Topic: China just made Bitcoin pretty useless within China (Read 12562 times)

Thanks for an insider viewpoint.

It should be interesting to see how this plays out.  I guess the ban is partially due to the huge growth of Bitcoin in China and the government's fear of what that will do to the banks etc.  But if there is still ways for the people to get money into the exchanges somehow then Bitcoin will still prosper.  People like to make money.    If there is an opportunity they will do whatever they can to take advantage of that.  I guess many of us are concerned about how it will not be more difficult for people to do that and it will cause the price to drop for quite a while until the demand can catch up in other places of the world.  China was such a huge driving force during this last peak in price.

My work here is done.

This is so true.

The Chinese have laws for everything and everyday, 1.4 billion people come up with new ways to circumvent those laws. There are laws on bribery, pollution, bigamy, local govt borrowing, more than one child etc.. Guess what? Those things happen every single day in china.

I speculate that rich Chinese will buy Btc so they can transfer and spend money outside the country in the near future when the Chinese economy finally cools down. It will be like an insurance policy for the rich.

The options are: official money transfer - limited sums. Via Macau, high conversion costs (10 to 20%?). Via Street conversion services (also high conversion cost). Via btcs (volatile unless immediately converted to another fiat or take a long term view).

The latter.

i havent read the whole thread --- is the OP for real or is this just trying to push the market down?

And how do you think they will stop me?

I have question: Is the U.S. dollar treated in the same way? i.e. it is not allowed to price things in USD and sell/buy stuff with it in China? If yes, how come Bitcoin is treated so differently from a traditional foreign currency?

Yes Im still claiming that BTC is useless within China. Someone above posted BTC China CEO's confirmation that goods and services can't be sold in BTC no matter who you are. The fact that you can no longer anonymously transact in BTC (which you could do before) takes a lot of the popular 'grey market' possibilities out as well. You also can't invest in it through any sort of retirement fund, IRA, financial service. This reduces Bitcoin's use in China to just speculating - I would call that 'pretty useless'.

Bitcoin is legal as a "virtual commodity" in China, this means you can basically use Bitcoin as a "store of value" or just for speculation purpose.
What you can not do anymore is using Bitcoin as a crypto-currency, this is, you can't buy/sell stuff with it.

I'm in China (shanghai) - bitcoin seems to be still working OK. Blockchain downloading as per usual.

Just bought a humble bundle with bitcoins and there are no Chinese police banging on my door.

Since paypal doesn't work in China, it was the only way I had to buy Humble Bundle anyway (along with the VPN I'm using that allows me to post anti government insidious material like this).

Seriously - no one in China gives a shit about what the law says - it's illegal to do everything, yet you can do basically anything you like.

http://www.reddit.com/r/Bitcoin/comments/1ssw8v/china_for_now_will_not_allow_goods_and_services/

I assume this kills all VC investment into btc companies in china.  since China is more than 50% of global btc trading volume.  what do we expect to see in the future in terms of price in China and the rest of the world?

my take is that we will still see mining and speculation but that the Chinese will eventually sell their coins.  i mean that's the only use for mining in China is to sell it for fiat.  if you can't purchase anything with it the only use is to exchange for fiat.  i assume that will start a downward pressure on the price.  we may have a bear market ahead of us.

except the list holders themselves want to get on the list as fast as humanly possible

7 days after , I come and read your posts.
And I see that you indeed deserved everything .
BTChina is still trading ,
Chinese are still buying,
This comes up http://www.hao123.com/bitcoin/

So , are you still claiming that BTC is useless in china?

QFT

Here's the thing.   Everybody already knew, from the very start, that governments would ban Bitcoin.
It was designed to operate rebelliously, and independent governments.  That's the entire point.
This is why everyone here "circle jerked" that this was good news.  Because Its  Exactly.  What.  They've.  Been.  Expecting.
You however, have been shortsighted.
You are the guy who sees only "right now", and doesn't understand the big picture.

You're correct that its very possible the bans may adversely affect Bitcoin for periods of time.
However you completely fail to see the entire purpose of Bitcoin, which kind of blows me away.
Are you really that unaware that it was designed to be fought, tooth and nail, by governments and banks?
You act like you just thought this up last week, and therefore you should be congratulated for your vast wisdom.
Nothing has happened that is unexpected.
And the market has responded by retaining Bitcoins value at a number that was considered *unfathomably high* just four weeks ago ($720).
Of course the Chinese news is bad news from the amateur's perspective.
For those who actually understand Bitcoin, and the steps it will need to take for growth, this is nothing but an indicator that we've moved into the next phase of growth.

I will be the first to admit that if all countries banned Bitcoin commerce at once, Bitcoin very well could be rendered impotent.
However just like the internet, every day that passes, it grows bigger, and bigger.
Every day that passes, more and more companies begin to build infrastructure around it.
More and more money pours in (millions and millions per day).
The longer they wait .... the harder it will be for it to ever be stopped.
The internet could have been stopped at some point too.  Very early on.
But could any single (or even group of) countr(ies) bring down the internet today?
There are too many banks, corporations, multi-trillion dollar companies invested in it.  Relying on it.
So will be the process with Bitcoin, I believe.

I have significant confidence that governments will not move quickly enough to have any permanently destructive effect on Bitcoin in the long run.
Chinese govt moves fast because Chinese govt does whatever the fuck it wants.
US government is so bogged down in special interest and "protecting freedoms" ... and red tape ... that it will be a long ... long time before anything is done here.
And by then ... it will probably be too late.
Not to mention, they just approved our politicians to receive campaign funds in Bitcoin, so now you have government officials heavily biased in favor of it, from top to bottom.

Growing pains.  Expected.  Good news.

-Burger-

This thread is completely wrong.

https://bitcointalksearch.org/topic/m.3873021

Are you the first one that sold though? Because this is what it counts 

First , I was the one that actually replied to your post so I know what you did.
The thing is , lots of people called China bad news , and I won't bet on you being the first.
I quit horse betting a while ago and I won't start again.

Bootlace you have to realize the majority of forum members come from deprived 3rd and 4th world countries you have to excuse their mental capacity. All they understand is Bitcoin made money Bitcoin good. They think Bitcoin will live forever where 9 out of 10 times the first company in a new industry gets replaced. Let them enjoy their stupidity and we can come back a few years later and abuse them.

If they haven't moved on to the next greatest thing that will never get replaced because its the greatest in history and nothing can replace it.

Lets see if I got this right.

China releases announcement.
Everyone circle jerks over how this is actually good news (http://imgur.com/3TAAoon)
I come on here and make the first real thread saying why this is bad news and implications.
I get crucified, called a bunch of names, ignored, etc
A day later I stick by my guns and predict that price will slide down to mid hundreds.
Several hours later Chinese vendors remove BTC pricing (as I predicted).
BTC crashes to mid hundreds.
Now I come on here and see people are still talking shit about me?!


Cmon man, what you want me to say at this point..