Chinese Cryptocurrency Exchanges Shutdown as Nation Prepares for Stablecoin

China, despite its increased interest in blockchain over the past month, isn’t much of a fan of Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies in general.

As a result of this, leading cryptocurrency exchanges there have been having a hard time, especially considering the fact that forex trading has been illegal in the nation since 2017. In fact, recently, five exchanges have shut down entirely due to the recent crackdown on trading, reports CoinRivet.

Prepping for Their Own Asset

On top of this, authorities are basically warning citizens not to trust any other cryptocurrency or blockchain based bitcoin lottery project. This is likely due to the fact that China has been preparing its own digital asset – a stablecoin – similar to Facebook’s Libra project. While not a decentralized cryptocurrency in the traditional sense, a stablecoin is rather an asset tied to a fiat currency, essentially making it a digital version of said fiat. This way, it can be traded near instantaneously, and all transactions will be kept on a digital ledger for safekeeping and security.

The publication also notes that Beijing will no longer ban cryptocurrency mining. This is interesting considering the fact that mining is dangerous to the environment, but they may be looking into alternative, cleaner ways for miners to keep validating cryptocurrencies.