- Founder of TRON, Justin Sun, has urged the Chinese authorities to “learn from the US” by softening their crypto stance.
- Similarly, a professor at the Hong Kong University of Science believes that the Chinese authorities should have taken up shares in domestic crypto-mining firms instead of banning them.
The outspoken TRON’s founder Justin Sun has called on the People’s Republic of China to formally rescind its crypto ban decision following the recent presence of the asset class in the US presidential election campaigns.
According to Sun, the country should step up and take a cue from the US acceptance of Bitcoin for the maximum benefit of the industry.
Since President Trump pushed for Bitcoin, U.S. policies have warmed. China should make further progress in this area. Competition between China and the U.S. in Bitcoin policy will benefit the entire industry.
In 2019, the Chinese regulatory body imposed a complete ban on all crypto trading, however, residents continued to engage online through foreign trading platforms.
Over the years, Beijing banned banks and payment firms from processing services related to crypto. Later, these restrictions were extended to crypto mining, causing the Bitcoin price to tank by 30% in a single day in 2021. According to a CNF article, the Chinese authorities cited the protection of consumers and the maintenance of economic, financial, and social order as the reasons for this ruthless decision.
Agreeing with the position of Justin Sun, a professor at Hong Kong University of Science Wang Yang has also questioned the rationale behind the decision to ban crypto mining. According to him, this decision could be costly as it drives related businesses to the US, contributing to the US tax income.
Per his analysis, it would have been prudent to rather direct state-owned enterprises to take up shares in domestic crypto-mining firms. In this way, it would have been able to control associated risks such as capital outflows and money laundering.
Hong Kong’s Crypto Hub Ambition Under Threat, Justin Sun Compares China and US Crypto Policies
The strict measures imposed on crypto have cast a shadow of doubt over the possibility of Hong Kong becoming a crypto hub. Recently, it was reported that local affiliates of mainland China-linked crypto exchanges such as OKX, Gate.io, KuCoin, Binance, and HTX have withdrawn their applications for a Virtual Asset Trading Platform license in the region.
Regardless, optimism continues to grow as we earlier reported, following Sun’s victory in the defamation case in the People’s Court of China. This case started with Sun accusing Chongqing Business Media Group of defamation after publishing articles to portray him as a fraudster who constantly evades authorities in China and the US. Prior to the ruling, doubts were cast on Sun getting a fair verdict amid China’s anti-crypto stance.
Comparing China’s crypto policy to the US, the TRON’s founder stated:
Of course, some regulators are very conservative about cryptocurrency or cryptocurrency policies, but overall the court, the government doesn’t have a discriminatory policy [to crypto]at all.
At press time, Bitcoin (BTC) was trading at $69,412 after making a 3% run up the price curve in the past 24 hours.