Is China going to shift from Gold to crypto as ICBC considers ETH a digital oil?

[electronicash]

In a detailed analysis report, ICBC emphasized the rapid development and increasing diversity of digital currencies. The bank compared Bitcoin with gold, highlighting the former's advantages in terms of divisibility and portability. These features make Bitcoin a more practical asset for transactions and investments.

The bank has labeled Ethereum as 'Digital Oil', indicating its recognition of the growing importance and potential of this digital currency. This comparison suggests that Ethereum, like oil in the physical world, plays a crucial role in the digital economy.

the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC), one of the biggest banks in China praises ETH as digital oil as they halt buying Gold. difficult to believe when you read news like this when the country is known for its strict rules. when they allowed Hong Kong to have BTC and ETH ETF, there were already speculations the country may soon be reversing its crypto ban.

with such news, is it a sign?  

https://www.fxstreet.com/cryptocurrencies/news/ethereum-breaches-key-support-receives-digital-oil-tag-from-worlds-largest-bank-202406111655

[coolcoinz]

I don't really care if it switches from the petro dollar to a shitcoin. We're talking about a country that was trying to introduce CBDC for years which is everything that bitcoin stands against.

IMO china is playing its own game and that game revolves around controlling its citizens, faking whatever it can, making money and weakening other countries.
China banned bitcoin because it was hard to control and gave people some freedom which they took and begun to move money out of China and that could not be allowed to happen, since money and people are both the property of CCP.

[ChiBitCTy]

China has already made their switch, or there start of a switch from the Yuan fiat currency to Digital Yuan.  It's not actually legitimate cryptocurrency, as it's as centralized as it gets, and is just an even easier way to track all of it's citizens.  I know they recently found out a good chunk of their gold stock was fake (lulz), and I'm sure the dictatorship has bitcoin and other crypto personally that is undisclosed, for investment purposes..but they won't adopt a legit cryptocurrency until the dictatorship is ceased/over thrown.  

China doesn't control Hong Kong, but it seems HK is starting to lose that control.  They have also agreed with the e-cny to start offering digital yuan in I believe airports, currently. That's a pretty damn big deal.

I have been lucky enough to obtain a digital yuan "hardware" wallet set, as well as an individual wallet with some digital yuan funded on it.. I like to collect stuff from oppressive regimes ( those who don't study history, are bound to repeat it )

[Mate2237]

Calling Ethereum as the digital oil meaning they are still very backyard in the cryptocurrency activities. Ethereum is not included in the cryptocurrency market as of now and I will not even advise anyone to invest in it. I have made the mistake and I will never do again. The only time I will still invest in Ethereum again, it is when Ethereum has fee-less or transaction without fee then I will invest if not even $0.005 fee as a transaction fee I will not invest. Ethereum is nonsense. When people were saying it I thought they were playing but now I have confirmed with my experience.

Ethereum should be abandon by real bitcoiners. I invested $200 to know if the project is good and I lost almost everything.

[Z-tight]

with such news, is it a sign?  

I am not exactly sure what to make of this news, i know that any news about BTC coming out of China will surely make the rounds, and this statement from the ICBC is going to be interpreted in many ways. However, i don't think it changes anything, China has not lifted any ban they had on crypto, so this isn't a sign of anything positive for BTC in that country.

I don't know why some people are so concerned about the direction China has taken concerning BTC, they have already chosen a path and it is easy to understand why. Based on how things are run over there, they prefer things like cbdc, something that would give them more control over their people and surely not a decentralized money they cannot control.

[royalfestus]

China has a longstanding history of stringent crypto regulations, such as banning initial coin offerings (ICOs) and crypto exchanges. This latest news appears to contradict their usual stance. It's crucial to approach such information with caution.

[Cryptomultiplier]

In a detailed analysis report, ICBC emphasized the rapid development and increasing diversity of digital currencies. The bank compared Bitcoin with gold, highlighting the former's advantages in terms of divisibility and portability. These features make Bitcoin a more practical asset for transactions and investments.

