The cryptocurrency crowd has wasted no time in dancing on the grave of China’s "FUD” (internet speak for fear, uncertainty and doubt). Last week’s move by the People’s Bank of China to ban crypto transactions and mining dented the prices of Bitcoin, Ethereum and other digital currencies, but they’ve largely rebounded.
The bulls reckon the latest attempt by Beijing to crack down on crypto — the seventh, by research firm Fundstrat’s calculations — will fail to throttle an asset that bypasses borders and banking systems. They also hope that what seems "bad” for crypto will prove to be "good.” Advocates are using China’s ban as ammunition to promote an opportunity for America: It can lead the way for a more permissive approach to crypto.
This looks like the kind of warped logic that paints Bitcoin mining as a "green” form of energy use, even as it breathes new life into aging fossil-fuel power plants. What’s bad for crypto sometimes really is just bad.