Polymarket merchants estimate the possibility that China will legalize the acquisition of Bitcoin throughout the nation to be round 5%.
At first look, this quantity appears damaging. Nonetheless, the query arises whether or not the Chinese language authorities will explicitly enable its residents to trade RMB for Bitcoin inside mainland China by the tip of 2026.
This distinction is essential as a result of the regulatory construction not too long ago accomplished by the Chinese language authorities factors in the wrong way.
Prediction markets ask binary questions. Will the Folks’s Republic of China announce that by December 31, 2026, Chinese language residents will have the ability to legally buy Bitcoin with Renminbi inside China?
This decision hinges on the announcement itself, not its implementation. Hong Kong sandboxes, offshore merchandise, and institutional workarounds are excluded. It is a take a look at of land banking rails and authorized buying channels, the very infrastructure that China has spent the final 12 months systematically dismantling.
The ban has been additional strengthened
In February 2026, Chinese language regulators issued a complete joint notification that successfully codified “Ban 2.0.” This doc reaffirms that digital foreign money enterprise actions quantity to unlawful monetary actions and that digital currencies shouldn’t have the standing of authorized tender.
Nevertheless, it goes past the September 2021 framework it replaces and particularly targets the naming and registration of entities that help advertising, transportation facilitation, fee settlement, and even cryptocurrency actions.
The discover singles out stablecoins as a precedence enforcement space, bans unauthorized offshore issuance of renminbi-pegged stablecoins, and frames stablecoins as a car for anti-money laundering gaps, fraud, and unauthorized cross-border fund transfers.
Civil deterrence has additionally been launched. Investing in digital currencies and associated merchandise violates “public order and morals” and such transactions are legally void and impose private losses on traders.
This was not a marketing campaign memo. The 2021 Discover has been repealed and established as a brand new authorized commonplace. For these betting on a reversal by the tip of the 12 months, the timeline will look grim.
| coverage layer | What’s it (plain English) | Does this fulfill the polymarket “YES”? | Scenario on the mainland (framework after February 2026) | Hong Kong’s “stress valve”? |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Home retail buy (RMB → BTC) | Extraordinary folks can legally trade RMB into Bitcoin Inside mainland China (through authorized apps/exchanges/OTC). | sure | Prohibited | no — Hong Kong doesn’t change the legality of onshore RMB → BTC purchases on the mainland. |
| Change/buying and selling venue (home license) | Chinese language licensed cryptocurrency exchanges and exchanges function legally and may present providers to mainland residents. | no | Prohibited/focused | sure — Hong Kong can acquire VASP/venue licenses, however this stays offshore and doesn’t legalize venues on the mainland. |
| Banking rail (renminbi deposit/settlement) | Banks/fee firms can present RMB accounts, deposits and withdrawals, and settlement/clearing for digital currency-related transactions. | No (until you explicitly allow onshore authorized RMB → BTC purchases) | Goal/Prohibition (Deal with rails and facilitation) | partial — Hong Kong Financial institution Rail can help licensed Hong Kong actions. Not reopening the RMB rail for mainland digital foreign money transactions. |
| Storage/brokerage merchandise | Regulated entities can retailer BTC for his or her clients or present brokered BTC publicity (funds, structured notes, wrappers). | no | Prohibited (Will probably be handled as “digital foreign money associated merchandise and actions”) | sure — Hong Kong can host regulated merchandise (ETFs/custody and so forth.) inside a contained jurisdiction. |
| Legality of mining | Mining is authorized/regulated (licenses, taxes, entry to the ability grid), not prohibited/penalized. | no | Prohibited (No lodging obtainable. Enforcement might differ by area) | no — Hong Kong isn’t a mining middle. Mining isn’t legalized on the mainland. |
| Hong Kong Entry (ETF/Stablecoin) | Publicity through the Hong Kong Spot Crypto ETF. Stablecoin primarily based on Hong Kong license. Tokenization pilot primarily based on Hong Kong laws. | no (Explicitly excluded by the “inside China” framework of the market) | not relevant To mainland legality. Mainland restrictions nonetheless apply | sure — ETF + stablecoin license + supervised pilot will function an offshore experiment with out mainland liberalization. |
| Offshore institutional workarounds | Offshore exchanges/commodities/establishments provide BTC publicity. Mainland customers entry through VPN/OTC/cross-border channels. | no | Goal/Prohibition (Particularly solicitation/advertising/transport facilitation and cross-border capital circulate vectors) | partial — Hong Kong can settle for merchandise, however “mainland entry” stays politically restricted and doesn’t meet land-based buying standards. |
Hong Kong as a management experiment
The Chinese language authorities’s method to cryptocurrencies turns into clearer when considered by means of the lens of Hong Kong’s position as a regulatory laboratory.
In April 2024, Hong Kong launched Asia’s first Bitcoin and Ethereum spot ETF, marketed explicitly as a product for jurisdictions the place mainland buying and selling stays prohibited.
The town’s stablecoin licensing framework took impact in August 2025, however as of early 2026, the Hong Kong Financial Authority’s register confirmed zero license issuers.
The primary batch is predicted in March 2026, however regulators have prompt that quantity shall be “very small”.
Even ocean experiments face political constraints. The Monetary Occasions reported that Chinese language tech giants together with Ant Group and Jingtocom have canceled plans for a Hong Kong stablecoin following the intervention of the Chinese language authorities.
The message: Innovation can happen in managed environments, however provided that central oversight is enhanced reasonably than circumvented.
