It's simply impossible for me to believe that they would try to ban Bitcoin for any other reason than to prevent capital flight. Any Chinese national with a significant amount of money has already shipped most of their assets overseas, or is in the process. Getting money out of the country with Bitcoin is effortless, and thus an easy target for regulators. The articles you've linked to don't touch on the clampdown on capital flight. Here's a recent one about that:
> It's simply impossible for me to believe that they would try to ban Bitcoin for any other reason than to prevent capital flight
Fraud? Massive amounts of fraud occurring through ICOs? American investors, even retail ones, are markedly more sophisticated than Chinese investors for having generations of cultural knowledge of conmen and securities.
Capital flight is happening, but from what I can tell the PBoC is currently encouraging it. Over the last 2 weeks, many screws have been loosened in a bid to (a) appease dealmakers and (b) push the yuan back down. The number of Chinese investors I work with who, over the last month, for the first time in years, were able to once again stage capital is massive.
TL; DR I am thoroughly convinced the "Bitcoin was banned in China because of capital controls" argument is being pushed by people who stand to gain from ICOs. Framing it as a China-specific problem, as opposed to an issue the Bitcoin community must address, sequesters the problem (for the time being).
Note: not saying you're doing this. I bought the argument for a bit. The facts, however, speak decisively one way.
I guess it comes down to the question of do you think China is more concerned about its people losing money, or China losing its people's money (that the state views as its own). I don't think you'd find too many Chinese people that would argue for the former, although it's a nice facade.
Mass fraud amongst people who can't afford it is a concern to any political entity. If millions of Chinese lose their savings to fraudulent ICOs, just like when million of Americans lost their savings to fraudulent mortgage-related products or S&L products of pre-Securities Act hucksters (to whom we've come full circle with ICOs), that becomes the elite's problem.
https://www.ft.com/content/3a638d1c-8405-11e7-a4ce-15b2513cb...