Bitcoin (BTC) being part of China's financial ecosystem used to be a far-fetched notion. Today, cryptocurrency is starting to make noise in this huge part of Asia. In fact, the Bank of China itself is coming out to be one of its biggest fans.
China has never been fond of electronic money that the idea of adding it to its mainstream commerce defied traditional practices. But technology has its way of proving its worth and sometimes, attracting even hardcore pessimists.
The state-operated Bank of China, which happens to be the fourth-largest bank financial institution in the world in terms of assets, has posted a pro-digital currency infographic on its website, underscoring bitcoin's history and how electronic money works.
The disclosure was made public shortly after a Chinese tribunal recognized bitcoin as legal and should be considered as a digital asset.
The Bank of China, which has branches in key cities around the globe, used humor in its latest infographic to show a balanced perception of digital currency's advantages and disadvantages, and how bitcoin has emerged to be the most interesting form of currency the world has ever known.
U.S Secretary of Treasury Steven Mnuchin recently labeled cryptocurrency as a major stumbling block to the country's financial stability, whereas now a Chinese banking giant openly shared information regarding Bitcoin, which clearly indicates that it is supporting the virtual money.
One of China's most renowned digital currency traders, Tron Blockchain founder Justin Sun, declared: "The biggest problem is too much money.... Does the Bank of China even know he's on the authorities' most-wanted list?"
The Chinese bank's infographic offers a more vibrant appeal for the world's most popular virtual currency, describing its major attributes, such as its anonymity and decentralized nature. The infographic showed that bitcoin is not easy to counterfeit and that its tax status is questionable.
Earlier this month, Decrypt noted that the People's Bank of China (PBOC) had stepped up its efforts to create its own cryptocurrency, in response to the looming threat posed to its financial system by Facebook's soon-to-launch Libra coin.
The crypto community has welcomed the shifting bitcoin interest in China's financial sector, which accounts to around 61% of the crypto's total computing capacity and rising volumes of trade, despite the government's doubts, according to many experts.
Meanwhile, bitcoin's appeal as a safe-haven asset is where it gets its strength. And the Bank of China's latest move has elicited positive vibes and many well-entrenched figures in the Chinese financial market are upbeat about this latest development.
