Hello and welcome. You are listening to Patrick Boyle on Finance, a podcast exploring ideas from quantitative finance, examining events occurring in markets right now and financial history to see what lessons can be taken away, including interviews with some of the most interesting people in the world of finance. To learn more about the podcast, visit onfinance.org.

Last Friday, China put in place its most extreme ban to date on cryptocurrencies.

Crypto exchanges and other service providers were already technically banned by the Chinese

government, but a loophole allowed Chinese people to trade crypto using offshore accounts.

Friday's notice leaves no area for interpretation and makes it extremely clear that cryptocurrencies

are no longer welcome in China. China's banned crypto transactions

regardless of where exchanges and accounts are based. The Chinese regulators say that they are

ready to enforce the prohibition with the full support of nine different government agencies,

including the Supreme Court, the police and the central bank.

The People's Bank of China says that the new rules are necessary to maintain national

security and social stability.

Now China has made moves to limit the rise of cryptocurrency since at least 2013, but with

the gradual rollout of China's state-backed

digital won, the government is getting more serious about their crackdown.

I'm sure many of you are wondering what is it that the Chinese government has against

the people of El Salvador and their national currency, But it's not just China.

US regulators are also training their sites on crypto too.

Gary Gensler, the chairman of the SEC, spoke at length about cryptocurrencies in an event

hosted by the Washington Post.

He stated that he doesn't think there's a long-term viability, and later said that the SEC

is working overtime to create new regulations for cryptocurrency markets that are likely

to be quite a bit more aggressive than what is currently on the books.

...