In its latest assault on cryptocurrency, the Chinese government has blocked multiple crypto-related accounts on Weibo, the Chinese blogging platform, with more steps expected to follow, “including linking illegal crypto activities in China more directly with the country’s criminal law.”
As Reuters reported, “Over the weekend, access to several widely followed crypto-related Weibo accounts was denied, with a message saying each account ‘violates laws and rules.’” A bitcoin commentator known as “Woman Dr. bitcoin mini” on Weibo wrote that “It’s a Judgement Day for crypto KOL.” Chinese authorities blocked the account of the Key Opinion Leader (KOL) on Saturday.
After a large number of cryptocurrency KOLs were blocked in China, the price of bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies fell.
“Bitcoin’s sharp drop of 5% may be related to China’s Twitter Weibo ban on accounts involving crypto. But at present, it seems that accounts not involved in ads of exchanges have not been blocked,” tweeted Chinese cryptocurrency journalist Colin Wu.
Meanwhile, Dovey Wan, founding partner of Primitive Ventures, provided a full list of crypto accounts that were shut down, noting that they included “A mix of influencers, too traders, miners, media outlet and wallets.”
“Exchange Weibo accts have been shutdown long ago,” Wan added. “This time is much more widely cleansing it seems like, many industry players like wallets, individual influencers, media outlet, top traders and even meme accts are all shut.”
This is not a full list just some notable ones
Exchange Weibo accts have been shutdown long ago
This time is much more widely cleansing it seems like, many industry players like wallets, individual influencers, media outlet, top traders and even meme accts are all shut
— Dovey “Rug The Fiat” Wan🪐🦖 (@DoveyWan) June 5, 2021
The latest move by Chinese authorities comes just weeks after their actions lead to a crash in the cryptocurrency market, with the market cap losing nearly $1 trillion.
Yahoo! Finance explained in mid-May that the sharp decline followed China’s decision to ban “financial and payment institutions from providing cryptocurrency services.” According to the BBC, the communist regime also “warned investors against speculative crypto trading.”
Popular cryptocurrencies Bitcoin and Ethereum “posted their largest one-day drop since March last year,” according to Reuters, “with losses in the market capitalization for the entire cryptocurrency sector approaching $1 trillion.”
Despite being priced at over $58,000 earlier in the month, Bitcoin plunged to just under $32,000, with a 24-hour low of $30,201.96, according to Coindesk.
In addition to the environmental concerns raised by cryptocurrency mining, China is planning to launch a national digital currency, “controlled by the central bank and designed to counter cryptocurrencies.”
“Bitcoin enthusiasts prize the cryptocurrency as beyond the reach of any government. Yet up to three-quarters of the world’s supply has been produced in just one country, China, where a government push to curtail output is now causing global bitcoin turbulence,” reported The Wall Street Journal.
Bitcoin also plunged 12% earlier in May after Elon Musk announced that Tesla would cease accepting the coin, with the news wiping $365 billion from the cryptocurrency market.
“Tesla has suspended vehicle purchases using Bitcoin. We are concerned about rapidly increasing use of fossil fuels for Bitcoin mining and transactions, especially coal, which has the worst emissions of any fuel,” wrote Musk.
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Source: Dailywire
