- Bitcoin cannot be used as a currency in China, but it is still not illegal.
- A non-profit organization, the Beijing Arbitration Commission, explained what Bitcoin really is.
- According to local laws, BTC is a virtual commodity — not a currency or virtual property.
No one will be surprised to hear that China doesn’t have the best stance towards Bitcoin. After all, it did not really keep its negative stance towards the coin a secret, despite the fact that the majority of BTC is being mined inside the country.
However, it never fully banned it, either. In fact, its Beijing Arbitration Commission (BAC) recently published a report that clears things up.
The new report came after the arrest of the leaders of the PlusToken Ponzi scheme, which resulted in the theft of nearly $3 billion in various cryptos.
What is Bitcoin and what can be done with it in China?
According to the report, China has no problem when it comes to simply owning Bitcoin. It also has no reservation against BTC activities as online commodities. However, BAC did point out that Bitcoin cannot be used as a currency, due to the fact that it doesn’t have a status of a legal tender, nor was it issued by China’s monetary authority.
In other words, Bitcoin is not at the same level as yuan, and as such, it cannot be used for financial transactions. However, the coin does have the status of a virtual commodity, and since virtual goods include more than just virtual currencies, cryptos are considered a special type of commodity.
This should not be confused with the status of virtual property, however, as BTC doesn’t fall under this category. There are no special provisions that would cover virtual properties in China, and there are also no specific laws that cover BTC. As a result, Bitcoin is not a virtual property. Lastly, BAC also pointed out that it is not illegal to make BTC transactions between individuals. Doing so doesn’t violate any standing law, and neither does simply owning the coin. BTC can even be the ‘object of delivery,’ as the report notes.
