Report: People's Bank of China deputy director says bitcoin is a commodity

In a brief post on Asian market bitcoin blog Bit-Sky, a deputy director of the People’s Bank of China addressed his institution’s view of virtual currency in a speech at the 2014 Spring Summit of China Internet Finance Conference. According to Bit-Sky, the deputy director said:

Now, the currency is fiat currency, sovereign currency. Is bitcoin a kind of currency? Yes, it is, but it’s not a fiat currency, it is a kind of electronic commodity currency, it’s a kind of currency embraced by economist Hayek, it has features like gold payment, etc. Bitcoin breaks through the concept of sovereignty. If the Fed one day says bitcoin can be exchanged into USD, it will certainly become popular all over the world, but now only few central banks recognize it. Generally speaking, countries do not affirm its legitimacy as a sovereign currency, but people’s willingness to accept bitcoin is another matter. So you can understand bitcoin as a kind of nongovernmental currency, so it is a currency, but it is not a fiat currency. This is a breakthrough of the concept of sovereignty currency.”

The deputy director was not named in the post, and given the high level of misinformation in the Chinese bitcoin market, a healthy dose of skepticism is warranted for both the source and translation of the actual quote. Should the gist of the post prove true, however, it could be an indicator of the looming policy change towards bitcoin in China rumored to take place on April 15.