Bitcoin’s corpse: A prediction from China’s deputy central banker

Deputy governor of the People’s Bank of China Pan Gongsheng 潘功胜 told participants at a financial forum that China’s shutdown of bitcoin exchanges in September was justified. The Beijing News reports (in Chinese) that he said:

If we had not shut down bitcoin exchanges and clamped down on ICOs [initial coin offerings] several months ago, if China still accounted for more than 80% of the world’s bitcoin trading and ICO fundraising, everyone, what would happen today? Thinking about this question makes me scared.

Pan also predicted the demise of bitcoin, saying, “There’s only one thing you can do: Sit by the river bank and one day you’ll see bitcoin’s body float.”

• Risky real estate
  Hidden peril awaits China’s banks as property binge fuels mortgage fraud frenzy / Reuters
  “Mortgage fraud remains largely a hidden danger, much as subprime loans in the United States remained mostly out of sight ahead of the 2008 global financial crisis.”
• On-demand economy: bicycles
  Youon raises $348 million yuan to expand bike-sharing service / Caixin
  “Alibaba’s financial technology affiliate, Ant Financial, has become the largest shareholder in the bike-sharing unit of Youon Bike after investing 2 billion yuan ($303 million) to increase its stake to 32%.” Youon’s main business “is selling and managing bike-rental systems for local governments in small cities.”
  China’s next potential boom spot: The places people overlook / NYT (paywall)
  High-speed rail and the internet are bringing business to remote places.
• Education
  China Education Group seeks HK$3.4 billion from IPO, eyes acquisitions in Europe and UK / SCMP
• Mobile
  Xiaomi mute on report of near-term IPO / Caixin
  Mum’s the word on recent news of IPO plans for the mobile phone wunderkind valued at around $50 billion.
• Apple economy
  Apple’s Tim Cook says developers have earned $17 billion from China App Store / Reuters
• Artificial intelligence: Another day, another story about China’s advances
  China’s AI advances help its tech industry, and state security / NYT (paywall)