Staff from PBC suggests taking control of bitcoin network.

[tvbcof]

Some reasons to consider:

1) More than 50% of Chinese (who live in the countryside) do not have regular (or often any) internet access.

2) You can buy things on Taobao (the Chinese equivalent of eBay) with zero payment processing charges.

3) The RMB is appreciating and has been a stable currency for many years.
...

See coincula!  That's how it's done.

As with most complex phenomenon, and in fact most simple ones, there are often a number of factors.

CIYAM:  I take some issue with the 'stability' of the RMB.  My friend reports that the inflation rate is alarming and is having a significant negative impact on a lot of people.

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[CIYAM]

CIYAM:  I take some issue with the 'stability' of the RMB.  My friend reports that the inflation rate is alarming and is having a significant negative impact on a lot of people.

True there is indeed an inflation problem but compared with the devaluation of the USD I don't think it is as alarming.

The impact on people that have "middle class" like jobs in large cities has not been very serious but for those eeking out an existence on less than 1000 RMB per month life has become increasingly difficult (which does affect a lot of people but mostly people with very little voice).


Cheers,

Ian.

[tvbcof]

CIYAM:  I take some issue with the 'stability' of the RMB.  My friend reports that the inflation rate is alarming and is having a significant negative impact on a lot of people.

True there is indeed an inflation problem but compared with the devaluation of the USD I don't think it is as alarming.

As a user of the USD, I just don't see it in the economic numbers or in real life.  If anything I see continuing deflation since I've been interested in the real estate market lately, and my wages are such that food and fuel are not a large fractions of my expenses.  I really only detect devaluation because gold prices are going up so fast.

In contrast, my friend who is visiting China right now took a bus out of Chendu because the taxi fare has doubled since she was there a few years ago.  She tells me that the price of pork in Guangzhou is about the same as in the US and people's wages are really not up nearly that amount.

One hell of a lot of USD are being created so there is a clearly devaluation going on, but I think that the money creation is getting sucked into the shadow banking system and exported overseas so we on Main Street USA are not yet seeing it in a major way.  I do expect it to wash in like a tidal wave at some point however.  That is part of the reason I am interested in Bitcoin.

[CIYAM]

In contrast, my friend who is visiting China right now took a bus out of Chendu because the taxi fare has doubled since she was there a few years ago.  She tells me that the price of pork in Guangzhou is about the same as in the US and people's wages are really not up nearly that amount.

Interesting - I live in Beijing (have done for 5 years now) and the price of a taxi to/from the international airport (one of the bigger taxi drives you are likely to take here) has only gone up by around 15% in that time (from around 60 RMB to 70 RMB going from the airport to the CBD area).

That being said it is correct that the price of food (and pork especially) has increased a lot and wages haven't kept up as much but I haven't noticed any significant drop in the popularity of people going out to eat "Yuxiangrousi" (the most popular pork dish) here. Perhaps people are just buying less new (or "real" brand) clothes instead.


Cheers,

Ian.

[SgtSpike]

In contrast, my friend who is visiting China right now took a bus out of Chendu because the taxi fare has doubled since she was there a few years ago.  She tells me that the price of pork in Guangzhou is about the same as in the US and people's wages are really not up nearly that amount.

Interesting - I live in Beijing (have done for 5 years now) and the price of a taxi to/from the international airport (one of the bigger taxi drives you are likely to take here) has only gone up by around 15% in that time (from around 60 RMB to 70 RMB going from the airport to the CBD area).

That being said it is correct that the price of food (and pork especially) has increased a lot and wages haven't kept up as much but I haven't noticed any significant drop in the popularity of people going out to eat "Yuxiangrousi" (the most popular pork dish) here. Perhaps people are just buying less new (or "real" brand) clothes instead.


Cheers,

Ian.

Well, price of food going up with stagnant wages has been happening here in the US as well.  It's a natural consequence of the higher fuel prices that all the envirowhackos are cheering about.

[chickenado]

Not everyone is interested in Bitcoin for political reasons.

Libertarians tend to be the most vocal proponents of bitcoin, especially on this forum, but I think there might be a a quiet majority of users who really couldn't care less about our libertarian "cause".  They probably just like playing around with new technologies or see a new business opportunity.

Chinese people are people in the end of the day, and not machines.  Just like any human population, they will have a fair share of geeks, technophiles, visionaries, and experimenters among them.  Just like any human population, the majority of them will be conformist and risk averse. 

Perhaps curiosity and questioning of authority is more suppressed in Chinese culture than in American culture, but that doesn't mean that millions of Chinese people don't do those things in private. 