The bank has labeled Ethereum as 'Digital Oil', indicating its recognition of the growing importance and potential of this digital currency. This comparison suggests that Ethereum, like oil in the physical world, plays a crucial role in the digital economy.

the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC), one of the biggest banks in China praises ETH as digital oil as they halt buying Gold. difficult to believe when you read news like this when the country is known for its strict rules. when they allowed Hong Kong to have BTC and ETH ETF, there were already speculations the country may soon be reversing its crypto ban.

with such news, is it a sign?  

https://www.fxstreet.com/cryptocurrencies/news/ethereum-breaches-key-support-receives-digital-oil-tag-from-worlds-largest-bank-202406111655

Am even surprised that Eth is more recognized than BTC as a cryptocurrency.
Although I have heard and read on several news about China adoption of cryptocurrencies, this proves that they are actually making steps and won't ignore crypto currency in the future both as a legal tender and as a valid means for payments upon completion of trades and transactions.
Crypto currency is indeed the next thing after gold and real estate that will make sense for returns in investment in coming years and am sure that any country that wants to attain the world power status has to at least have investments in cryptocurrency and encourage the use of it in for payments and transactions despite any regulations that might be put in place.

[suzanne5223]

Based on the potentials that the cryptocurrency market has shown to the world which literally make some government and investment organizations see crypto as the perfect alternative to Gold in terms of hedge funds I believe the Chinese government will shift to crypto but we won't see a total shift though. What we're going to see is the shift of some portion into crypto while some are in Gold.

[Reatim]

IMO china is playing its own game and that game revolves around controlling its citizens, faking whatever it can,

China has a long history of only wanting their citizens to consume content from their own country. They usually refuse to let their citizens use for example a specific social media platform and instead creates one of their own.

It will be no surprise if that is what they do with crypto as well. It would be interesting to see them try create an alternative version to crypto.

[Kemarit]

Doesn't change a thing though, they still have a strong anti-Bitcoin, and even if they says ETH is digital oil, it only shows more of their hard line stance which for crypto enthusiast, really baffles on why they say than an altcoin is better than BTC?

And regarding Hongkong's ETF approval, it is not available to Mainland Chinese,

The upcoming launch of spot Bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETF) in Hong Kong will not open up the market for investors in mainland China, according to Bloomberg data analyst Jack Wang.

https://cointelegraph.com/news/hong-kong-bitcoin-etfs-mainland-china

And if they will embrace crypto, it will all be altcoins for sure.

[logfiles]

I welcome this type of news from such Countries with very little expectations. This is China we are talking about, not some Country like Bolivia or Peru. Countries like People's Republic of China always want complete control of their Citizens, Finances and rally for world domination.

Does adopting Ethereum as digital oil give China more power? Does it make China more economically sound vs other superpowers? IMO, I don't think so. They have been banning and strict on crypto trading and mining for so many years and now all of a sudden they like crypto?

[Yaunfitda]

In a detailed analysis report, ICBC emphasized the rapid development and increasing diversity of digital currencies. The bank compared Bitcoin with gold, highlighting the former's advantages in terms of divisibility and portability. These features make Bitcoin a more practical asset for transactions and investments.

The bank has labeled Ethereum as 'Digital Oil', indicating its recognition of the growing importance and potential of this digital currency. This comparison suggests that Ethereum, like oil in the physical world, plays a crucial role in the digital economy.

the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC), one of the biggest banks in China praises ETH as digital oil as they halt buying Gold. difficult to believe when you read news like this when the country is known for its strict rules. when they allowed Hong Kong to have BTC and ETH ETF, there were already speculations the country may soon be reversing its crypto ban.

with such news, is it a sign?  

https://www.fxstreet.com/cryptocurrencies/news/ethereum-breaches-key-support-receives-digital-oil-tag-from-worlds-largest-bank-202406111655

Am even surprised that Eth is more recognized than BTC as a cryptocurrency.
Although I have heard and read on several news about China adoption of cryptocurrencies, this proves that they are actually making steps and won't ignore crypto currency in the future both as a legal tender and as a valid means for payments upon completion of trades and transactions.
Crypto currency is indeed the next thing after gold and real estate that will make sense for returns in investment in coming years and am sure that any country that wants to attain the world power status has to at least have investments in cryptocurrency and encourage the use of it in for payments and transactions despite any regulations that might be put in place.

Don't be surprised though, I mean they have been against Bitcoin and if I'm not mistaken, it starts in 2018 and then it culminated with them banning mining and others that related to Bitcoin. And probably this is the reason why they choosen Ethereum, who knows, they just want to rub it in with Bitcoin ethusiast around the world and says that they hate it and that they are going to support Ethereum and call it whatever they wanted it to be. However, it doesn't mean that Ethereum will suddenly grow just because of this announcement. On the other hand, it might backfire on Ethereum itself as there could be a lot of speculations on China giving a nod to a crypto that is very centralized.

