China’s Newest Central Bank Chief Means Bad News For Bitcoin?
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July 3, 2023 12:12 pm
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China’s recent appointment to the PBOC governing body could potentially spell bad news for hopes of broad Bitcoin adoption in China.
According to the latest reports, Pan Gongsheng—an ardent critic of Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies, has been promoted to a position that is likely to make him the next head of the People’s Bank of China.
This recent development will likely have a negative impact on crypto in mainland China—a rapidly developing nation of more than 1.4 billion people.
Earlier developments in Hong Kong gave crypto investors, speculators, and industry insiders reason to believe that the embrace of innovation would spread to continental China.
HSBC recently announced that it would provide crypto services to its clients and the special economic zone has been making headlines as a rapidly growing hub for cryptocurrencies and digital assets.
Here’s what we currently know:
China named Pan Gongsheng as PBOC's new Communist Party chief, putting him in line to be the next governor. @EngleTV discusses who Pan is and what this means. Read more: https://t.co/N165SYYeeK pic.twitter.com/p55jFYXg3l
— Bloomberg TV (@BloombergTV) July 3, 2023
Bitcoin News shared this quote from Gongsheng: “If you sit by the river and watch, one day the corpse of Bitcoin will float in front of you.”
As 🇭🇰 Hong Kong embraces the Bitcoin, Mainland 🇨🇳 China holds firm in opposition.
Pan Gongsheng, the man who said, “If you sit by the river and watch, one day the corpse of #Bitcoin will float in front of you,” has just claimed the throne as the chief Communist Party guru at the… pic.twitter.com/50wPxFkfTw
— Bitcoin News (@BitcoinNewsCom) July 3, 2023
CNN Business provided some background information on Gongsheng:
A seasoned financial regulator with some training in the West, Pan received his doctorate in economics from the Renmin University of China in 1993.
Since then, he has spent nearly two decades working at large state-owned banks, including the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC) and the Agricultural Bank of China (ABC).
Pan was known in China’s financial world as the key person behind the stock market listings of ICBC and ABC in 2006 and 2010, which separately set records as the world’s largest IPOs at the time.
Neil Thomas, an expert in Chinese politics shared this insightful analysis of Pan Gongsheng and ultimately concluded that he will not be a vehicle for economic freedom in China.
Pan Gongsheng is a financial technocrat not a Xi loyalist
There was talk that Xi crony He Lifeng could become PBoC Party Secretary
Pan joined the PBoC under Zhou Xiaochuan as a Deputy Governor in 2012 and has led its State Administration for Foreign Exchange since 2015
— Neil Thomas 牛犇 (@neilthomas123) July 1, 2023
But it remains TBD on how much policy clout Pan Gongsheng will have as PBOC head
Xi announced a new CCP finance commission and financial work committee in March
They will likely set policy at a higher level than the PBoC, e.g. on stimulus
We should know their leaders soon
— Neil Thomas 牛犇 (@neilthomas123) July 1, 2023
The Block had more on the story:
He also cited an article by French scholar Eric Pichet which stated, “The Bitcoin bubble is just the latest incarnation of crazy speculation,” with his appointment putting a damper on hopes of a crypto revival in China, despite more positive signs from Hong Kong.
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