Bitcoin Surges 36% After China Warns BTC Is ‘Heading To Zero’

The Chinese government has tried its best to convince people that bitcoin (BTC) will become worthless, but its predictions to date have been far off target. The native cryptocurrency is up nearly 36% after the Chinese government said it would be worthless in 2022.

Amid the bear market, China attempted to capitalize on the massive market downturn, warning crypto investors that bitcoin prices were “heading toward zero.”

In June 2022, the Economic Daily, China’s national news media agency, issued a warning about bitcoin to reassure citizens that the asset was a worthless “string of digital code”.

“In the future, once investor confidence collapses or sovereign countries declare bitcoin illegal, it will revert to its original value, which is completely worthless,” the article read.

While it remains to be seen whether bitcoin will one day head towards zero, it has not lost any value since the Chinese government issued the warning. In contrast, bitcoin has gained significantly since the article was published.

According According to data from CoinGecko, when the Economic Daily published the article in June 2022, bitcoin was trading at around $20,000. Twelve months later, at the time of writing, BTC is trading at $28,852, up nearly 36%.

Despite posting notable gains, bitcoin has seen volatility over the past year. The largest cryptocurrency by market cap fell to a November 2022 low of $15,700. Then, in April 2023, bitcoin briefly crossed the $30,000 price mark.

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China was one of the first countries in the world to take regulatory action against crypto. In 2017, Chinese regulators banned cryptocurrency exchanges from providing services in the country. Despite the ban, bitcoin surged 1,900% to its all-time high of $20,000 by the end of 2017.

In 2021, China’s central bank announced a new ban on crypto, uniting forces with various Chinese authorities to crack down on local crypto activity. Just months after the ban was announced, bitcoin reached its all-time high of around $68,000 in November 2021.

Despite “banning” crypto in 2021, China remains the world’s second largest bitcoin miner. The Chinese government also allows citizens to own cryptocurrencies and protects the rights of crypto investors.

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