05/30 update below. This post was originally published on May 27
BitcoinBTC, ethereum and other major cryptocurrencies have struggled to regain momentum this year despite some of the world’s biggest companies quietly laying the ground work for the next crypto price bull run.
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The bitcoin price rally this year has stalled as fears rise the U.S. could crack down on bitcoin and other major cryptocurrencies ethereum, BNB, XRP, cardano, dogecoin, polygon and solana.
Now, after TeslaTSLA billionaire Elon Musk issued a surprise crypto warning this week, Changpeng “CZ” Zhao, the chief executive of the world’s largest crypto exchange Binance, has predicted China could be about to trigger the next bitcoin price bull run.
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“China Central Television just broadcasted crypto,” CZ posted to Twitter alongside a link to CCTV’s website that showed a TV segment that featured a bitcoin ATM in Hong Kong and a sign that said “buy bitcoins.”
“It’s a big deal,” CZ said. “The Chinese-speaking communities are buzzing. Historically, coverages like these led to bull runs.”
China has had a fraught relationship with bitcoin, ethereum and other cryptocurrencies over the years, repeatedly cracking down on it. In 2021, China enacted its strictest crypto trading and mining ban yet, ejecting all bitcoin, ethereum and crypto miners from the country.
05/30 update: CZ followed up his China ad Twitter post with comments on a new paper published by “the Beijing government tech committee” that touted the possibilities of so-called web3 technology—generally understood to be a decentralized, blockchain-based internet that some think could replace the Silicon Valley-centric web 2.0 that’s dominated by the likes of Google’s Alphabet and Facebook’s Meta.
“Interesting timing on this Web 3.0 white paper from the Beijing government tech committee,” CZ posted to Twitter alongside photos of the document and adding it “talks a lot about NFTs [non-fungible tokens], VR, AI, metaverse, etc. Looks like ByteDance, JD, Baidu
BIDU each have their sections. [Crypto pioneer] Gavin Wood and [digital artist] Beeple [were] mentioned too.”
Justin Sun, an influential advisor to the bitcoin and crypto exchange Huobi
HT as well as the creator of cryptocurrency tron, and Animoca Brands co-founder and chairman Yat Siu also praised the report, according to the South China Morning Post.
Hong Kong followed China in clamping down on bitcoin and crypto trading platforms but has recently adopted a new crypto licensing regime that will allow the trading of established cryptocurrencies such as bitcoin and ethereum from June 1.
The new rules will require all trading platforms and exchanges to apply for a licence or risk fines and jail terms.
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“A significant majority of respondents agreed to our proposal to allow licensed trading platform operators to serve retail investors,” Honk Kong’s Securities and Futures Commission (SFC) said in a statement this week.
“The SFC will implement a number of robust measures to protect these investors including ensuring suitability in the onboarding process, good governance, enhanced token due diligence, admission criteria and disclosures.”
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