By the way, similar things could be said about German culture, yet there is a very active German speaking bitcoin community.

[tvbcof]

In contrast, my friend who is visiting China right now took a bus out of Chendu because the taxi fare has doubled since she was there a few years ago.  She tells me that the price of pork in Guangzhou is about the same as in the US and people's wages are really not up nearly that amount.

Interesting - I live in Beijing (have done for 5 years now) and the price of a taxi to/from the international airport (one of the bigger taxi drives you are likely to take here) has only gone up by around 15% in that time (from around 60 RMB to 70 RMB going from the airport to the CBD area).

...

My friend's trip was from Chendu to around the giant Budda area.  At least a several hour drive.  She says it used to be about $50 and is now about $100.  When I visited Beijing shortly before the Olympics, the Great Wall, and the 'better' part which was a little farther away.  I don't recall exactly how much I paid, but it seems like somewhere around $30 sticks in my mind.  I did take public transportation down to the Peking Man site mostly just to find out for myself what it was like.  The rate was extremely low and I'm sure it must have been highly subsidized.

I do sense that the government controls things (like fuel prices) in a fairly hands-on manner, and also that the government tends to favor Beijing (to the chagrin of Shanghai in particular) and have read such.  I did not get any farther outside of Beijing than that, and have not yet been back.

I was quite amazed at how cheap food was.  It blew me away that a fish could be raised to a decent size, brought to the city alive, and cooked all for a few bucks.  The economics didn't seem to be there, but I never did really get my mind around people doing so much work for so little money.  We in the US are quite spoiled.

[bronan]

Section 6. Recommendations
1. The government and central bank should acknowledge the existence of Bitcoin and deal with it proactively.  Using the top-notch supercomputers at its disposal and using state power to ensure a monopoly on mining power, the central bank could acquire the vast majority of bitcoins.
2. The central bank should set up a Bitcoin bank and an official Bitcoin exchange and become the middleman in Chinese Bitcoin transactions to eliminate Bitcoin's relative anonymity and ensure that Bitcoin commerce can be regulated.
3. The government should push for international acceptance of a Bitcoin-backed currency, establishing a non-sovereign monetary system, to challenge the supremacy of the US dollar and to make the international financial system more harmonious and stable.

Delusional rantings of communists don't concern me.  They think they can control it like they think they control everything else.  Yawn...

lol you think lightly over at current the financial most powerfull country in the world
You seem to forget that china already owns most of us in terms of what they bought, china is more a super power now then the usa would like it to be.
I can buy nothing these days which is not made in china, even so called native companies just put the parts together which almost all are made in china.
And yes if the chinese want they can blow away the whole bitcoin network with their computing power or do you dream that they do not have graphic workstations.
The chinese are everywhere on the planet buying as much as they can, to later have control over every aspect in products we need or worse for the need of china ( energy oil,gas, metals and whatever you can think off )
Bitcoin is succesfull because no governement is controlling it, if the chinese get full control what effect would this have.

[memvola]

If there were a standalone TOR box, you bet it would be manufactured in China. We are all focused on control here, but I think the article is hinting at a good opportunity for China, which is, half jokingly, manufacturing of bitcoins.

If you are planning for long term control of minting, GPU's (and any other general purpose device) lose advantage, fast. China could produce specialized efficient BTC minting machines and start mining on them within months. If you are absolutely sure you will be able to process most of the transactions, and produce most of the coins, it makes sense to make Bitcoin popular for the rest of the world. With luck, you get to take some financial power away from the West with very little cost.

[RodeoX]

It would cost billions and billions of dollars. It would mean creating the largest computer network ever. Then... No one would use it. We would move to an alt coin and they would be left with nothing. It makes no logical sense whatsoever.

[lastnumber]

I do not refuse when an employee from the PBC staff proposes to control the bitcoin network. But if you can. Bitcoin technology is not a simple management technology. Leading technology experts are frustrated with tracking and managing terrorists using blockchain to anonymously in their operations. I think this is not workable.

[martinsidole]

It's more likely a personal opinion. This geek published several articles about how to transfer financial transaction information with the help of satellite or something like that.

[shwen]

I don’t think the Chinese government will use the top supercomputer to calculate
It takes a long time and resources are wasted. For scientists, this is a waste of their time.

[lulutika]

I want you to do, try every problem, I like this

[CurrenCyTRR]

amazing!

[toreserve]

It's great to be able to do that

[developno1]

That's so cool if it istrue