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China’s Official Newspaper People’s Daily Defines Bitcoin as Digital Gold
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Note: Last Friday, China’s official newspaper People’s Daily released an article Bitcoin, a New Form of Digital Gold by Yang Wang. Investors interpreted it as regulators’ positive attitude towards bitcoin. In this interview, the author Yang Wang, director of Beijing Branch of Guizhou Comprehensive Credit Service Network, talks about his thoughts about bitcoin and blockchain when be interviewed.
Why did you say bitcoin is digital gold?
Bitcoin is not a currency because it lacks the properties of a real currency. To begin with, a unit of account. I know some would argue that it was born as a unit of account and Laszlo Hanyecz ponied up 10,000 bitcoins in exchange for pizza. But the truth is that it cannot measure the value of all goods like RMB does. Plus, it’s far from being widely accepted as a currency by people all over the world. For instance, not all pizza shops accept bitcoin as payment.
Second, a store of value. Bitcoin’s extreme fluctuations make it perform poorly in the role. With RMB, people can hardly tell it is deflation or inflation, but with bitcoin, you can hardly sleep well worrying about its price all the time. In my article, I said that bitcoin is digital gold, but it is not as stable as gold. So investors must be aware of its inherent risks.
Cryptocurrency investors often dub bitcoin as gold and ETH as petroleum based on their rarity. They say the total number of bitcoin is fixed, but ETH is like an oilfield and when it is running out, you can always go find another oilfield.
What do you think will be the next move of the PBOC?
I’ve been connecting with people from the central government, and what’s how I made the conclusion that bitcoin is digital gold, or a commodity.
The American government defines bitcoin as commodity and only one US state recognizes bitcoin as a legal currency. Japan has officially recognized bitcoin as currency. And it’s reported that Russia will recognize bitcoin, but they never made it clear whether they would recognize it as commodity or currency. Germany claimed that bitcoin is legal, but it doesn’t say bitcoin would be used as a means of payment. It could only be applied in some special industries that is not subject to VAT. Britain is developing its own digital currency. Holland launched its digital currency in 2016 and there is not much market demand for bitcoin. When China launches its official digital currency, bitcoin will be labelled as commodity.
Certainly, I cannot speak on behalf of the central government. But based on my judgment, we will define bitcoin as commodity or futures which are more easy to be regulated. If bitcoin is widely used for payment in China, it will come into conflict with the current monetary system. And I believe China will give its priority to how to regulate bitcoin and how to use it as a means of macro-control.
People are eager to know what kind of policy will be released to regulate bitcoin. Actually, rules and regulations will be made to supervise all digital currencies, not just bitcoin.
The truth is that price fluctuation in the domestic bitcoin market is largely due to news media, not by policies of the government. Media have their own understanding of government policies and release news with titles like “the PBOC’ s new move on regulation.” Without any exception, the price of bitcoin violates greatly whenever such news is released.
What do you think will be the future of digital currency and blockchain?
Since the beginning of 2017, the PBOC has started working to set a digital currency research center. And in the end of 2016 and the beginning of 2017, the spokesman of the PBOC claimed that they would soon launch its own digital currency. Cryptocurrency investors interpret this as the PBOC is increasing interest rates to attract customers. But the PBOC has not launched its digital currency and there is an upward trend in the price of bitcoin, probably three months to six months.
As of 2016, there were 656 kinds of cryptocurrencies in market and the market cap of Bitcoin, Ethereum and Ripple took up 91 percent of the total market cap. Though they look like stars shining in darkness, but it can be predicted that once the national digital currency is launched, those tokens would be obsoleted gradually.
Generally, there are three ways of investment in digital currency. First, if you’ve got money, you can hire talents to set a research lab. Second, co-found a company with people who have resources. Third, invest in some potential startups.
According to Baidu and Google, 1.4 billion USD was put in digital currency and blockchain industry by the end of 2016. And as of April, 2017, the number was 1.9457 billion USD. That’s 600 million in 4 months. We can assume that more investors will go blockchain initiative and bitcoin startups.
Digital currency so far is the most successful application of blockchain technology. Recently, I visited several bitcoin startups doing payment services. These companies are aiming to become the next Alipay that can be added to your mobile site. Digital currency will have a bright future and it will move to mobile payment.
Another data we can get is that people worldwide are becoming more interested in blockchain than artificial intelligence. And according to the latest Gartner Hype Cycle report, bitcoin or blockchain will need another three or five years before they can move to the next phase. Therefore, if we want to join the global blockchain race, we should pay attention to mobile payment or cross-border clearing and settlement.
