Chinese Citizens Find Ways to Circumvent Crypto Ban

Despite China's ban on cryptocurrency operations, evidence shows that its citizens have found ways to keep dealing with digital assets. The demand for crypto in China seems to be unaffected, with a monthly value of crypto flowing into China standing at $17 billion, according to data from a  Crypto intelligence firm. The collapse of FTX exchange, which plunged the market into a downward spiral and resulted in a total value loss of $200 billion, shows that 8% of the defunct exchange's customer base were Chinese citizens. While theoretically crypto trading is outlawed for Chinese at home and abroad, it is hard to enforce.

Investigations reveal that Chinese investors have been trading on platforms like Binance and OKX. Although these transactions might have been executed using a virtual private network, the investors claim to have completed the exchange's registration process using Chinese identification. Furthermore, reports indicate that prominent crypto exchange Huobi once offered citizens of the Asian nation the option of accessing its platform with digital identities as Dominican citizens.

The People's Bank of China has not issued any comments on the evidence that Chinese citizens continue to trade cryptocurrencies. Meanwhile, many speculate that Beijing may be mulling over a reversal of the crypto ban. These discussions are mainly fueled by the crypto-friendly stance shown by China's special administrative region, Hong Kong, which is believed to be quietly backed by mainland China. Moreover, the advent of more Chinese-regulatory-compliant tokens, like Conflux (CFX), is likely to prompt the government to loosen its restrictions.

If the crypto ban in China is lifted, it would result in a massive rise in the adoption levels of cryptocurrencies.