Beijing fears virtual money's influence

[Tyler Durden]

Looks like they took Tim May seriously. Whoops...him sounding like nothing 
but a cook allowed a little stealth time for Blacknettish-type apps.
China is the one place where the cat can be stuffed back into he bag for a 
while, but true to their history Beijing's ability to police falls inversely 
proportional to distance traveled south.

TD


>From: "R.A. Hettinga" <rah at shipwright.com>
>To: cypherpunks at jfet.org, dgcchat at dgcchat.com
>Subject: Beijing fears virtual money's influence
>Date: Wed, 7 Mar 2007 00:29:23 -0500
>
>--- begin forwarded text
>
>
>   Date: Wed, 7 Mar 2007 00:28:29 -0500
>   To: Philodox Clips List <clips at philodox.com>
>   From: "R.A. Hettinga" <rah at shipwright.com>
>   Subject: Beijing fears virtual money's influence
>
>
><http://www.ft.com/cms/s/6e4d7c84-cc17-11db-a661-000b5df10621,dwp_uuid=9c33700c-4c86-11da-89df-0000779e2340,print=yes.html>
>
>   The Financial Times
>
>
>   ASIA-PACIFIC
>
>
>   CHINA
>
>
>   Beijing fears virtual money's influence
>
>   By Mure Dickie in Beijing
>
>   Published: March 6 2007 19:32 | Last updated: March 7 2007 02:16
>
>   China has issued restrictions on the use of "virtual money" from 
>internet
>   games, warning such currencies could threaten real-world financial
>   stability.
>
>   The ban on using virtual money to buy "material products" is part of a
>   wider tightening of controls that includes a renewed crackdown on the 
>cafes
>   where many of China's estimated 137m internet users go online.
>
>   Beijing's move highlights the blurring boundaries between online and
>   offline worlds. Governments and judiciaries elsewhere are also 
>struggling
>   to decide how to regulate online economies that have spawned 
>multi-million
>   dollar businesses trading virtual items and currencies for hard cash. 
>But
>   few view them as a threat to the world financial system.
>
>   The restrictions follow Beijing's growing concern about the influence of
>   currencies created by internet companies, particularly the wildly 
>popular
>   "QQ Coins" issued by Hong Kong-listed messaging and games provider 
>Tencent.
>
>   Tencent's messaging system is used by an estimated two-thirds of Chinese
>   internet users and its QQ Coins have been accepted as payment by other
>   companies as well as sold for legal tender.
>
>   A formal notice quietly issued to officials last month by the Communist
>   party and government departments, including the central bank, has 
>ordered
>   "strict differentiation between virtual exchanges and online commerce in
>   material products".
>
>   The notice says: "The People's Bank of China will strengthen management 
>of
>   the virtual currencies used in online games and will stay on the lookout
>   for any assault by such virtual currencies on the real economic and
>   financial order."
>
>   Virtual money can only be used to buy virtual products and services the
>   companies provide themselves, issuance will be limited, and users are
>   "strictly forbidden" from trading it into legal tender for a profit, 
>says
>   the notice.
>
>   The curb on virtual money reflects concerns that it has been used to
>   circumvent China's strict laws against gambling.
>
>   Tencent and other internet companies offer forums where people can play
>   online versions of games such as mahjong using virtual money, although
>   Tencent says it has "adjusted" its services in recent months and that 
>they
>   now "accord entirely with government instructions".
>
>   China is in the throes of a campaign to "purify" the internet, and most 
>of
>   the content of the notice was aimed at tightening controls over the
>   country's estimated 113,000 internet cafes. It blamed internet cafes for
>   fostering "internet addiction", banned approval of new ones this year 
>and
>   toughened penalties for those that admit minors. Crackdowns in 2002 and
>   2004 had a limited impact.
>
>
>   --
>   -----------------
>   R. A. Hettinga <mailto: rah at ibuc.com>
>   The Internet Bearer Underwriting Corporation <http://www.ibuc.com/>
>   44 Farquhar Street, Boston, MA 02131 USA
>   "... however it may deserve respect for its usefulness and antiquity,
>   [predicting the end of the world] has not been found agreeable to
>   experience." -- Edward Gibbon, 'Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire'
>
>--- end forwarded text
>
>
>--
>-----------------
>R. A. Hettinga <mailto: rah at ibuc.com>
>The Internet Bearer Underwriting Corporation <http://www.ibuc.com/>
>44 Farquhar Street, Boston, MA 02131 USA
>"... however it may deserve respect for its usefulness and antiquity,
>[predicting the end of the world] has not been found agreeable to
>experience." -- Edward Gibbon, 'Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire'

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