The original source of the Chinese version: http://view.inews.qq.com/a/20170601G03QDK00?refer=share_recomnews
I have been living two lives. In one life, I am a news editor of 8btc. I translate news, interview bitcoiners and miners. In the other life, I am an AI bot programmed to .......Forget it! Who is gonna buy this BS! I'm just me, Cindy, nobody else.
COMMENTS(52)
Here is the link to the original comment thread. Or you can comment here to start a discussion. Author: 8btccom
This is an immensely good news. In China the value concept of gold is still very present.
That’s pretty accurate description ironically considering the recent tx fees to send BTC. It truly makes it seem as slow and costly as it would be to lug around gold bars and send them to people….
It also says Bitcoin and Ethereum will be obsoleted when they release China coin.
2-3$ per transaction is not that bad c’mon.
Sure it doesn’t make sense to buy coffee…
username checks out 😀
It makes Bitcoin a store of value more so than a currency. There’s nothing wrong with that. I was just pointing out that gold is a really apt comparison instead of calling it digital cash or something. You wouldn’t buy coffee with gold just like you’re saying with bitcoin. It’s just not realistic. If it’s not realistic to buy coffee with Bitcoin, then it makes sense why it would be more of a store of value than a currency.
Is ChinaCoin Jihan’s version of non BIP148 bitcoin?
“Holland launched its digital currency in 2016 and there is not much market demand for bitcoin.”
What did I miss?
Hahahaaaaaaaaaaa http://news.8btc.com/chinas-official-newspaper-peoples-daily-defines-bitcoin-as-digital-gold …
China is actually releasing a coin.
With Jihan?
But lists no reasons why.
And until people find out that a so called, “China Coin”, will be the ultimate method to track and surveil every single transaction you make, and to put artificial limits and embargoes on your overseas transfers…
Yeah, I’m gonna go ahead and say that Bitcoin will be just fine next to “China Coin” or “Fed Coin”.
Even if ChinaCoin is 10 times more successful than Canada’s MintChip it’ll still be a failure.
How come was that username available?
You missed the definition of propoganda
Reason is dead simple. So the government can have a copy of your private key.
L instead of i
Article references China’s own digitized currency…
any relation to Chinese Royal Mint experiment?
I personally think they are dreaming if they think even the Chinese will use China coin more than Bitcoin. Literally the attraction of Bitcoin is no government.
Fan fucking tastic. Hopefully bitcoin doesent drop the ball.
i think digital gold is an apt description. because you can then make digital gold denominated currencies and what not.
Inb4 surge to 5k
China Coin goes against the entire purpose of Bitcoin
Isn’t that just standard Chinese translation? 金钱, “cash/currency” is literally “Gold Money”. Bitcoin, aka digital currency, is translated similarly as digital gold, using 金, the character for gold/money
This is an euphemism
@clif_high http://news.8btc.com/chinas-official-newspaper-peoples-daily-defines-bitcoin-as-digital-gold …
China coin
Whats going to be the premine on this? When is the ICO, im dying for some China coin!!111! /s
111!
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wut?
|Iamabot.Downvotetoremove.|Contactmycreator
2-3$ per transaction is not that bad c’mon.
Sure it doesn’t make sense to buy coffee…
What fucking planet do you live on that 2 to 3 dollar transaction fees is OK for bitcoin?
Would you please go read the white paper and figure out what cryptocurrency you are involved with, before you continue spreading this misinformation and destructive narrative?
No one is giving up WeChat for China Coin and everything single transaction that people make using WeChat is already watched by Tencent and given over to the Chinese government on demand, or more likely actively cataloged on government databases.
It makes Bitcoin a store of value more so than a currency. There’s nothing wrong with that.
Yes there is something wrong with that, “Reddit User for 4 Days”.
Yet another person who is brand-new and promoting the narrative that bitcoin doesn’t have to be a cheap, frictionless worldwide currency.
Fascinating isn’t it? Who stands to benefit from Bitcoin not taking over the monetary system? Let’s think about that for moment….
Yes. There is a problem with bitcoin not being used as a currency. For one small reason: it was made to be a fucking currency.
I don’t know who you people are with your brand-new Reddit accounts all over the this sub, but it’s getting pretty obvious at this point.
And I’m the furthest from a conspiracy theorist, but this is getting ridiculous.
Folks – be aware of which multibillion dollar industries stand to lose from bitcoin. And what they might do to change the mindset of its users.
