Trump’s crypto support could push China to revive crypto regulation

HashKey’s Xiao Feng believes Trump’s crypto stance may prompt China to accelerate its adoption of cryptocurrencies.

U.S. President-elect Donald Trump’s pro-crypto policy may eventually prompt China to reconsider its stance on digital assets, HashKey Group chairman Xiao Feng told the South China Morning Post in an interview.

Xiao suggested that a clear commitment from Washington to promote the cryptocurrency sector could accelerate Beijing’s timeline for adopting crypto businesses. Despite China’s ban on crypto trading, mining, and initial coin offerings, Xiao believes that geopolitical factors, including the U.S.-led sanctions on Russia for its invasion of Ukraine could encourage a shift in China’s position.

“China perhaps needed five or six years from the present to accept [crypto businesses] without these events occurring. But now, because of these factors, that time frame could be shortened to two years.”

Xiao Feng

Trump pledged during his campaign to position the U.S. as a global leader in the crypto space, particularly promising to create a “crypto capital of the planet” and dismantling regulatory barriers viewed as anti-crypto. Xiao sees this as a potential catalyst for change in China, which has treated cryptocurrencies as a threat to its financial stability and a source of criminal activity.

However, there are no signs that Beijing is shifting its focus away from its state-controlled digital currency. Recently, China unveiled a central bank digital currency payment card, which functions like a traditional debit or credit card but also displays dynamic QR codes for payments and real-time balance updates.