Exchanges Huobi and Binance no longer open accounts in mainland China. The largest Ethereum mining pool in the world will no longer operate in the country.

Since the ban on bitcoin, and cryptocurrencies by the Chinese government, many companies began to emigrate from the country. The exchanges Binance, Huobi and FTX, and the Sparkpool mining pool, are some of these companies that announced the end of all activity in China.

Since September 24, 2021, the Central Bank of China reported that all operations regarding cryptocurrencies are illegal in the country.

This prohibition includes trade and mining. This situation led several companies to look for more options to set their departure from a country that has already taken similar measures in the past.

In the blink of an eye, the Huobi exchange, one of the most popular exchanges according to data from CoinMarketCap, announced that it had stopped accepting new users from China to comply with local regulations.

In addition, starting on December 31, it will begin to phase out user accounts in China. According to the official statement, more details will come to the public light in the future.

The exchange FTX announced something similar, which closed its offices in Hong Kong to settle in the Bahamas, according to its CEO, Sam Bankman-Fried in a post via Twitter.

Regarding FTX’s new headquarters, the businessman known as SBF in the social network assured that the Bahamas is one of the few nations to set up comprehensive regulation for digital currencies.

Another exchange that will follow similar ways will be Binance. It is one of the biggest exchanges worldwide, and it will not take registrations of new users in China either. This restriction only applies to the mainland of the country since, in Hong Kong, users can operate with both exchanges.

Binance’s story regarding regulations has had its highest peak in 2021. It starts with the United Kingdom but then gets followed by other countries on various continents. The exchange has faced various legal setbacks that hinder its operations.

At the time, the company ratified its commitment to contribute with the authorities to advance joint regulation, and apparently, the same should happen in China as well.

According to the Reuters news agency, other Chinese firms, such as financial services provider Babel Finance or digital asset management platform Cobo, have already migrated their offices to Singapore.

Mining is now a Forbidden Activity in China

This endless persecution of cryptocurrency activities in China is not something new for miners in that Asian nation. For many months, they emigrated due to the prohibition of their operations in several regions.

With these new guidelines from the Central Bank and the Government, world-leading companies such as Sparkpool, the largest Ethereum mining pool, have had to limit their activities.

On the other hand, Sparkpool will no longer bring support to its mining clients in China. It is the mining pool that has 28.6% of the total hash rate of the network, according to data from btc.com. The company clarified that it would provide more information about this announcement soon.

By: Jenson Nuñez

As a crypto bill entered a silent phase in Congress, the Federal Reserve said last week that it is evaluating the issuance of a digital dollar and will release a report on the matter soon.

The United States does not intend to fall behind in the central bank digital currency (CBDC) race, currently led by China. The country’s Federal Reserve (FED) is advancing the investigation of a digital dollar, as announced this week by President Jerome Powell. Meanwhile, a bill that slipped through Congress a few weeks ago also suggests plans for a digital currency.

The Most Comprehensive Crypto Bill

On July 29, one of the broadest cryptocurrency projects for regulatory measures in this sector appeared in the United States of America Congress. Among what the legislative proposal suggests, it would intend to set up rules for decentralized finance (DeFi), a ban on the issuance of stablecoins, and new powers would be granted to the FED, allowing it to create a digital dollar.

The law for the protection of investors and the structure of the digital asset market is a 58-page document from the representative Don Beyer, who has not expressed interest in cryptocurrencies.

Overall, the project desires to create a comprehensive regulatory regime for digital assets, covering some edges in a single proposal.

One of the terms of this proposal is that the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) would have to define which aspects of the cryptocurrency market fall under their respective jurisdictions.

On the other hand, one of the terms of the proposal by the SEC is to define what types of cryptocurrencies could be securities and which can be commodities.

Both issues have been at the center of discussions regarding the regulation of the sector in recent years. In this way, the project addresses a long-standing industry desire for regulatory clarity, as noted by Nikhilesh De in an article for CoinDesk.

Although the proposals seem favorable enough for this industry, the bill includes a ban on mixer services to avoid the anonymity associated with illegal behavior and a clause that could upset privacy advocates.

The Federal Reserve is Authorized to Issue a CBDC

One of the most prominent sections of Beyer’s project is that it broadly sets out how the United States of America should see stable coins. The United States of America should view digital assets as substitutes for dollars or other government-issued money. And in this regard, it seems to allow the FED to issue a CBDC based on Blockchain technology.

The bill explains that the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System can apply distributed ledger technology for the creation, distribution, and recording of all the operations that could involve digital Federal Reserve bills.

The bill went unnoticed by the digital currency community, possibly because his presentation ran in parallel with the controversy surrounding the crypto provision expanding current requirements for cryptocurrency users, included in the $ 1 trillion infrastructure bill.

By: Jenson Nuñez

China has banned cryptocurrencies in various ways over the years. People who use cryptocurrencies are now considered criminals.

