President of People's Bank of China Zhou Xiaochuan talks about Bitcoin in Boao Forum on April 11th. The 2014 Boao Forum for Asia was held on Thursday in Boao, a coastal city in Hainan Province of China. This forum is a non-profit organization which hosts high-level forums for leaders from government, business and academia in Asia and other continents to share their thoughts on the most important issues in this dynamic region.
Zhao Xiaochuan expresses his opinion on Bitcoins. He says Bitcoin is more like a kind of tradable asset or collection instead of payment currency. As a kind of tradable asset, Bitcoin is not within the compass of People's Bank of China. Therefore, there won't be any issue about whether People's Bank of China will ban Bitcoin or not. "Bitcoin is more a kind of tradable and collectible asset, such as stamps rather than a payment currency." Zhou Xiaochuan said, "It is out of the question of banning Bitcoin as it is not started by central bank."
In the past few weeks, the price of Bitcoin has dropped rapidly, from above $500 to below $400, on the news that China would seek to freeze the ability of major exchanges to conduct Chinese Yuan deposits. Major exchanges have begun receiving notifications of account closures.
After Zhou Xiaochuan's speech about Bitcoin in Boao Forum for Asia was released, Bitcoin price soared up 20%.