President of China, Xi Jinping has given credibility to cryptocurrency and blockchain by calling on China to speed up the adoption of blockchain.

This is according to renowned Bitcoin bull, Galaxy Digital CEO Mike Novogratz, speaking at the Reuters Global Investment Outlook 2020 Summit in New York this week.

Novogratz is of the opinion that Xi Jinping’s announcement at the end of last month led to the recent Bitcoin surge.

By pressing China to back blockchain tech for the sake of the country, Xi Jinping “just credentialized crypto and blockchain,” Novogratz stated.

The Chinese President revealed his positive attitude towards blockchain at the Politburo Committee session on blockchain technology trends in October. He stressed the adoption of integrated blockchain technologies is crucial to promoting technology innovation and industry transformation, reports Coin Telegraph.

XI told the committee: “We must take blockchain as an important breakthrough for independent innovation of core technologies, clarify the main directions, increase investment, focus on a number of key technologies, and accelerate the development of blockchain and industrial innovation.”

That said, although cryptocurrency trading is still formally prohibited in the country, the Standing Committee of the 13th National People's Congress in China approved a new “cryptocurrency law” on October 26, coming into effect on January 1, 2020.

This law sets out new standards for the application of cryptography and password management in China, and wholly relates to cryptocurrency regulations.

At the end of last month, a Chinese economics think tank, China Center International Economic Exchanges, executive forecast that China’s central bank would be the first to launch a digital currency successfully.

deVere CEO Nigel Green believes cryptocurrencies, and in particular Bitcoin, are increasingly part of mainstream finance. He was quoted recently: “This is evidenced not only in the financial sector, in which all major banks are increasingly looking at blockchain and crypto, but by the growing interest of governments and institutions, plus the major players within the tech and retail sectors too.”