A Chinese research body just admitted that cryptocurrency bans are difficult

A representative from the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (CASS) has said that cryptocurrencies are challenging to ban, but are worth experimenting with in the development of an international reserve currency.

“Countries are more focused on supervision and investor protection in transactions, such as anti-money laundering and market manipulation,” Yang Tao, Assistant Director of the Institute of Finance at CASS, wrote in a People’s Daily editorial (in Chinese).

This year has seen a number of cryptocurrency crackdowns in China. In February, the country’s central bank announced that it would ban trading on platforms both at home and abroad. The crackdown started late last year and focussed on initial coin offerings (ICOs) and aimed to shutter some of the more prominent exchanges. In March 2018, another crackdown was announced, along with the news that the central bank would be stepping up research and development of its own digital currency.

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