Despite the Chinese government’s strict regulations on cryptocurrencies, Chinese state media, CCTV, is shining a spotlight on Bitcoin’s recent bull run.
CnLedger, popular anonymous Twitter account that covers crypto news in China, notes CCTV’s recent coverage.
“CCTV, China’s Official TV Channel: Bitcoin price surpasses $17.5K, up 70% in less than 50 days. Compared with 2017’s bull market, Bitcoin’s network, development and investment eco-system are now far better. The recent rise is driven by institutional funds.”
Bitcoin is trading at $17,963.99 at time of writing, up more than 10% on the week, more than 50% on the month, and more than 120% on the year, according to CoinGecko.
China banned initial coin offerings (ICOs) in 2017 and continued its crypto crackdown with investigations into exchanges last year.
The country, however, has continued to support the blockchain space. A report from crypto analytics platform LongHash reveals that more than 10,000 blockchain companies were formed in China from January to July 2020, exceeding the 8,595 recorded in 2017.
The crypto data company says this year the number of newly established blockchain companies in China will surpass the number of firms formed last year, which was 13,885.
Additionally, Chinese citizens continue to use crypto to move money out of the country. An August report from blockchain analytics firm Chainalysis indicated that more than $50 billion worth of cryptocurrency has fled China-based wallets in the past 12 months.
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