Why Trump believes ‘China is big into crypto’ despite ban

President Donald Trump stated that "China is getting into it very big right now" regarding cryptocurrency, despite Beijing's 2021 ban on crypto trading and mining. This apparent paradox stems from conflating several distinct activities under the umbrella of "China." These include Hong Kong's increasingly permissive regulatory environment, which recently allowed licensed platforms to access global liquidity; Beijing's massive central bank digital currency (CBDC), the e-CNY, which has seen significant transaction volume and is expanding into Hong Kong; and the widespread, though unofficial, use of stablecoins like USDT by Chinese exporters for cross-border settlements to bypass capital controls. While the mainland ban on speculative crypto remains operational, Hong Kong's moves toward institutional access and the scale of the e-CNY contribute to the perception of Chinese dominance in digital assets. Furthermore, Chinese firms remain central to the global crypto infrastructure through hardware manufacturing, regardless of domestic mining activity. Trump's remark reflects this complex reality where China participates in digital finance through state-controlled and tolerated commercial channels, rather than through a reversal of its ban on decentralized finance.

(Source：CryptoSlate)