Editor’s note for Tuesday, May 18, 2021

My thoughts today:

Today three Chinese state-organized industry associations reminded (in Chinese) financial and payments companies of China’s rules against trading in and offering cryptocurrency services.

Bans on bitcoin and other crypto business are old: China’s central bank first prohibited (in Chinese) financial institutions from cryptocurrency brokerage and trading in 2013, and there have been several other restrictions. Nonetheless, bitcoin mining and a huge range of businesses based on the blockchain technologies that underlie crypto continue to thrive. Right now, NFTs are the flavor of the month.

Why did the warning against crypto shenanigans come today? Chinese regulators are probably responding to price fluctuations of bitcoin and Dogecoin (a joke virtual currency), that are caused by a man (Elon Musk) who happens to be a significant foreign investor in one of China’s most strategically important industries (electric cars).

This is the strange world we live in.

Our word of the day is achieve herd immunity (实现群体免疫 shíxiàn qúntǐ miǎnyì).

Upcoming event: China Corner Office podcast on June 1: The U.S. Congress and economic relations with China.

—Jeremy Goldkorn, Editor-in-Chief