The People's Bank of China has a new governor named Yi Gang, who in the past used positive terms to describe Bitcoin.

The National People's Congress of China voted to approve the appointment of President Xi Jinping as governor of the central bank on March 19. Yi Gang, who had previously been deputy governor of the People's Bank of China (BPP), was appointed to his new position on the same day. With Liu He, the president's chief economic adviser, also rising to the post of deputy prime minister on Monday, some speculate that Yi will play a supporting role for Liu in drafting the country's economic policy. After being named, Yi said that "the main task is that we must implement a prudent monetary policy, promote reform and the opening of the financial sector, and maintain the stability of the entire financial sector." As governor, he is expected to continue pursuing the liberalization agenda of Zhou Xiaochuan, his predecessor on paper. Last week, when he was still governor, Zhou speculated that the digital currency could one day replace paper money in China's economy. That same day, it was learned that the PBoC is in the process of developing such a currency. As deputy governor of the central bank in November 2013, Yi described Bitcoin as "inspiring" when addressing a forum. On the same occasion, he noted that the bank did not currently recognize the legitimacy of the digital asset, but it seemed to leave open the possibility that the perspective of the People's Bank of China on the issue could evolve.

In January 2018, the deputy governor of the People's Bank of China Pan Gongsheng was asked to prohibit the provision of services that support the cryptocurrency trade. At about the same time, the bank apparently partnered with several government agencies to crack down on cybercrime, a category that apparently includes currency-related virtual fraud. On the 19th of that month, a letter that seems to originate from the PBoC asked the Chinese banks to refuse to process the transactions related to the cryptocurrency. In May 2017, the central bank announced that it had established a FinTech committee to study the "impact of financial and technological development on monetary policy, the financial market, financial stability and payment and liquidation". Source: ETHNews