The Chinese government attempted to convince people that Bitcoin (BTC) would become worthless, but their predictions have not materialized. The leading cryptocurrency has actually increased by approximately 36% since the Chinese government declared it would be worthless in 2022.
Amidst a bearish market, China sought to leverage the significant market downturn by warning cryptocurrency investors that the price of Bitcoin was “heading to zero.”
In June 2022, China’s state-run media outlet, Economic Daily, issued a warning about Bitcoin, stating that it was a “valueless digital chain of code.”
“In the future, once investor confidence collapses or when sovereign nations declare Bitcoin illegal, it will return to its original value, which is completely worthless,” the article stated.
Although it remains unclear whether Bitcoin will truly become worthless at some point, its value has not diminished since the Chinese government’s warning. In fact, Bitcoin has experienced a significant increase since the publication of the article.
According to data from CoinGecko, Bitcoin was trading around $20,000 when the Economic Daily released the article in June 2022. Twelve months later, at the time of writing, BTC is trading at $28,852, representing a roughly 36% increase.
Bitcoin has experienced notable gains, but it has also faced its ups and downs over the past year. The largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization reached its lowest point at $15,700 in November 2022. However, in April 2023, Bitcoin quickly surpassed the $30,000 milestone.
China has been one of the first countries in the world to take legal action against cryptocurrencies. In 2017, Chinese regulators banned domestic cryptocurrency exchanges from providing services. Despite the ban, Bitcoin continued to reach its all-time high, surging by 1,900% to $20,000 by the end of 2017.
In 2021, the People’s Bank of China announced a new ban on cryptocurrencies, collaborating with various Chinese authorities to crack down on local cryptocurrency activities. Just a few months after the ban was announced, Bitcoin reached its all-time high at around $68,000 in November 2021.