

Chinese government says Bitcoin cannot be used as currency - MKais
http://www.techinasia.com/chinese-government-bitcoin-currency/

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lingben
This was very much expected as China has strict financial liquidity controls
and bitcoin was being used expressly to bypass the same and take money out of
the system. The Chinese government isn't stupid.

~~~
nkuttler
Yeah, no sane person would have expected BTC to become legal tender in China
soon. Very nice that they acknowledge BTC and say that trading it is fine.
This is really good news and the article is just trying to make up a negative
story.

~~~
lingben
Sure, they acknowledge it to be on par with WoW points. They can't stop people
from bartering with it, just like they can't stop people from bartering with
chickens or eggs. What the central bank has done is shut bitcoins out of the
formal Chinese financial and banking system.

Which means it is an interesting digital phenomena but definitely not a
currency.

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theklub
Some people will sell, but in reality this is a great time to buy assuming the
price slumps a little.

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shocks
Is this current crash related to this news?

[http://bitcoinwisdom.com/](http://bitcoinwisdom.com/)

~~~
cheesylard
It is impossible to definitively give a reason as to why something as
uncontrollable as Bitcoin changes in price.

But yeah, probably.

~~~
charlesism
Well, if ever it were possible to definitively give reasons, this would be the
time.

When you have, on the same day:

a) Greenspan's announcement saying bitcoin is a bubble, and using the "no
intrinsic value" argument

b) China effectively banning bitcoin (not that we have the specifics to say
that "ban" is the best term yet)

...it's not going to do wonders for the price.

~~~
gohrt
Both (a) and (b) have been stated forever. (b) was just common knowledge,
clarified with an official announcement today.

~~~
cheesylard
Yeah, but Bitcoin's price is not based purely on logic. It is also based on
emotion.

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thelogical123
I am still waiting for bitcoin to crash.. it going to be fucking epic.. _so
much fun_

~~~
TomGullen
Schadenfreude?

~~~
coldtea
No, they feeling of being verified for what is a very obvious belief, compared
to people going for the gold rush like fools...

~~~
gohrt
For ever fool who loses money in the gold rush, there is a genius who made
money.

~~~
dragonwriter
> For ever fool who loses money in the gold rush, there is a genius who made
> money.

More accurately (but still drawn with a broad brush),for every 1,000 fools who
lost $1000 in the gold rush, there is a genius who made $1,000,000 selling
shovels and services to the fools (and a bunch of people who were gainfully
employed by that genius who would have been gainfully employed doing something
else without the gold rush and didn't really gain or lose financially.)

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gohrt
This seems to be a way of saying that, unlike USD which has a controlled
exchange rate on the public/legal markets, you can't just pay your bills in
BTC because the person you are paying _has no way to determine what the BTC
are worth_ , so you have to covert them to official currency.

What other decision is possible? To have an official govertment exchange rate
posted for banks to use? That would be insane, with BTC's volatility.

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gohrt
Can Chinese use pesos for paying mortgages and investments? Is BTC different
from any foreign currency in this regard? (Except perhaps USD, which are
special)

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blahbl4hblahtoo
Ummm...good luck with that China.

~~~
coldtea
Good luck? It's a done deal.

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knowitall
What exactly does that mean? Is it illegal to, say, pay for a house in eggs (I
give you 1 million eggs for this house)? Any kind of barter is illegal?

~~~
gutnor
In addition of other comments about Chinese economic control.

There is plenty of regulation for bartering in most countries. Like for a
house, you local IRS will have something to say if you exchange your house and
dodge taxes like that.

Taxes is the key issue in our economies.

~~~
knowitall
Sure dodging taxes is of course illegal. But you don't have to dodge taxes
just because you barter.

