China makes using cryptocurrency a crime – again

China has again cracked down on cryptocurrencies – this time with a Supreme People's Court ruling that paves the way for criminal prosecution of those who conduct cryptocurrency transactions. The Thursday ruling by the court centers on "illegal fund raising." In China that term refers to raising money by non-conventional means …

[Anonymous Coward]

But....

Is it a capital offence?

[Phil O'Sophical]

Re: But....

It's certainly generating a lot of interest.

[David 132]

Re: But....

It's the principal that matters.

[dafe]

Nothing about the digital Yuen? Or about anti-cartel measures? Or about how Kosovo and Kazakhstan oppose DeFi simply because of the high energy cost?

[Spasticus Autisticus]

'. . . for the greater good' of the CCP - not necessarily for China or the Chinese people.

Pooh would like to make the weather illegal - he finds that hard to control too but has made attempts at it.

[Anonymous Coward]

Déjà vu

All sorts of authoritarian regimes across the world, from China to Canada, have tried banning crypto multiple times yet still the major coins retain their value relative to fiat currencies.

It's almost as if the masses are keen on the idea of having a store of wealth outside the clutches of the globalist central banks. Funny that!

[martinusher]

Re: Déjà vu

For any kind of currency to be useful you have to be able to convert it to goods and services or exchange it for another form of currency. Its actually a form of security, a note that can get traded, diced and sliced by traders and as such its worth exactly how much someone else is prepared to pay for it. Its not a practical exchange medium because of its high transaction costs -- you'd be better off buying things with stock certificates.

People forget that most of the investments they 'own' are not actually held by them, they're held by a financial institution on their behalf. There's a bunch of reasons for this, one being that you have to trade in blocks of shares (100s). The crypto traders who offer the same to the public are doing just that -- they may own, directly or indirectly, the actual entity and they resell it to retail punters, making money off fees and spreads like any other financial instrument. These entities are highly regulated (believe it or not) -- governments don't like unregulated trading because they can't tax it and they can't monitor it.

>having a store of wealth outside the clutches of the globalist central banks

That's why real estate is so popular (and expensive). Crypto requires a rather sophisticated infrastructure to operate and it has no inherent value so many people think of it as a Ponzi scheme.