[btc78]

when they allowed Hong Kong to have BTC and ETH ETF,

Hong Kong has complete autonomy so they weren't allowed by China however China do have some say in the decision making of Hong Kong even if it isn't that definitive.

there were already speculations the country may soon be reversing its crypto ban.

with such news, is it a sign?  

A bank saying this despite the ban knowing how strict China is with their rules, we might get something similar to crypto. They might release a token in eth blockchain, who knows?

[OcTradism]

the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC), one of the biggest banks in China praises ETH as digital oil as they halt buying Gold. difficult to believe when you read news like this when the country is known for its strict rules. when they allowed Hong Kong to have BTC and ETH ETF, there were already speculations the country may soon be reversing its crypto ban.

with such news, is it a sign?  

We can not trust governments and they do things behind the scene, usually they do oppositely to what they announced to their citizens and other countries. Assuming this news is true, I believe that China government through ICBC and maybe other governmental institutions actually did many activities to accumulate Ethereum many months before this announcement.

Think bigger, if they accumulate Ethereum, they would have not ignored Bitcoin.

Chinese government has 190,000 bitcoins even more than this figure.
https://bitcointreasuries.net/
https://bitcointreasuries.net/entities/115

Total number of Ether owners by country in 2022.
Some interesting information and figures are written in the blog article from Coinshares.

[yhiaali3]

Do not trust governments, especially when it comes to Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies. I cannot believe that the Chinese government is quickly changing its mind about Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies and is comparing Bitcoin to gold with preference and also calling Ethereum digital oil. This is too much.

I can think of one thing, and it is in the context of the competition with the United States to control the world economy. Perhaps Trump’s change in attitude towards Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies is the main reason. Perhaps they thought that Trump was seeking to control the field of Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies and they did not want the prize to go to him alone.

[avikz]

China could potentially remove the ban on cryptocurrency. However, I do not trust China government and they are known to change their stance frequently. So don't be surprised if the same bank issues a very negative report on crypto tomorrow.

Also I don't think China will ever start buying ETH or any other cryptos as a reserve ever. They may buy some from the market to hold it as an investment but they will never be used as a reserve for the bank. Or it could be very much possible that the bank has already take positions in ETH and they just want to sell it off at a profit. Everything is possible!

In summary, never believe a government, especially Chinese government!

[pooya87]

Statements such as this are not new. I believe it was 2017 when another Chinese bank released a list of "good" cryptocurrencies and this centralized shitcoin (meaning Ethereum) was on top of that list.

That doesn't mean that China is going to adopt crypto or even ETH instead of gold. They are still pretty much on a gold accumulation spree and the more tensions rise the more they'll accumulate gold.
I seriously doubt that they have the delusion of thinking a centralized shitcoin that they don't even control has any potential for their country.

Remember that China has its own successful CBDC that is growing and they'll focus on increasing its adoption not start advertising shitcoins instead.

[kryptqnick]

Given the level of authoritarianism and centralization in China, I believe it's unlikely that this bank did something that the government disagreed with. It's nice that the report praises Bitcoin and Ethereum. If that's true, then is, because I don't see it on major reputable media outlets. While looking through various publications, I've failed to find any links to the report itself, even though the articles claim that it was published. The bank's website also doesn't seem to feature that report (at least, not on the English version of the website). Does the op or anyone else know where the report can be found? Because as of now, I'm somewhat suspicious about this information, and I'd like to learn more.

[electronicash]

Statements such as this are not new. I believe it was 2017 when another Chinese bank released a list of "good" cryptocurrencies and this centralized shitcoin (meaning Ethereum) was on top of that list.

That doesn't mean that China is going to adopt crypto or even ETH instead of gold. They are still pretty much on a gold accumulation spree and the more tensions rise the more they'll accumulate gold.
I seriously doubt that they have the delusion of thinking a centralized shitcoin that they don't even control has any potential for their country.

Remember that China has its own successful CBDC that is growing and they'll focus on increasing its adoption not start advertising shitcoins instead.

they have successful CBDC is because its citizen also using it. but it was also not working from the begining.

the news is surprising to me because they have the NEO and the VET that were pretty much known since the country is exporting products and the project is for tracking counterfeit products.

ETH is not even theirs which means if they pump eth, many tokens will also pump.i think they also up for BTC, they can't just ignore this after all its citizens have been been mining BTC in the begining of BTC.

[NotATether]

I have been lucky enough to obtain a digital yuan "hardware" wallet set, as well as an individual wallet with some digital yuan funded on it.. I like to collect stuff from oppressive regimes ( those who don't study history, are bound to repeat it )

Do these support WeChat Pay and AliPay, by any chance?