China's fight against bitcoin

1. In order to protect the property rights and interests of the public, protect the legal tender status of RMB, prevent the risk of money laundering, and maintain financial stability, the people's Bank of China, the Ministry of instry and information technology, China Banking Regulatory Commission, China Securities Regulatory Commission, and the Recently, China Insurance Regulatory Commission jointly issued the notice of the Ministry of instry and information technology of the people's Bank of China, China Banking Regulatory Commission, China Securities Regulatory Commission and China Insurance Regulatory Commission on the prevention of bitcoin risk (YF [2013] No. 289, hereinafter referred to as the "notice")

the notice defines the nature of bitcoin, and holds that bitcoin is not issued by the monetary authority, has no monetary attributes such as legal compensation and compulsion, and is not a real currency. In terms of nature, bitcoin is a specific virtual commodity, which does not have the same legal status as currency and cannot and should not be used as currency in the market. However, bitcoin trading as a commodity trading behavior on the Internet, ordinary people have the freedom to participate at their own risk

the notice requires that at this stage, all financial institutions and Payment institutions shall not price procts or services with bitcoin, buy or sell bitcoin as a central counterparties, underwrite insurance business related to bitcoin or include bitcoin into the scope of insurance liability, and provide other bitcoin related services to customers directly or indirectly, Including: providing bitcoin registration, trading, clearing, settlement and other services for customers; Accept bitcoin or use bitcoin as a payment and settlement tool; Carry out bitcoin and RMB and foreign currency exchange services; Carry out bitcoin storage, custody, mortgage and other services; Issuing financial procts related to bitcoin; Take bitcoin as the investment target of trust, fund, etc

according to the notice, the bitcoin Internet website, as the main trading platform of bitcoin, shall be filed with the telecommunications administration according to the provisions of the Telecommunications Regulations of the people's Republic of China and the measures for the administration of Internet information services. At the same time, in view of bitcoin's high risk of money laundering and being used by criminals, the notice requires relevant institutions to perform the legal anti money laundering obligations such as customer identification and suspicious transaction report in accordance with the anti money laundering law of the people's Republic of China, so as to effectively prevent the money laundering risks related to bitcoin

in order to avoid excessive speculation of virtual commodities such as bitcoin in the name of "virtual currency" and damage the public interest and the legal tender status of RMB, the circular requires financial institutions and Payment institutions to correctly use the concept of currency in their daily work, pay attention to strengthening the ecation of the public's knowledge of currency, and correctly understand the concept of currency The concept of correctly treating virtual commodity and virtual currency, rational investment, reasonable control of investment risk, and maintenance of their own property security should be included in the content of financial knowledge popularization activities, so as to guide the public to establish a correct concept of currency and investment

in the future, the people's Bank of China will continue to pay close attention to the trend and related risks of bitcoin based on its own responsibilities End)

bitcoin home has an interpretation.

2. First, bitcoin is not issued by the monetary authority. It does not have the monetary attributes of legal compensation and compulsion. It is not a real currency. Here, we have to compare the properties of bitcoin and currency. Take bitcoin as an example, it belongs to a virtual asset of the network, and there is no specific issuing institution, while bitcoin is calculated by network nodes. In contrast, money is a commodity separated from commodities and fixed as a general equivalent. As a result, bitcoin cannot replace traditional currency. Today, management has made it clear that bitcoin is not a real currency, that is, it denies the currency status of bitcoin. Second, bitcoin websites should earnestly fulfill the legal anti money laundering obligations such as customer identification and suspicious transaction reporting, and effectively prevent the money laundering risks related to bitcoin. As a virtual asset of network, bitcoin has an unpredictable regulatory risk. Due to the anonymity and decentralization of the ownership and circulation of bitcoin, it is difficult to guess the regulatory risk of bitcoin. With the significant improvement of bitcoin's global influence, it has graally become a place for some criminals to commit money laundering and other violations. Undeniably, this also provides an effective way to deal with the regulatory loopholes of bitcoin. Third, all financial institutions and Payment institutions are not allowed to carry out business related to bitcoin, price procts or services with bitcoin, buy or sell bitcoin or act as central counterparties. In essence, the management prevents a series of unpredictable problems by blocking the bitcoin related business of financial institutions. Of course, this move is to a greater extent considered from the perspective of national strategy.

4.

There is no law in China to ban bitcoin, so it is not illegal to mine and earn bitcoin

it is not illegal to buy bitcoin in China. In 2013, five ministries and commissions jointly issued the bitcoin risk notice, which states that although bitcoin does not belong to legal tender and is not legally compulsory, people can freely participate in bitcoin trading activities when they voluntarily undertake risks

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"notice" clearly defines the nature of bitcoin, and holds that bitcoin is not issued by the monetary authority, has no monetary attributes such as legal compensation and mandatory, and is not a real currency. In terms of nature, bitcoin is a specific virtual commodity, which does not have the same legal status as currency and cannot and should not be used as currency in the market

however, as a kind of commodity trading on the Internet, ordinary people have the freedom to participate in bitcoin trading at their own risk

the notice requires that at this stage, financial institutions and Payment institutions shall not price procts or services with bitcoin, buy or sell bitcoin as a central counterparties, underwrite insurance business related to bitcoin or include bitcoin in the scope of insurance liability, and provide other bitcoin related services to customers directly or indirectly, Including: providing bitcoin registration, trading, clearing, settlement and other services for customers; Accept bitcoin or use bitcoin as a payment and settlement tool; Carry out bitcoin and RMB and foreign currency exchange services; Carry out bitcoin storage, custody, mortgage and other services; Issuing financial procts related to bitcoin; Take bitcoin as the investment target of trust, fund, etc

in order to avoid over hype of virtual commodities such as bitcoin in the name of "virtual currency" and damage the public interest and the legal tender status of RMB, the circular requires financial institutions and Payment institutions to correctly use the concept of currency in their daily work, pay attention to strengthening the ecation of the public's knowledge of currency, and correctly understand the concept of currency The concept of correctly treating virtual commodity and virtual currency, rational investment, reasonable control of investment risk, and maintenance of their own property security should be included in the content of financial knowledge popularization activities, so as to guide the public to establish a correct concept of currency and investment

source of reference: People's website bitcoin network virtual currency