Binance co-founder and former CEO Changpeng Zhao, popularly known as CZ, has projected the building of a strategic China Bitcoin reserve, believing that Beijing will soon join the rank of countries creating strategic BTC reserves.
CZ gave his bold prediction at the Bitcoin MENA conference held in Abu Dhabi on December 9, 2024, suggesting that China was likely to follow in the footsteps of the incoming Trump 2.0 administration. While speaking at the conference, the former Binance chief observed that while it was difficult to predict China’s position on the subject of cryptocurrencies due to the country’s official lack of transparency, it looked ‘inevitable’ that the country would accumulate BTC before announcing a China Bitcoin reserve.
Changpeng Zhao stated, “I’d be shocked if [Chinese government] announced something and then did it — I’d be much less surprised if they accumulate and then announce […] they have to do it at some point because it’s the only ‘hard’ asset.” According to CZ, smaller nations are likely to follow the lead of the U.S. towards building Bitcoin reserves, opining that this was a process that would roll out gradually. He noted that “Trump has not gotten into office yet, and the strategic Bitcoin reserve has not been activated yet, so I think as soon as that happens, we’ll see what other countries do.”
CZ Suggests China Would Act Very Quickly on Policies
While insisting that there wasn’t any evidence yet that Beijing was accumulating Bitcoin, he opined that it was only a matter of time before China would “act very, very quickly” on policies if it wanted to. Zhao, who grew up in China, was only recently released from the U.S. prison where he served a four-month sentence for violating U.S.’s anti-money laundering laws. Part of the agreement with the U.S. authorities included hi stepping down as Binance CEO and having nothing to do with the exchange in the future. CZ was also convicted on felony charges whose part of the sentence would restrict him from getting involved in some business activities. However, there’s chatter involving the possibility of the incoming president, Donald Trump, pardoning him once he takes office on January 20, 2025.
U.S. Plans to Hold a 1 Million Bitcoin Reserve
The idea of countries holding Bitcoin reserves isn’t entirely new as it has been around for some time now. However, it got a boost during the U.S. presidential campaign when President-elect Donald Trump pledged his intention to create a U.S. national Bitcoin reserve as one of his campaign promises. Trump stated that his government would buy up to 1 million Bitcoins to establish a “strategic national Bitcoin stockpile” while attending a July crypto conference. However, those who don’t buy into Trump’s idea believe that such a plan would only benefit Bitcoin holders as it would cause a price surge should the U.S. government go ahead to purchase and hold one million BTC.
Several Other Countries Plan to Follow Suit
As chatter continues about the possibility of building a China Bitcoin reserve in the near future, it should be noted that apart from the plans announced by Trump, several other countries have already gone ahead and created their own. For example, El Salvador under President Bukele has openly stacked Bitcoin over the last few years while others like the UK are said to be stockpiling BTC but albeit silently. As per a Bloomberg report early this year, the UK followed a complex approach that involved seizing BTC holdings under the British National Crime Agency to create its stockpile estimated at around 61,000 Bitcoins.
Conclusion
While the issue surrounding the China Bitcoin reserve remains a projection by Changpeng Zhao for now, rumour mills around the Bitcoin MENA conference indicate that several other nations are already collecting and stockpiling BTC under the wraps to try and beat the Trump administration at their plan. It’s rumoured that Serbia’s Price Filipe revealed his country’s earnings surged by over $100K over the past three months thanks to their Bitcoin investment. If everything happens according to plan and a China Bitcoin reserve is established similar to the planned U.S. reserve, the heightened demand could create scarcity and push the price up due to the principles of supply and demand.
