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China Cracks Down On Bitcoin, Cuts Off Exchanges' Bank Access

Posted by timothy on from the state-is-still-not-your-friend dept.

jfruh (300774) writes "Bitcoin has made many governments and regulators uncomfortable, and the Chinese government is responding to the challenge it poses with its usual lack of subtlety. Two Chinese bitcoin exchanges have found themselves cut off from the money economy, as Chinese banks, under pressure from the government, refuse to do business with them."

6 of 100 comments (clear)

  1. Chinese getting uncomfortable... by korbulon · · Score: 2, Insightful

    with the idea of someone else cutting in on their currency manipulation business. Yuan? You can't have.

    1. Re:Chinese getting uncomfortable... by i+kan+reed · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Or you know, a well known totalitarian government stamping out a black market currency, you know, to control their citizens, like they've been doing forever.

    2. Re:Chinese getting uncomfortable... by ackthpt · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Or you know, a well known totalitarian government stamping out a black market currency, you know, to control their citizens, like they've been doing forever.

      Funny how they can be all quiet on things like this, then go at them like a rancor beast.

      Fear is a great motivator. Anything they can't control makes their fearful.

      --

      A feeling of having made the same mistake before: Deja Foobar
    3. Re:Chinese getting uncomfortable... by lgw · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Communist economies are fake economies. Always. In the bad days of the USSR, you couldn't buy anything you really wanted with Rubles, but of course anything else was quite illegal. China today isn't nearly as bad, and they have a mix of genuine capitalist (owned by individuals, not the government) business and government business, so you can buy some stuff with the yuan. But they still have too much fake economy to allow people to legally buy and sell as they wish, and the black market is still a big deal and threatens government control.

      Contrast that to the US, where the only large black market is for drugs, and it's arguable whether anything significant would change if the popular drugs were legalized. It certainly wouldn't bring down the government.

      --
      Socialism: a lie told by totalitarians and believed by fools.
    4. Re:Chinese getting uncomfortable... by lgw · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Please learn what capital controls are. You may also realize that Iceland is not a communist country, yet, it has similar capital controls as the old Soviet Union.

      The 2008 Icelandic financial crash was quite possibly the largest financial collapse in history (bigger ones await us, of course, when the sovereign debt bubble eventually pops, but Iceland was a big deal). The IMF really helped out there, mostly thanks to Scandi generosity and the awesomely great decision to not bail out the banks there. If only we had been so wise.

      So, yes, Iceland has significant capital controls to keep the dressings on the wounds while they heal. But Iceland's looking a lot better now, and the capital controls have perhaps overstayed their welcome. In any case, they had nothing at all to do with Communism, and it was still quite legal to buy consumer goods with krona on free markets - there weren't consumer controls AFAIK. Of course, the sharply fall in the krona meant imports fell sharply in practice, but local businesses that weren't banks kept going as always, though of course hurt by the general economy.

      I wander how much stuff there would be in Walmart if China indicated they would no longer accept USD for goods, but only Euro or Yuan.

      Well, a really significant (if gradually shrinking) chunk of China's economy, perhaps still the majority, is making stuff for the US. If they suddenly stopped doing that, China would implode.

      China is slowly growing away from that, and the US is slowly bringing manufacturing back home (to robots, don't expect any new manufacturing jobs ... anywhere, ever). As long as it's gradual, it's fine. But no one anywhere would benefit from suddenly destabilizing that, so no one will.

      --
      Socialism: a lie told by totalitarians and believed by fools.
  2. Idiots: by mythosaz · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Anyone keeping coins in an exchange for any longer than necessary to exchange them is an idiot.