China, once a very crypto-friendly venue is now cracking down on cryptocurrencies. It started with curbing Bitcoin mining and cutting power supply to Bitcoin mining firms. China’s central bank, which has been a vocal critic of the alternative digital currencies, believes that stablecoins are particularly dangerous for the global financial systems.
On Thursday, in an interview to CNBC, Fan Yifei, a deputy governor of the People’s Bank of China (PBoC), said that stablecoins like Tether (USDT) are an immediate threat to payment settlement systems. He also said that the People’s Bank of China (PBoC) is ramping up its efforts to fight monopolies that have emerged in the payment services sector.
“Some commercial organizations’ so-called stablecoins, especially global stablecoins, may bring risks and challenges to the international monetary system, and payments and settlement system,” said Yiefei. He also said that major cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin are a threat to “financial security and stability.”
While China is cracking down on cryptocurrencies, global payment services giants like Visa and Master are actively endorsing cryptocurrencies. Recently, Visa said that their crypto-linked card payments topped $1billion. In an update on Thursday Visa said: “Stablecoins are on track to become an important part of the broader digital transformation of financial services, and Visa is excited to help shape and support that development.”