You really are some kind of tinfoil hatter in your mom’s basement aren’t you? This is just hilarious. I’ve been on reddit for years and was into bitcoin, litecoin, dogecoin and the original series of alts back in the 2012-2014 era. Lost my reddit account, decided to get this one to promote the funnest of all cryptos (such WOW) because I am a fan of cryptos in general and dogecoin is kind of cool. Because I made one slight criticism of bitcoin being difficult to use recently as a currency due to exorbitant tx costs and the incoming Aug 1st protocol decisions, you think I am part of some conspiracy of big corporate interests that want to slander bitcoin? This is hilarious if it wasn’t just sad…it’s good that I know most of the bitcoin community isn’t as batshit insane as you are since I’ve been in it since the early days, but damn man….this isn’t a good look for all of us.
They would likely become obsolete (and/or outlawed) as a medium of exchange within the borders of China, but Bitcoin would not become obsolete as a store of value or “digital gold.”
Not necessarily. China Coin would compete with or replace the yen as a medium of exchange in China. However, if people hodl Bitcoin and spend ChinaCoin, then bitcoin would still serve to transfer power and wealth away from banks and the government.
I do see a risk, however. If ChinaCoin allows the government to track the ownership of all their currency, then they could effectively ban the exchange of their crypto-fiat ChinaCoin for Bitcoin.
Should have gone with Canada’s MintChocolateChip
Last Friday, Chinas official newspaper Peoples Daily released an article Bitcoin, a New Form of Digital Gold by Yang Wang. And in an interview, Yang says that after talking with people from the central bank, he believes that the government will define btc as commodity or futures. It is in conflict with the RMB system. And when the PBOC released its own digital currency, most cryptocurrencies would be obsoleted and bitcoin or blockchain startups will move to mobile payment. http://news.8btc.com/chinas-official-newspaper-peoples-daily-defines-bitcoin-as-digital-gold
Quote from: pooya87 on Today at 03:28:50 AM
nobody cares what the banks or government do or think about bitcoin. they can call it whatever they want. US calls bitcoin as a commodity (for tax purposes i guess). but since bitcoin is decentralized, it is what these peers on the network think that defines what it really is. and the peers know it is a currency that is gaining value over time with more adoption.and i assure you that when the banks start their own altcoins nothing will become obsolete because it won’t even be anything like the cryptocurrencies that we know today, it will be centralized and many other differences.
But in today’s current turn of events, it appears that bitcoin is being treated more of a commodity rather than a currency like fiat. Bitcoin is very versatile; you can have it as your life savings and everyday pocket money as well, so long as you have these shops ready to accept your btc. Banks and the governments on the other hand still looks down on bitcoin due to the fact that once it gains traction, their scams and control on the people won’t work any longer.
Quote from: dothebeats on Today at 03:39:19 AM
Quote from: pooya87 on Today at 03:28:50 AM
nobody cares what the banks or government do or think about bitcoin. they can call it whatever they want. US calls bitcoin as a commodity (for tax purposes i guess). but since bitcoin is decentralized, it is what these peers on the network think that defines what it really is. and the peers know it is a currency that is gaining value over time with more adoption.and i assure you that when the banks start their own altcoins nothing will become obsolete because it won’t even be anything like the cryptocurrencies that we know today, it will be centralized and many other differences.
But in today’s current turn of events, it appears that bitcoin is being treated more of a commodity rather than a currency like fiat. Bitcoin is very versatile; you can have it as your life savings and everyday pocket money as well, so long as you have these shops ready to accept your btc. Banks and the governments on the other hand still looks down on bitcoin due to the fact that once it gains traction, their scams and control on the people won’t work any longer.
you buy bitcoin at X dollar and when price goes up to 2X dollar you go to a shop and spend some of it on your daily needs instead of selling it for fiat (lose some money) and then go buy something with it.you see, bitcoin is both. it is a currency (in addition to being an investment) and that is why it is gaining value, otherwise nobody would have ever bought some numbers on the computer screen!the term commodity is mostly used by the government and the tax man to make it easier for them to take taxes on bitcoin
Cryptocurrency investors often dub bitcoin as gold and ETH as petroleum based on their rarity. They say the total number of bitcoin is fixed, but ETH is like an oilfield and when it is running out, you can always go find another oilfield.
