Chinese Crypto Ban Could Be Long-Term Good For Bitcoin – BitGo CEO

Mike Belshe, CEO and Co-Founder of digital asset financial services company BitGo, claims that a recent clampdown on crypto in China could be a good thing for Bitcoin (BTC) in the long-term.

“Over the last ten years, there’s never been a shortage of reasons to think that this is the final deathblow to Bitcoin,” Belshe told Bloomberg TV. “We’ve been concerned about China for a long time. People have said: who’s mining this Bitcoin [and] … then we’ve said: oh no, it’s funded with coal power that’s harming the environment.”

Per the CEO, the ban demonstrates that “Bitcoin actually is resistant to any party trying to take it down,” and the only losers of this policy “are probably the Chinese citizens, and it will be temporary” as the Chinese authorities will eventually need to incorporate the use of digital assets and cryptocurrencies in their economy.

Referring to the future of cryptocurrency regulation, Belshe anticipates that “at the end of the day, I believe the regulators are going to realize that, you know what, it’s actually not any different than other asset classes in terms of how we participate in it, whether you’re a broker, an exchange, custodian, or a bank”.

BitGo’s CEO also commented on his company’s forthcoming acquisition by investment management firm Galaxy Digital for an estimated USD 1.2bn, saying the move would enable BitGo to expand its foothold in the institutional markets which are increasing their exposure to crypto.

“I’m in this for the long-term, so it’s not really so much a sale as a merger of great companies. The goal here is to make it so that digital assets are ubiquitous. That means that we’ve got fantastic retail markets. We’re looking to expand institutional markets. In the last six-nine months, we’ve seen the institutional markets overtake the retail markets,” Belshe said.

____
Learn more:
Chinese Central Bank Opts For Usual CBDC Rhetoric In Bashing Bitcoin, Stablecoins
China Is Not Done Yet With Its Crackdown On Crypto Mining – Researcher