In 2021, the People's Bank of China, that country's central financial institution, banned cryptocurrencies in its jurisdiction. Any citizen or business that carried out transactions would be engaging in illegal activity and would be punished according to the laws.
For this reason, it was a great surprise that on June 5, 2024, the bitcoin (BTC) and cryptocurrency exchange, Bybit, once again opened the registration option to citizens of China. Not only that, but on its Terms and Conditions page, China is no longer listed among the countries with restricted access to the exchange's operations (although the United States, Cuba, Iran and, strikingly, Hong Kong, a territory special administration of China).
As it was later learned, the opening is for "the Chinese community abroad." Bybit assured that the measure "is a response to the growing demand for safe, reliable and easy-to-use cryptocurrency trading platforms among Chinese expatriates and international Chinese communities."
Bybit had initially been thought to be reopening operations in China, despite the bans. This caused numerous reactions from members of the bitcoiner community.
“China is a sleeping giant,” said trader and investor Willy Woo, upon learning of this news. The fact is that, with a population of more than 1.4 billion people, the Asian nation represents a gigantic potential market. If its inhabitants could freely access bitcoin and cryptocurrencies, it would have a great impact on the supply and demand of these financial assets.
Journalist Colin Wu commented that "the number of Chinese users may reach tens of millions" and added - although he did not mention his source - that "Bybit's move has also caused panic among internal employees."
On why Bybit continues to ban users from Hong Kong, Wu says:
«Bybit previously withdrew its license application for Hong Kong. Hong Kong does not allow any entity to do business in mainland China. This also means that Bybit may stop applying for a Hong Kong license. Currently, Bybit is headquartered in Dubai.
Colin Wu, journalist.
The journalist refers to the notification of May 28 from the Securities and Futures Commission (SFC) of Hong Kong, which clarifies that from June 1, 2024, only virtual asset trading providers will be able to operate in the territory. (exchanges) that have been licensed by the entity or are considered authorized.
To date, only two companies have been licensed (OSL and Hashkey), according to the official list , 17 have introduced applications (including Crypto.com) and twelve have withdrawn or seen their applications returned, among which OKX, Huobi stand out. and Bybit, which also appears on a list of companies suspected by the SFC of "conducting activities without a license."
As Johnny Ng Kit-chong, a member of the Legislative Council, told SCMP , “some of them will try (applying for the license) again. They will take care of their affairs internally and try again .