Not a bad analogy.
nobody cares what the banks or government do or think about bitcoin. they can call it whatever they want. US calls bitcoin as a commodity (for tax purposes i guess). but since bitcoin is decentralized, it is what these peers on the network think that defines what it really is. and the peers know it is a currency that is gaining value over time with more adoption.and i assure you that when the banks start their own altcoins nothing will become obsolete because it won’t even be anything like the cryptocurrencies that we know today, it will be centralized and many other differences.
Quote from: Doofus on Today at 12:26:15 AM
Last Friday, Chinas official newspaper Peoples Daily released an article Bitcoin, a New Form of Digital Gold by Yang Wang. And in an interview, Yang says that after talking with people from the central bank, he believes that the government will define btc as commodity or futures. It is in conflict with the RMB system. And when the PBOC released its own digital currency, most cryptocurrencies would be obsoleted and bitcoin or blockchain startups will move to mobile payment. http://news.8btc.com/chinas-official-newspaper-peoples-daily-defines-bitcoin-as-digital-gold
Why the hell do journalists think that everyone is going to suddenly switch to whatever fiat currency is issued by a government body from something that is decentralized and far better at doing what it does than whatever they can come up with? It’s starting to piss me off that they completely believe this.Glad to see they’re calling it digital gold, but it may be for the wrong reasons. Not worth paying attention to.EDIT: Fixed my formatting. Lazy fingers.
Quote from: Doofus on Today at 12:26:15 AM
Last Friday, Chinas official newspaper Peoples Daily released an article Bitcoin, a New Form of Digital Gold by Yang Wang. And in an interview, Yang says that after talking with people from the central bank, he believes that the government will define btc as commodity or futures. It is in conflict with the RMB system. And when the PBOC released its own digital currency, most cryptocurrencies would be obsoleted and bitcoin or blockchain startups will move to mobile payment. http://news.8btc.com/chinas-official-newspaper-peoples-daily-defines-bitcoin-as-digital-gold
If it becomes a reality then this news will be able to help the development of bitcoin in china country, we know that china is country with biggest population in world. Of course this could have a good impact on bitcoin in the world market. The increasing acceptance of bitcoin in a country will make the development in other countries improve.
Here here
Quote from: iqlimasyadiqa on Today at 03:53:15 AM
Quote from: Doofus on Today at 12:26:15 AM
Last Friday, Chinas official newspaper Peoples Daily released an article Bitcoin, a New Form of Digital Gold by Yang Wang. And in an interview, Yang says that after talking with people from the central bank, he believes that the government will define btc as commodity or futures. It is in conflict with the RMB system. And when the PBOC released its own digital currency, most cryptocurrencies would be obsoleted and bitcoin or blockchain startups will move to mobile payment. http://news.8btc.com/chinas-official-newspaper-peoples-daily-defines-bitcoin-as-digital-gold
If it becomes a reality then this news will be able to help the development of bitcoin in china country, we know that china is country with biggest population in world. Of course this could have a good impact on bitcoin in the world market. The increasing acceptance of bitcoin in a country will make the development in other countries improve.
They can now also maintain there own wealth in the digital world. Because when the day comes that all countries recognized cryptocurrency, most currency would now be in digital and you cant now really count anyone’s networth once it is now in an outsource wallet. The net worth might be indicated but the hidden digital goods won’t be counted or revealed. All countries has it’s own convertion of money and it’s up them now to adopt it in there own.
Quote from: PokerFace3 on Today at 05:30:40 PM
Quote from: iqlimasyadiqa on June 03, 2017, 03:53:15 AM
Quote from: Doofus on June 03, 2017, 12:26:15 AM
Last Friday, Chinas official newspaper Peoples Daily released an article Bitcoin, a New Form of Digital Gold by Yang Wang. And in an interview, Yang says that after talking with people from the central bank, he believes that the government will define btc as commodity or futures. It is in conflict with the RMB system. And when the PBOC released its own digital currency, most cryptocurrencies would be obsoleted and bitcoin or blockchain startups will move to mobile payment. http://news.8btc.com/chinas-official-newspaper-peoples-daily-defines-bitcoin-as-digital-gold
If it becomes a reality then this news will be able to help the development of bitcoin in china country, we know that china is country with biggest population in world. Of course this could have a good impact on bitcoin in the world market. The increasing acceptance of bitcoin in a country will make the development in other countries improve.
No doubt that it will be having a very much positive impact on the bitcoin. we also know that the Chinese people are the most interested one in using the bitcoin so, keeping the pressure of public in mind the Chinese government will act accordingly. I am hopeful that the Chinese government will soon accept it for knowing the fact that the bitcoin can have a great impact on the Chinese economy as well.
