China’s Love-Hate Bitcoin Drama Ends Badly

China’s Love-Hate Bitcoin Drama Ends Badly

A pedestrian walks past signage for Ethereum and bitcoin outside the Hong Kong Digital Asset ... [+] Exchange in Hong Kong, China, on June 24, 2021. Watching the cryptocurrency game play out in China, it's hard not to think about Charlie Brown, Lucy and the football. Charles Schultz's "Peanuts" cartoon says more about the herd behavior of crypto enthusiasts than meets the eye. Every time, Lucy convinces Charlie she'll hold the ball for him to kick. Each time, she yanks it away at the last second, with Charlie landing flat on his back pondering his gullibility. Bullishness on bitcoin and its peers often seems that way. China, of course, is Lucy here. In recent years, no country seemed more enthusiastic about crypto assets“”both mining and trading“”than China, where the first wave of important exchanges popped up. Time and time again, though, President Xi Jinping's regulators have yanked away the market's growth and potential“”often quite suddenly. Now, it seems as if Xi's team wants to hide the ball for good. After banning mining and trading, it's going after the fintech and retail giants that might give crypto holders the impression they could actually do something with their wealth. The People's Bank