The crackdown on cryptocurrency transactions and token trading in China had an immediate chilling effect on exchange platforms that had no choice but to shut down their operations. Cryptocurrency mining farms were also forced to move out of China; while some of them moved across the border to Kazakhstan, many others were resigned to give up their quest for tokens.

Pricing of major digital currency tokens took a dive during the weeks immediately following the decision by Chinese financial regulators to come down hard on cryptocurrency operations, but we have seen a resurgence of heavy Bitcoin trading volumes. The reality of cryptocurrency investing in China is that it is still taking place to some extent, and we have decentralized finance technology projects to thank for this trend.

With no real recourse left, Chinese cryptocurrency traders are increasingly turning to peer-to-peer solutions and decentralized finance options in order to continue conducting transactions and investing in digital assets. In the past year alone, it has been estimated that more than $30 billion has been spent on cryptocurrency mining and buying digital assets. These numbers are only expected to rise.

As much as China continues to ban cryptocurrency exchanges and blockchain services, decentralized finance (DeFi) projects like Compound have continued to flourish. The Ethereum-based tokenization and decentralization solution project Compound continues to grow, and many other projects have recently come to market, including the popular MakerDAO-based MakerDAI stablecoin solution.

With the cryptocurrency market in full recovery mode, investors around the world are likely to find more ways to invest in crypto. Whether it is using a DeFi product or a more traditional venture capital model, decentralized finance technology platforms are likely to see some mainstream adoption as crypto market rallies continue to take place.

From Pundi X's NEM blockchain-based point of sale terminal to Zilliqa's smart contract platform, blockchain technology has become a real option for investors in China and around the world. These investors still have to worry about future crackdown operations, but they will have more options to transfer their digital tokens out of the jurisdiction and into DeFi side chains that are beyond the reach of financial regulators.