Official: China’s ICO Ban ‘Only Temporary’

Here’s an amusing turn of events. After shocking the world with by banning ICOs, Beijing appears to be reversing course and saying that the ban was “only temporary.” Take it away, Box Mining (h/t Coin Telegraph):

The FUD over the China ICO ban seems to be over. After causing a global panic on Monday with the announcement of an ICO ban, a Chinese official has clarified the position saying that China will look to resume ICOs in the future after establishing licensing regulations. This was done via an interview on CCTV-13, a state run national television channel in China.

The official apparently said that this was just a “stop,” not a categorical “forbidden,” and added that the ban was meant to aid investors, not to curtail innovation.

This isn’t the first time China made a big, scary announcement against market forces only to backpedal on it somehow. It banned wholly foreign-owned entities (WFOEs) from running money in the mainland and it prohibited foreigners from investing in its telecom industry. Eventually, they rolled out the red carpet for them. Hell, they even allowed Trump steaks in after a 14-year long American beef ban. And who can forget their highly-touted circuit breakers in the aftermath of Black Monday?

That said, Box Mining points out that interviewee, Hu Bing, is from the Institute of Finance and Banking, a research center which is loosely affiliated with Beijing. Meaning, his words were not “official,” official, rather, they were a strategic move to appease people and at the same time, give China some wiggle room in case things go awry. Let’s see how it goes.

Photo: tenaciousme