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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."

5 of 100 comments (clear)

  1. Sink or swim moment by Lost+Race · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Well, this is it -- an early test of whether Bitcoin can stand on its own as an underground currency. The crutch of traditional currency exchange has been kicked out from under it. Will the bitcoins currently in China be abandoned? smuggled out? or actually used as money like Satoshi intended?

    1. Re:Sink or swim moment by jeffmflanagan · · Score: 2, Interesting

      They'll be sold on LocalBitcoins.com. Most of the sellers accepting Western Union are either in China or Vietnam. I don't think the Chinese government can stop its citizens from receiving WU transfers without raising all kinds of hell.

  2. Re:The Sky is falling! by jeffmflanagan · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Or he just accurately noticed that the commodity has lost value on the exchanges, has no intrinsic value, and may crash completely. Bitcoincharts is down at the moment, but according to other sites, the value has fallen all the way to $455 per btc, which if I recall correctly was at about $550 per btc last Friday. It wasn't that long ago that it was at $1000 per btc.

  3. Unsubtle how? by St.Creed · · Score: 4, Interesting

    If the Chinese government had been unsubtle, the police would have arrested the owners and they'd be doing hard labour in a punishment camp in Tibet right now. Telling banks to stop doing business with them is a very very moderate slap on the wrist for people who've been slightly naughty.

    --
    Therefore, by the (faulty) logic you're using, you're just a cow with a keyboard - osu-neko (2604)
  4. Bitcoin is the Segway of money by Animats · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Bitcoin is about as important as the Segway. Bitcoin works, and it does what it's supposed to do - allow one-way irrevocable value transfers between anonymous parties. That's a poor basis for practical commerce, although a boon to a broad range of crooks. It's especially bad that over half of Bitcoin exchanges have gone bust, despite the fact that they shouldn't be at financial risk.

    It looks like Bitcoin will be around for a while, but it's not growing. The block chain transaction rate now is about what it was a year ago. Like the Segway, Bitcoin is kind of cool, and has niche applications, but it's not changing the world.