China’s relationship with Bitcoin (BTC) and cryptocurrencies has been tense over the years. The activity seems to be partially legal. But this relationship appears to be reaching an end, as China has repeatedly tightened bans.

The most recent ban was a piece of advice by the People’s Bank of China, the largest central financial institution in that country, to remind all its citizens (and the world) that Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies are not allowed in their territory.

Any citizen or business that makes transactions would be engaging in illegal behavior, and would receive sanctions according to the laws, the authorities warned today.

In May 2021, China has prohibited Bitcoin at least seven times. The restrictions keep impacting various aspects of the use of cryptocurrencies, as well as in their markets.

The first restriction arrived early in 2013 when bitcoin was still fresh and was taking its first steps, and there were not many alternative cryptocurrencies.

On that occasion, the restrictions got applied against banks so that they did not allow transactions related to cryptocurrencies, like a purchase of BTC by bank transfer, for example.

Last June, the government again prohibited banks from allowing these transactions, which generated a commitment on these institutions to avoid said measure.

Also, in May 2021, institutions and payment applications stopped offering any service that would allow activities with cryptocurrencies. The market volatility of these assets got considered as one of the risks that justified the measure.

This type of justification has also appeared to apply the law. Due to a presumption of money laundering with cryptocurrencies, the authorities unveiled 380 groups and captured 2,400 suspects.

According to the authorities in charge of the case, the funds in cryptocurrencies had their origin in telephone fraud.

Bitcoin Exchanges got Banned from China

Another way to ban the use of BTC by China has been through merchants and businesses that use cryptocurrencies as payment methods. China has blocked the access point for products and services that bring users closer to cryptocurrencies.

Such is the case with cryptocurrency exchanges, which got banned in 2017. Since then, exchanges like Huobi and Binance have decided to distance themselves from China and base operations in other regulatory territories.

However, the authorities have followed up on this situation, and this month, access to the Binance website got blocked, preventing users in China from maintaining operations on this site.

Advertising on Bitcoin Banned in China

Recently, in July 2021, the authorities explained in detail that activities related to cryptocurrencies are prohibited, including trade shows, advertising pieces, and other activities and services. The companies have complied with the policies.

In this sense, it is also vital to consider the bans on holding public events on cryptocurrencies in hotels and shopping centers. The same problem has happened with ICOs (Initial Coin Offers), which got banned in 2017, but in February 2021, the ban acquired more strength due to a decree that came into effect in May.

By: Jenson Nuñez

Around 30% of citizens have used the Bitcoin wallet that the government of El Salvador created. Bukele stated that Chivo could do what traditional banks have not been able to do in four decades.

The Salvadoran government estimates more than 2 million people are using the Chivo Bitcoin (BTC) wallet. That is equivalent to almost 30% of the population of the Central American country and slightly less than nationally banked citizens.

President Nayib Bukele recently said that 2,100,000 people were active users of the wallet of the state. However, he stressed that that figure does not correspond to the number of downloads of the cell phone app.

The Global Findex Database 2017 is the research the Salvadoran government uses as a reference to estimate the reach of banking in the country. That report establishes that 30% of the population of El Salvador had a bank account at that time.

In addition, the state estimates of the Salvadoran population are 6,325,827 inhabitants this year. That figure makes the projection of Bukele about the percentage of the people that use Chivo understandable.

Estimates on the Adoption of BTC and the Chivo Wallet in El Salvador

The Banking Association of El Salvador recently published data on the monthly performance of national banks. However, those financial institutions usually do not clarify the exact number of customers that they have. The most that financial reports do is indicate the number of deposits, withdrawals, and credits, among other economic data.

However, the popularity of the Bitcoin Chivo ATM has been remarkable since its launch on September 7^th. When the Bitcoin Law entered into force, those devices began to operate, having difficulties that the government is still solving.

Bukele does not estimate the number of Chivo users only concerning the number of downloads of the app. The head of state could also be including the users of the Bitcoin Chivo ATMs. The number of those machines exceeds 200 units, which are in El Salvador and the United States.

Hundreds of people recently went to those ATMs but had to stand in long lines to use them. That phenomenon of Bitcoin adoption is an unprecedented event in the world.

Opponents of the government of Bukele and the establishment of Bitcoin as legal tender even set fire to some devices. That situation seems to lead to the majority rejection by citizens who use BTC. They see the usefulness of the pioneering cryptocurrency for personal finance, savings, shopping, business, and remittance transfers in El Salvador.

El Salvador first bought the cryptocurrency on September 6th, before the Bitcoin Law entered into force. With their latest acquisition of 150 BTC, they totaled 700 BTC in the state’s treasury.

In the last week, Bukele said that his government made a new acquisition of Bitcoin at a low cost. He stressed that he bought the dip and advised buying on the decline to avoid suffering losses. The head of state knows that the cryptocurrency is the solution for the Central American country.

By Willmen Blanco