The crash in the industry last year has hit Asian companies and they are cautiously planning for their recovery. China was once a hotbed of cryptocurrency mining and trading. Even after announcing a blanket ban on all digital asset activity over a year ago, there is reason to believe the country can return to space.
Tron founder Justin Sun, who has a history of blowing up the industry as well He said China could embrace the asset class, especially after introducing a tax on cryptocurrency transactions, which he sees as “a big step towards regulating cryptocurrencies.”
Tax encryption
Some Chinese authorities have begun charging a personal income tax of 20% on investment earnings from individual crypto investors and bitcoin miners. In an effort to control crypto taxation, many believe that China may actually end up legalizing the asset class.
Cryptocurrency-related activities are illegal, which hinders tax policy. To get around this, similar discussions have taken place in the past. Months after the ban, a company affiliated with the State Tax Administration of China published an article focusing on “Preventing Tax Risks from Virtual Currency”.
In fact, Chinese Blockchain reporter Coleen Wu He said Huobi and other exchanges provided information to Chinese tax authorities in January 2022 before Sun acquired it.
Aside from the FTX debacle, policymakers in the East Asian country have been vocal about concerns such as the energy-wasting footprint of cryptocurrency mining as well as the speculative risks in volatile assets. Cryptocurrency activity has seen a significant slowdown but is not dead yet, indicating that trade restrictions imposed by Beijing have been largely circumvented by determined users.
Chainalysis revealed that China jumped to 10th place in 2022 in the company’s global Crypto adoption index after citing strong adoption of centralized services. This proved that the government’s move “was either ineffective or applied loosely”.
Hong Kong and Singapore’s position on cryptocurrency regulation
China’s ban on cryptocurrency has sparked fears of a ripple effect. But Hong Kong and Singapore chart their own path.
Hong Kong has welcomed crypto companies in an effort to maintain its status as an international financial center with clear regulations. Virtual asset providers wishing to operate in the region will need to go through a licensing process that adheres to anti-money laundering guidelines and investor protection laws.
The Hong Kong Securities and Futures Commission (SFC) will soon publish a list of crypto assets open for retail trading to limit retail investors to a few whitelisted cryptocurrencies.
Meanwhile, regulations in Singapore are expected to tighten for existing market players, particularly after the high-profile implosion of companies registered in the city-state, such as Three Arrows Capital (3AC) and Terraform Labs.
What is happening to China and how to encrypt it? It first appeared on CryptoPotato.