We all know that China do block certain foreign sites that are somewhat political in nature but it comes as a surprise to me that China is blocking CoinMarketCap and CoinGecko. These are first and foremost informational sites which hardly covers anything political. In fact, both sites just deal with cryptocurrencies. I admit that there are plenty of cryptocurrency based websites that will at times dwell into the realm of politics when it involves government officials or politics but from what I know both of them barely ever went to that direction. I have subscribed to their newsletter as well – sure they did mention China a few days mainly due to China banning crypto mining or banning usage of Bitcoin or something. But that is as far as it goes. I don’t recall them clambering for downfall of the communist party or anything.
That is why I find it strange that China is blocking access to CoinMarketCap and CoinGecko. I know that China do have something against cryptocurrencies. I am guessing it has something to do with their Digital Yuan (which is supposed to be their Central Bank Digital Currency or CBDC for short). But straight up blocking such websites is kind of extreme and counter-productive. Both of the sites have a wealth of information and is rather useful even if you are not trading in cryptocurrencies. And I am sure that there are plenty of people living in China do have some exposure to the cryptosphere, especially considering that they used to be the largest crypto mining country in the world. But to completely cut off the people from what is potentially one of the most significant technological advances in this century is not a good idea. The rest of the world is going towards crypto technology while China is lagging way behind. Just look at VeChain and how it is able to become one of the top supply chain solution in the world. And even Tiktok is going to launch its own creator led NFTs. And yes NFTs are based on Blockchain technology.
It does seem that the Chinese government is not doing things the right way. And trying to get rid of any competition to their own Digital Yuan will ensure that their CBDC will not improve as well. Just imagine if Intel was the only maker of microprocessors. Will we see the huge leaps and innovations we see today? Or perhaps the world only uses Microsoft products. How expensive will the Operating Systems be then. And what kind of buggy and unintuitive interface will we be all using right now? I for one would like to see competition and trying to stifle competition will only lead to disaster. Worse of all in a country that is pretty well isolated from the rest of the world. And I think there are areas where both a government backed digital currency and other types of digital currency can work hand in hand. Crypto projects have many real-use cases now.
Well that is my thoughts anyway. I hope that China will reconsider their decisions to block access to these sites. Too much information is just simply lost if the people there can’t access it.
