Recently, the People's Bank of China released the "China Financial Stability Report 2023", which is rare in setting up a separate "crypto-assets" section in a large space. The article did not use the traditional term virtual currency in the past, but proposed regulatory principles similar to those of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), that is, "same business, same risks, same supervision", reflecting the market's focus on China's USDT illegal foreign exchange trading cases. Key reasons.
The People’s Bank of China emphasized in the report that crypto-assets carry dual financial and digital technology risks. On the one hand, the risks of traditional unregulated illegal financial activities are reflected in the field of crypto assets, such as asset price bubbles, large price fluctuations, liquidity and maturity mismatches, high leverage, and procyclical risks.
On the other hand, this field has also generated new risks related to digital technology, such as the lack of a "negative feedback" adjustment mechanism in automatically executed smart contracts, which is more likely to lead to a "flash crash" in the market; the process of data interaction between the blockchain and off-chain There are security holes and are easily attacked by hackers, leading to market manipulation and asset loss; the governance mechanism of decentralized finance (DeFi) essentially has "centralized" characteristics and is easily controlled by a few insiders, harming the interests of other investors; assets are anonymous The nature and difficulty in recovery lead to anti-money laundering and anti-terrorist financing risks.
2022年以来，TerraUSD稳定币崩盘、加密资产交易平台FTX倒闭等一系列风险事件，导致市场大幅动荡，进一步凸显其价格波动大、投机属性强、治理机制不完善等问题，对金融体系稳定产生外溢影响。
Currently, the scale of crypto assets accounts for a small proportion of global financial assets and has limited connection with the traditional financial system. However, its rapid development, complex business model, opaque governance structure, and active cross-border business may threaten the stability of the global financial system.
Although China has earlier carried out clean-up and rectification of risks related to the field of crypto-assets, given the natural characteristics of cross-border operations of crypto-assets, cooperation among various countries is required to form a regulatory synergy. In recent years, regulatory authorities and international organizations in many countries have begun to assess the risks of crypto assets and introduce regulatory policies and response measures.
"In general, in accordance with the principle of 'same business, same risk, same supervision', the crypto-asset business will be regulated commensurate with its risk level, and regulatory data gaps will be reduced as much as possible, regulatory fragmentation will be reduced, and regulatory arbitrage will be eliminated," the People's Bank of China emphasized.
It is worth noting that the US Securities Regulatory Commission and the Hong Kong Securities Regulatory Commission have also adopted the same thinking, that is, "same business, same principles, same risks." In the U.S. legal system, there are no specific regulations to follow for most cryptocurrency-related businesses.
Generally speaking, U.S. regulatory agencies recommend regulating them with reference to the "three sames" principle. In other words, if there are no cryptocurrency-specific regulations, the U.S. regulatory plan is to find existing bills in conjunction with the business and supervise them in accordance with the requirements of applying existing bills. For example, when a cryptocurrency is issued, if the token is classified as a security, it will be subject to supervision by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, and there are also information disclosure requirements for the issuer.
Recently, China's Supreme People's Procuratorate and the State Administration of Foreign Exchange jointly released eight typical cases of punishing foreign exchange-related crimes. It was mentioned that converting virtual currencies such as USDT into RMB is illegal foreign exchange trading, and the "three sames" principle may be the key to the authorities' judgment. reason. Currently, more and more illegal foreign exchange crimes are committed through virtual currency transactions and exchanges. The Supreme People's Procuratorate emphasized that it will strengthen the connection between administration and criminal law and crack down on illegal cross-border financial activities in accordance with the law.
Under pressure from the United States, Tether, the USDT USD stablecoin issuer, has also publicly stated that it has chosen to cooperate with the U.S. Department of Justice and has included the FBI on the platform to help freeze hundreds of millions of dollars in USDT. For this reason, the global market is currently highly focused on the judgment of China and the United States to suppress the use of USDT for illegal crimes, because this may become the standard for judging similar cases in the future.
Summarize
The cryptocurrency regulatory policy signals issued by the Central Bank of China and the announcement of illegal foreign exchange transactions in USDT have had an important impact on the market. These events highlight the Chinese authorities’ concerns about cryptocurrency compliance and illegal cross-border financial activities. Market participants should pay close attention to changes in regulatory policies and adopt corresponding response strategies to ensure compliance and risk management. The future development of the cryptocurrency market will be affected by the regulatory environment, so market participants need to remain alert and adjust their strategies and business models in a timely manner.
