As early as December 5, 2013, the People's Bank of China and five other ministries issued the "Notice on Preventing Bitcoin Risks."
The price of Bitcoin on that day was $989.
This 2013 notice is actually quite neutral. The original text is:
The nature of Bitcoin is clarified, stating that Bitcoin is not issued by monetary authorities, does not have monetary attributes such as legal tender and compulsory nature, and is not a real currency.
By nature, Bitcoin is a specific virtual commodity that does not have the same legal status as currency and cannot and should not be circulated and used as currency in the market.
However, as a commodity trading behavior on the Internet, ordinary people have the freedom to participate in Bitcoin transactions at their own risk.
On September 4, 2017, the People's Bank of China and seven other ministries jointly issued the "Announcement on Preventing the Risks of Token Issuance and Financing", requiring a ban on virtual currency transactions.
The price of Bitcoin on that day was US$4,318.
The 2017 notice mainly targeted ICO fraud, but the wording was quite serious:
Token issuance financing refers to the financing entity raising so-called "virtual currencies" such as Bitcoin and Ethereum from investors through the illegal sale and circulation of tokens. It is essentially an act of illegal public financing without approval, and is suspected of illegal sale of token tickets, illegal issuance of securities, illegal fundraising, financial fraud, pyramid schemes and other illegal activities.
The main target is still the project parties that issue coins.
At the same time, Huobi, OKX and other exchange giants had a greater impact; Binance, which was still a newcomer at the time, seized the opportunity to expand its business overseas and became the exchange giant it is today.
On September 15, 2021, the People's Bank of China announced that the People's Bank of China, the Cyberspace Administration of China, the Supreme People's Court, the Supreme People's Procuratorate, the Ministry of Public Security and other ten ministries and commissions issued the "Notice on Further Preventing and Dealing with the Risks of Virtual Currency Transaction Speculation."
The price of Bitcoin on that day was US$47,135.
It is stipulated that virtual currency-related business activities are illegal financial activities, and related civil legal acts of ordinary people holding virtual currency are invalid.
Overseas virtual currency exchanges providing services to residents in my country through the Internet are also illegal financial activities.
If any legal person, non-legal person organization or natural person invests in virtual currency and related derivatives and violates public order and good morals, the relevant civil law acts will be invalid, and the losses caused thereby will be borne by themselves; if they are suspected of disrupting financial order and endangering financial security, the relevant departments will investigate and deal with them according to law.
Not long after, on September 24, 2021, the National Development and Reform Commission, the Central Propaganda Department, the Cyberspace Administration of China, the Ministry of Public Security and other departments issued the "Notice of the National Development and Reform Commission and Other Departments on Regulating Virtual Currency "Mining" Activities."
It is required to list virtual currency "mining" activities as an eliminated industry; strictly restrict the electricity application and energy consumption of virtual currency "mining" enterprises; strictly prohibit the provision of financial and tax support for new virtual currency "mining" projects; stop all financial and tax support for virtual currency "mining" projects; stop providing financial services for virtual currency "mining" projects.
At this point, Bitcoin in the mainland has been comprehensively cracked down on from mining, trading, to other related services.
However, in October 2022, Hong Kong's Financial Services and the Treasury Bureau issued the "Policy Declaration on the Development of Virtual Assets in Hong Kong", which clearly stipulated that retail investors would be allowed to participate in cryptocurrency transactions on a large scale, and made clear explanations on how to regulate the issuance of cryptocurrency exchange-traded funds, stablecoins, tokenized assets, and security tokens.
At this point, a certain country's encryption policy has opened up a corner.