This construction permits the Chinese language authorities to take care of an impermeable barrier to home renminbi-to-bitcoin trade whereas permitting the usage of contained pilots resembling ETFs, tokenization frameworks, and licensed stablecoins.
Hong Kong acts as a stress valve and doesn’t foretell mainland coverage.
The tokenization paradox
China’s February 2026 regulatory tightening additionally makes it clear that digital property shall be allowed the place they’re allowed: inside closely monitored and permitted tokenization lanes.
On February 6, the China Securities Regulatory Fee strengthened its supervision of offshore tokenized asset-backed securities tied to onshore property, calling for stronger filings, disclosures, and cross-border coordination.
On the identical day, a discover from the Folks’s Financial institution of China mixed a crackdown on cryptocurrencies with language stating that tokenized merchandise backed by home property can be topic to strict scrutiny.
Three days later, Reuters framed the transfer to ascertain a authorized pathway for offshore issuance of tokens backed by mainland property, despite the fact that real-world asset issuance throughout the nation stays prohibited.
This interpretation is per the broader stance of the Chinese language authorities. Digital finance is appropriate whether it is auditable, supervised by the state, and goes by means of authorised entities. There aren’t any unregulated transactions.
McKinsey predicts that by 2030, the market capitalization of tokenized property shall be round $2 trillion, with a bullish case excluding “cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin” at round $4 trillion.
As a result of tokenization is linked to state surveillance and management infrastructure, the Chinese language authorities can actively promote tokenization and conduct anti-Bitcoin transactions on the identical time.
One knowledge level complicates the tightening story. In keeping with Hashrate Index, China’s share of Bitcoin mining will get well to round 14% by October 2025, with some trade estimates placing it between 15% and 20% of worldwide mining.
This resurgence has occurred regardless of a mining ban, suggesting gaps in enforcement on the native stage.
Nevertheless, this transfer displays fluctuations in compliance reasonably than a reversal of coverage. Native tolerance for underground mining has not translated into authorized readability on the nationwide stage, and the Chinese language authorities’s February 2026 notification reveals no consideration for mining actions.
Precise value at odds of 5%
Polymarket’s present pricing displays a collection of low-probability eventualities.
Essentially the most believable path to a “sure” decision includes a slender land take a look at. It’s a state-supervised platform in a free commerce zone that permits restricted RMB to Bitcoin purchases, topic to strict capital caps and buyer visibility controls.
Such experiments would require clear licensing pathways, entry to banking providers, and a shift away from “illicit monetary actions.”
There may be nothing within the present regulatory surroundings to counsel motion in direction of that consequence. The February 2026 framework reverses the Overton framework, treating crypto companies not as a grey space that ought to be tolerated, however as criminality that ought to be eradicated.
A second state of affairs, oblique Bitcoin publicity by means of extremely regulated merchandise, may acquire traction, resembling mainland traders accessing Hong Kong crypto ETFs by means of authorised channels.
Nevertheless, this doesn’t meet the decision requirements for polymarkets. This criterion is topic to authorized onshore RMB to Bitcoin purchases.
Sovereign Lens and Indicators Value Noting
Beijing’s hardline stance can be per broader issues about financial sovereignty.
In 2025, the Financial institution for Worldwide Settlements famous that greater than 99% of stablecoins are denominated in US {dollars}, elevating issues about stealth dollarization and circumvention of capital controls, the very vulnerabilities that Chinese language regulators cite when justifying crypto laws.
For a authorities that believes capital controls are important to macroeconomic stability, permitting unregulated renminbi to bitcoin trade is tantamount to opening a everlasting leak within the dam.
The political price of such a reversal would appear prohibitive, particularly within the absence of a disaster that forces Beijing’s hand.
If the percentages are to maneuver meaningfully, sure triggers will happen previous to the change. A proper assertion from the State Council or the Folks’s Financial institution of China establishing authorized channels for licensed exchanges and brokers to function within the nation can be the clearest sign.
One other risk can be banking permission to permit crypto platform transactions to be settled with RMB accounts. A change within the wording of the official notification from “unlawful monetary exercise” to “regulated exercise” would point out a conceptual restructuring.
The announcement of a free commerce zone that explicitly permits the acquisition of RMB with Bitcoin inside a delegated geographic space may meet polymarket fee standards with out requiring nationwide legalization. None of those alerts are current.
The regulatory trajectory from late 2025 onwards is unidirectional with tighter controls, clearer prohibitions, and clearer civil and felony deterrence.
actual guess
Polymarket merchants haven’t priced in whether or not China will “settle for cryptocurrencies” or “change into blockchain pleasant.” They’re pricing within the risk that inside a 12 months, the Chinese language authorities will withdraw its newly strengthened coverage framework, permitting residents to trade nationwide foreign money for property the federal government deems unlawful, and achieve this with none political or financial catalyst.
As a substitute, the Chinese language authorities has created a bifurcated system. That’s, digital finance allowed beneath state supervision and a continued ban on decentralized transactions.
Hong Kong can host the experiment. Tokenization can proceed on managed rails. Stablecoins might be licensed beneath strict circumstances. Nevertheless, home RMB-to-Bitcoin purchases stay at odds with the regulatory logic that China has tightened its authorized framework for by 2025 and early 2026.
Structure isn’t ambiguous. It’s express, codified, and expansive. Betting on a reversal by December 2026 isn’t solely betting on present coverage, but in addition on the framework China has simply completed constructing.