Have the two of you read the article ?Quote
Bitcoin is not a currency because it lacks the properties of a real currency. To begin with, a unit of account. I know some would argue that it was born as a unit of account and Laszlo Hanyecz ponied up 10,000 bitcoins in exchange for pizza. But the truth is that it cannot measure the value of all goods like RMB does. Plus, its far from being widely accepted as a currency by people all over the world. For instance, not all pizza shops accept bitcoin as payment.
The article is not too bitcoin friendly but it also does slams ethThey say the total number of bitcoin is fixed, but ETH is like an oilfield and when it is running out, you can always go find another oilfield.Well, at least that makes me happy cause it might wake up a few daydreamers about the whole eth scheme.
Quote from: iqlimasyadiqa on June 03, 2017, 03:53:15 AM
Quote from: Doofus on June 03, 2017, 12:26:15 AM
Last Friday, Chinas official newspaper Peoples Daily released an article Bitcoin, a New Form of Digital Gold by Yang Wang. And in an interview, Yang says that after talking with people from the central bank, he believes that the government will define btc as commodity or futures. It is in conflict with the RMB system. And when the PBOC released its own digital currency, most cryptocurrencies would be obsoleted and bitcoin or blockchain startups will move to mobile payment. http://news.8btc.com/chinas-official-newspaper-peoples-daily-defines-bitcoin-as-digital-gold
If it becomes a reality then this news will be able to help the development of bitcoin in china country, we know that china is country with biggest population in world. Of course this could have a good impact on bitcoin in the world market. The increasing acceptance of bitcoin in a country will make the development in other countries improve.
No doubt that it will be having a very much positive impact on the bitcoin. we also know that the Chinese people are the most interested one in using the bitcoin so, keeping the pressure of public in mind the Chinese government will act accordingly. I am hopeful that the Chinese government will soon accept it for knowing the fact that the bitcoin can have a great impact on the Chinese economy as well.
It may be good news for you guys, but I don’t want the Bitcoin community to receive any sort of support from the Communist terrorists. The People’s Daily is owned by the Communist Party of China, which is responsible for the deaths of more than 100 million people. We don’t know their real intention. Perhaps they are trying to monopolize the Bitcoin sector.
Some disagree that bitcoin to be the digital gold. This is just because of the backing found behind the assets. Gold is entirely a physical commodity backing asset, whereas our bitcoin is entirely dependent on technology. For this reason though bitcoin has grown higher than gold it’s never described as gold. I consider it an asset better than gold.
Quote from: pooya87 on June 03, 2017, 03:28:50 AM
nobody cares what the banks or government do or think about bitcoin. they can call it whatever they want. US calls bitcoin as a commodity (for tax purposes i guess). but since bitcoin is decentralized, it is what these peers on the network think that defines what it really is. and the peers know it is a currency that is gaining value over time with more adoption.and i assure you that when the banks start their own altcoins nothing will become obsolete because it won’t even be anything like the cryptocurrencies that we know today, it will be centralized and many other differences.
Yeah this is true as long as the bitcoin is good and beneficial for the users the number of people adopting and accepting it will be increasing. No one cares what the government is saying about it, if they treat it as a commodity or a currency but the truth about the Bitcoin cannot be denied that it is a modern age currency. So, people holding and using the bitcoin will not care because they know the fact what really the bitcoin is from them.
Quote from: Doofus on June 03, 2017, 12:26:15 AM
Last Friday, Chinas official newspaper Peoples Daily released an article Bitcoin, a New Form of Digital Gold by Yang Wang. And in an interview, Yang says that after talking with people from the central bank, he believes that the government will define btc as commodity or futures. It is in conflict with the RMB system. And when the PBOC released its own digital currency, most cryptocurrencies would be obsoleted and bitcoin or blockchain startups will move to mobile payment. http://news.8btc.com/chinas-official-newspaper-peoples-daily-defines-bitcoin-as-digital-gold
Well the question here is are they wrong in saying bitcoin is equivalent to digital gold? Bitcoin in the past few months has become rigid as gold, hard to move and hard to keep people’s eye off from. The Scaling issue is getting no where, The alternative is to use wallets like coinbase and xapo, which offer fast sql based transactions but the users are not in control of their coins thus making it an equivalent to a bank, destroying bitcoin’s true purpose. For now i agree with Them, Bitcoin has become Digital Gold instead of being Digital Cash.
It is a very good omen for BTC to receive China’s government attention. It means one thing that something good is in the pipeline for the future of BTC worldwide government.
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