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After Chinese President Xi Jinping announced the importance of blockchain technology in the development of several sectors, crypto and blockchain projects saw a surge in interest. Riding the wave of the hype is derivatives exchange FTX, which has announced the launch of an index of eight China-related cryptocurrencies.
Called the Dragon Perpetual Futures Index, it will be tracking a multitude of coins including TRX, BTM, NEO, IOST, VET, NULS, ONT, and QTUM. It will also open up opportunities for traders to the listed coins via perpetual futures contracts based on the index, allowing them to leverage contracts up to 101 times.
It’s important to remember, however, that trading crypto in China is still prohibited and the restrictions that were put in place two years prior are still active to this day. FTX itself and the rest of the aforementioned coins have moved their operations outside of the country since the ban in 2017, CoinDesk reported.
China and Facebook’s crypto race
And even though Jinping is supporting blockchain technology, the leader is still wary of cryptocurrencies. The only exception, of course, is the central bank digital currency (CBDC) that is still under development.
China is said to be in a race against Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg and his associates who are also trying to launch their own cryptocurrency called Libra. Unlike China, however, Libra has seen considerable opposition from private and government entities, the latest of which occurred last week where Zuckerberg was grilled by the U.S. Congress after attempting to push the initiative forward.
CCP mouthpiece reiterates danger regarding crypto speculative market
Former deputy director of the Congressional Financial and Economic Affairs Committee, Huang Qifan, also believes that China will launch its CBDC ahead of Libra. In fact, Qifan doesn’t believe that Libra will see the light of day. With U.S. Congress slamming the idea of Libra and several of its backers turning its back on the project, Qifan might very well be right.
Meanwhile, prior to the launching of the Dragon Perpetual Future Index, China has once again repeated its stance regarding the dangers of speculative investment in the crypto market, South China Morning Post reported.
“Blockchain is still in the early stages of development and needs to be improved in terms of safety, standards, regulation and so on. The major direction is not wrong, but we must avoid a rush, and redundancy and have orderly competition," SCMP quoted an editorial published Monday by People's Daily.
