The Chinese Central Bank has asked other banks to stop accepting bitcoin payments. The day before, China cut off electricity to companies that mine bitcoin. Meanwhile, bitcoin is approaching the critical threshold of $ 30,000.
The measurements multiply and… look alike. China has once again asked its banks, even more insistently, to stop accepting payments in bitcoin, we learn in a Reuters article from June 21, 2021. It is the Chinese Central Bank which says it has ” summoned »Other banks (including Alipay and the China Construction Bank) to call them back to order.
Alipay immediately complied, signaling in a Weibo (Chinese social network) post, as CNBC reports, that it was going “ continue to conduct full investigations and tackle all virtual currency transactions. “
The Chinese government’s pressure on cryptocurrencies has been around for several years, but it has intensified greatly since mid-May 2021, when three benchmark Chinese banking federations urged others not to ” not accept […] or use cryptocurrencies As a means of payment. Worse, they claimed that virtual currencies do not ” are backed by no real value “.
Then, on June 21, the country asked to cut off the electricity of several mines, in particular in the region of Sichuan, one of the regions of the south of China where the mining activities are most intense.
Bitcoin continues to oscillate
Bitcoin has been experiencing big shocks on the stock market for a few months: after having risen sharply at the end of 2020, it has tended to fall again since May 2021, because of signals sent by very powerful entities, whether it is the billionaire Elon Musk, obsessed with cryptocurrencies, or Beijing, which, on the other hand, is doing everything to prevent bitcoin from gaining momentum. After these latest announcements from China, the virtual currency took another hit, falling nearly 10% in 24 hours on Monday, June 21.
Since June 16, the price continues to decline.
In one week, bitcoin has gone from around $ 40,000 to $ 31,000, still approaching the symbolic $ 30,000 mark, which many investors watch with concern. If bitcoin were to fall below this threshold, then industry experts consider that the currency could tumble even more, much faster, until, perhaps, to return to its low value of 6,000 / 7,000 dollars. that it dragged on between 2018 and 2021.
According to China, cryptos have far too volatile potential, which creates market instability and generates too much uncertainty, financially. To be sure, virtual currencies are by definition not tangible assets – buying bitcoins is not the same as buying shares in a company that creates value (goods or services). The price of cryptocurrencies tends to experience closely spaced highs and lows, as these currencies are the subject of a lot of speculation, both individuals and businesses. The signals sent by China, as well as the awareness of the disastrous ecological impact of bitcoin mining, are not helping to stabilize them.
