China’s largest online retail platform Ali Dadvice president of Joe Tsaitook Twitter by storm with the tweet “I love crypto” earlier today. What made this all the more obvious was the fact that China followed an anti-crypto policy banning all forms of crypto mining and declaring crypto transactions illegal.
I like crypto
— Joe Tsai (@joetsai1999) December 28, 2021
Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao (CZ) immediately noticed the tweet and responded to the message with “I love Joe”. Although the Chinese government has banned crypto many times, Chinese crypto traders often find a way to bypass the ban. The use of decentralized exchanges (DeFi) has increased in the country, even after many Chinese crypto traders banned currency exchanges outright.
I like Joe https://t.co/axjaRtPoe3
— CZ 🔶 Binance (@cz_binance) December 28, 2021
Non-changeable tokens (NFTs) are very popular with Chinese artists and businesses, although no clear decision has yet been made from the Chinese government. Recently, Google’s Chinese equivalent, Baidu, filed an application for NFT patents despite a recent warning from the state media outlet.
How Will Alibaba’s Vice President’s Message Be Interpreted?
It is not new for Chinese tech giants to show interest in emerging technologies unless warned by government officials. Last year, a press release from the Alibaba group pointed to the possible crypto payment integration attracting worldwide media attention, but the firm later had to retract the comments and said they would not add any foreign crypto options until government approval. China had made it clear that anything other than CBDC would be deemed illegal for use.
Alibaba’s former CEO and founder, Jack Ma, abruptly disappeared from the public eye after criticizing the government for its policies, and then became the center of attention in the world’s media. Thus, it remains to be seen how the final comments on crypto by the vice president will turn out.