China about to go full North Korea?
Pretty much: Remember that China can simply start executing citizens with Bitcoin, torturing them, declaring them "enemies of the state". If there is one thing China/NK has it's a lot of people, so an individual person doesn't mean much.
It's too bad, I'm sure China is about ready to introduce their own Govt backed shitcoin, but really who would want a coin backed by torture and human suffering?
But that's the way it goes. Hope China has fun staying poor.....
I agree with the trend but have slightly less sinister view; people are useful labor for China, and forced labor cost nothing. So, it seems more likely the citizens caught with Bitcoin start producing iPhones for Foxconn, joining the existing 500k workers in that one factory who earn USD$20 on average per week.
China is afraid of change, I think cryptocurrencies they have a no control over was bit too much at this point. As someone pointed out, big mistake, as Bitcoin moves "decentralized" away from exchanges instead, then they will have even less control.