China's ban on ICOs has rocked the crypto world this morning. The exchange charts look like a seismograph print out in the aftermath of an earthquake and Twitter is alight with advice to sell or hodl. Fortunately, last night I watched "Banking on Bitcoin" and woke up with Fred Wilson's words ringing in my ears, "Whatever China bans, invest in!"
Though this announcement looks to have turned last week's moon into a blood moon, it's important to remember China's ban on ICOs is not a total ban on cryptocurrency. The market is still there and this ban could just mean that there are fewer crapcurrencies on the market and more buyers for Bitcoin and more established alt coins. But, if that weren't encouraging enough, we can take a look at some of the other innovations that has been banned by China in the tech age.
Google bought YouTube around in 2006 for $1.65B. At the time, many thought Google grossly overpaid. Today's estimates of $75B would prove them wrong. When China banned Facebook in 2009 it had approximate valuation of $10B USD. Currently, Facebook is valued around $490B USD.
In 2014, Apple, MacAfee Securities, & Cisco were blocked from government contracts. Gmail, Pinterest, Instagram, The New York Times - all have been victims of a Chinese block. There is an entire wikipedia page dedicated to websites blocked by China at one point or another.
China is a huge market, yes. However, a Chinese ban does not spell the death of a technology. If anything, investors can benefit from a temporary clearing of a market. If you're an investor, it's your money; you're in charge of it so make decisions that you can live with. However, in this as in all things, it's better to be informed than reactionary.
Reverently, we pour one out for the Chinese innovators and pray to the tech gods the same type of regulations don't reach other borders. Imma HODL, are you?
