all-time high at around $68,000 in November 2021.
Despite “banning” crypto in 2021, China has remained the second-largest Bitcoin miner in the world. The Chinese government also seemingly allows citizens to own cryptocurrency and protects the rights of crypto investors.
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