China Will Eventually Lift Cryptocurrency Exchange Ban, Says CEO of Oldest Bitcoin Exchange

Bobby Lee, CEO of BTCC, said that he believes it's possible that China will lift the ban on crypto trading one day, but isn't clear on when this will happen.

BTCC, the world’s oldest cryptocurrency exchange, has been serving the public since 2011. In the middle of last year, it had to shut down all commerce with Chinese customers because of a move by the country’s government to ban cryptocurrency trading.

After all of this, the exchange’s CEO — Bobby Lee — considers that the Chinese government will eventually reverse its decision.

“One day, I think it’s possible they’ll lift the ban, so called, and they might reinstitute it and license it,” he said on CNBC’s “Squawk Box”.

The Chinese government took down exchanges and ICOs in September last year, making its local exchanges seek customers elsewhere in the region.

Lee compared the crackdown to China’s “one-child policy”, which was abolished in 2016 and replaced with a law that allowed families the freedom to have two children.

Many exchanges targeted Japan and South Korea since their markets were favorable for the services they offer.

“Frankly speaking, I don’t know what kind of time frame that is, whether it’s a few months, a few years or even a few decades, so it’s hard to tell,” he continued.

Lee explained his reasoning even further by saying that “the more the governments and the regulators tried to put a squeeze on Bitcoin, the more we see that Bitcoin is actually resilient.”

In October last year, he was adamant in saying that the ban is not temporary. However, he was open to the possibility of it being lifted at some point in the far future.

“I’ve heard variations of that rumor. I honestly don’t think that will happen in any short time frame. In life everything Is temporary, so if it gets lifted in five years or ten years, well, technically they are right. But it’s not in the time frame that we are thinking about—meaning two or three months. I don’t believe it’s a two or three months, even six months situation,” he said in the other interview.

Bobby Lee’s exchange operates out of Shanghai, which puts him in the awkward position of having a business that can serve customers everywhere around the world except for those living in its own country.