China's Crypto Ban Hasn’t Really Affected Blockchain Activity Yet


China issued its most expansive cryptocurrency ban on Friday, banning all transactions and mining activity.

This is not the first time China has tightened its stance on cryptocurrency. Bitcoin’s ability to weather the regulatory storm is well documented, but this doesn’t mean the regulations have had no impact. China’s mining crackdown sent bitcoin’s hash rate tumbling in May, for example.

So, how has China’s latest policy hit crypto activity?

Crypto Transactions See Little Change After China’s Ban

On the day China issued its new ban – September 24 – Blockchain.com reported a rolling seven-day average of 251,135 transactions on the bitcoin blockchain. As of yesterday, this number remains similar, with a seven-day average of 249,204 transactions per day.

As for the raw values, bitcoin’s blockchain activity follows a consistent pattern that sees transactions drop by 25% over the weekend, only to recover the following week. So far, blockchain activity has not deviated from this pattern since China’s latest regulation.

Similarly, Ethereum’s daily transactions remained stable after September 24 (via Etherscan). 1,152,685 transactions took place on September 24. 1,133,903 transactions were carried out on September 27. In fact, the Ethereum hash rate has increased by 10 GH/s since September 24.

Following China’s latest crypto restrictions, cryptocurrency users took to social media to mock what they perceived as a regular occurrence.

Of course, while the impact of restrictions has not hit blockchain activity yet, long-term ramifications could still come into effect.

Before the government imposed further restrictions in 2018, China made up over 90% of crypto trading volume, according to Eminetra. This dominance is likely to have dropped since, but China still remains vital to the crypto ecosystem.

However, China’s September 2017 crackdown on crypto, which saw the price of bitcoin drop by 26%, also does not appear to have influenced on-chain transaction numbers, either.

BTC’s price is currently $42,064.43 – down 2.93% in the past seven days.

Read More: Has 'The September Effect' Hit Crypto Again?

[Featured Image by Executium via Unsplash]

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