Even though China is one of the countries spearheading the fight against decentralized cryptocurrencies, previous BTCC CEO, Bobby Lee, is hopeful that the country will eventually become more accepting of the industry.
Think ‘Bitcoin banning’, and your mind probably goes directly to China. The country has been vocal in its disdain for the cryptocurrency industry. In proving that its bite is indeed worse than its bark, it banned ICOs and closed down Bitcoin exchanges.
High Hopes of China Changing Its Stance
One such platform, BTCC, was the country’s longest-running Bitcoin exchange, and one of the first to find itself in the firing line. However, according to CNBC, the CEO and co-founder of the platform, Bobby Lee, believes that China will change its mind and veto its previous crypto bans.
He had this to say:
In this world, nothing is ever permanent. One day I think it’s possible they’ll lift the ban, so called, and they might reinstitute it and license it.
Even though Lee remains positive in his outlook, he doesn’t have a date as to when this might happen:
Frankly speaking, I don’t know what kind of time frame that is, whether it’s a few months, a few years or even a few decades, so it’s hard to tell.
Lee also made reference to the fact that Bitcoin was not only seemingly unfazed by China’s bans, it actually made the currency perform even better:
The more the governments and the regulators tried to put a squeeze on Bitcoin, the more we see that Bitcoin is actually resilient.
Increase in Regulations
Some countries, while not banning cryptocurrencies outright, are instead setting up regulatory frameworks. South Korea is reportedly set to prohibit anonymous user accounts used in crypto trading.
Even though Lee might be hoping for a Chinese change-around, the country itself shows no evidence of this. In fact, the South China Morning Post reported that the People’s Daily, which is known as being the puppet publication of the Communist Party, had this to say:
Irrespective of whether it is assessed on price or value, Bitcoin is flooded with froth.
Supply and Demand to Influence Future Bitcoin Price
In addition to discussing his hope that China will change its mind, Lee also touched on Bitcoin’s possible price journey for this year:
Today we’re at only 1,800 of newly mined Bitcoin of every day. That used to be 7,200 as recently as five years ago. So, in just a few short, maybe two-and-a-half more years, we’ll see the supply go down again to only 900 bitcoins a day.
He went on to explain:
So, if you talk about multi-million dollars of inflow with only new supply of 900 bitcoins a day, you can imagine where prices could be at in three, five, or 10 years.
Lee is currently not in the exchange business, focusing rather on other ventures including working on Mobi, which is a global multicurrency crypto wallet “so we have a global play for wallets and we’re no longer focused on just being an exchange business,” Lee explained.
Do you think China will lift its crypto ban in the future? Let us know in the comments below!
Images and media courtesy of Shutterstock, CNBC