While renowned crypto exchanges are working to remove support for Chinese users before the year ends, crypto users who live in Mainland China have been finding different ways to continue trading. Since the end of 2021 is fast approaching, the crypto community believes that Chinese crypto investors and users are quickly running out of time.
Earlier this year, the cryptocurrency ban in China was renewed, from crypto mining to crypto trading. Exchange platforms like Binance and Huobi, which have many Chinese users, said that Chinese users could no longer use their services by the end of December.
Many enthusiasts believe that this looming deadline will bring potential risks for the crypto market. Colin Wu, a Chinese journalist who mainly focuses on cryptocurrency, wrote that users should be wary of “market fluctuations” as exchanges like MEXC, Binance, Huobi, and others will disable their services for Chinese users.
Users Have Already Found Ways to Bypass the Restrictions
Although time is almost up for Chinese crypto users, many have found different ways to work around the ban. This information comes from unnamed sources that the South China Morning Post conversed with.
According to one investor, Chinese users can use a virtual private network (VPN) to circumvent the firewall that disables them from using exchange services. In other words, Chinese users can still access and use foreign crypto exchange platforms. Then, users can sign up for that exchange using a foreign email service. It’s also crucial to choose a country that doesn’t have an identity system to get away with it.
Meanwhile, another Chinese investor says that it’s highly likely that new solutions will appear for crypto traders in China. This crypto investor in question witnessed China’s crypto crackdown back in 2017.
During that ban in 2017, many Chinese exchanges stopped the deposits of Chinese yuan and only accepted withdrawals. The Chinese crypto investor adds that the domestic market was in “temporary chaos” because of this. However, there was some improvement when market veterans created private over-the-counter (OTC) groups. These groups enabled fiat and crypto trading, said the unnamed source.
Limited Options
However, it doesn’t end there. According to a third unnamed source, crypto newbies have significantly more limited options nowadays. Chinese traders can always use decentralized exchanges (DEXes) to avoid going through the Know Your Customer (KYC) process. However, converting the Chinese yuan into crypto has become more and more challenging.
After the 2017 ban, many of the country’s biggest crypto exchanges moved their headquarters out of Mainland China, transferring to other regions like Singapore and Hong Kong.
Nevertheless, Chinese users could still use OTC and peer-to-peer markets, which made crypto trading relatively hassle-free. However, it seems that Beijing is serious about driving out any crypto-related activities this time. As such, we have yet to find out if Chinese crypto users can develop new solutions.
