A clandestine network of brokers and intermediaries meets in laundromats and cafes in China to buy and sell bitcoin (BTC) outside the surveillance of the authorities.  

This is according to an investigation published by the Wall Street Journal, based on comments received from people familiar with the subject. According to the report, traders seek out these public places to exchange wallet addresses, arrange bank transfers, or pay cryptocurrency in cash. 

They also turn to social networks such as WeChat and Telegram, where dedicated groups make it easy for buyers and sellers to transact directly without using exchanges. There are those who use VPN to access platforms located outside the country and those with more resources travel to Hong Kong, where bitcoin exchange activities are allowed, since 2023.

These are the ways that citizens have found, who want to invest in cryptocurrencies, who want to evade the country's strict regulations, which since 2021, prohibit the trading of cryptocurrencies. The Chinese authorities made that decision alleging that transactions with virtual currencies affected their financial system, reducing the power of the State.  

Therefore, those who trade bitcoin expose themselves to serious penalties. Even so, everything indicates that citizens prefer to take risks and maintain active trading with bitcoin.  According to the publication, cryptocurrency trading that takes place on informal sites has become more common in the provinces further away from the coast of China. People with fewer economic resources live there and there is less government surveillance.  

Additionally, all this activity generated outside the law keeps China among the top countries that use cryptocurrencies the most. The data collected by Chainalysis confirms this.

This highlights the difficulty that exists in applying a ban on bitcoin, as it is common for governments that try to do so to generate black markets for trade. It's seen now in China, and it's also been seen in other countries that have tried censorship. This is the case of Turkey, Pakistan, and Nigeria. 

The above is possible due to the characteristics of the pioneer of digital currencies, which stands out for its decentralization and its independence from any State. A property that makes this network uncensorable.