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Beijing moves to ban Bitcoin banking

Global Times （2013-12-06 P02）

By Chen Tian

China has decided to ban all financial and payment institutions from establishing any Bitcoin services, as the digital currency carries high risks, the People's Bank of China (PBC) said in a notice released Thursday.

The PBC, China's central bank, said in the notice that Bitcoin "is a virtual product, does not carry equal legal status as fiat currencies, and cannot and should not be circulated in the market as a fiat currency."

Although there is no official data, several foreign independent Bitcoin trading websites and forums show that more than half of the world's Bitcoin transactions are done in China and the country has the most active trading network globally.

The price of a Bitcoin stood at 80 yuan ($13.1) on Chinese Bitcoin trading platform btcchina.com on January 1, and it skyrocketed by nearly 90 times to more than 6,900 yuan early Thursday.

The dramatic surge in the value of Bitcoins, a peer-to-peer virtual currency, attracted tens of thousands of Chinese investors to cash in the market, hoping to earn fat profits within a short period of time.

However, the digital currency is a risky speculation mechanism, because there is no limit to the digital currency's price swings, and also because investors are not protected against possible glitches of the trading or storage of Bitcoins, according to the notice.

Bitcoin, introduced in 2008, functions without the intervention of a central authority and is traded in a 24-hour global market. The currency is generated, or "mined," through complicated computer algorithms and the total number of Bitcoins that can be mined is capped at 21 million, a limit expected to be reached in 2140. Currently, 57 percent of Bitcoins have been created, the Guardian reported.

The notice required financial and payment institutions not to price their products or services with Bitcoins, to accept or issue insurances to insure Bitcoins, or to buy, sell or facilitate transactions of Bitcoins.

Nonetheless, the authorities did not act to curtail investors engaging in the trading of Bitcoins online at their own risk.

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