The China Internet Finance Association has signed a joint statement with the China Banking Association and China Payment and Clearing Association, warning the public about the risks of investing in cryptocurrencies. According to a report by Shanghai Securities News on Tuesday, the aforementioned trade association under the People’s Bank of China issued a communique titled “Preventing the risk of virtual currency transaction speculation.” The joint statement is reportedly an extension of previous releases from the PBoC about Bitcoin (BTC) and crypto risks. As part of the communique, the three associations outlined four issues related to crypto investment, beginning with a …

This weekly roundup of news from Mainland China, Taiwan and Hong Kong attempts to curate the industry’s most important news, including influential projects, changes in the regulatory landscape and enterprise blockchain integrations. Memecoin culture clash Feed Every Gorilla (FEG) was a source of drama after memes were posted of Chinese President Xi Jinping. The token claims to use its revenue to take care of gorillas and had been gaining attention among animal-related tokens, amassing a market cap of over $1 billion. Some Chinese community members found the memes offensive and, after not finding support from the team, began to abandon …

The Digital Currency Institute of the People’s Bank of China and the Hong Kong Monetary Authority are quickly moving forward with their joint testing of the use of the digital yuan for cross-border payments. According to Bloomberg, this week, the HKMA staff confirmed that the first phase of testing for the currency’s cross-border use had been successful. The initial tests involved multiple parties, including selected merchants and a bank designated by mainland Chinese authorities. HKMA said that plans for the next phase of pilots are already underway: “We have tested the use of the related app, system connectivity and certain …

How can this CBDC design trilemma be overcome? An identity-based, meta-blockchain can achieve all three design goals of identity, privacy and programmability. While blockchain systems can be structurally decentralized, the operation itself can be very much centralized and sequential. The problem lies in how transactions cannot be processed in parallel — and multiple smart contracts cannot be operated simultaneously. A meta-blockchain that can operate smart contracts in parallel could be the answer here, as it can ensure that a user’s information is kept secret at all times. SovereignWallet Network (SWN) Global believes it has found the solution for tackling the …

Chia Network, which emerged onto the cryptocurrency scene with the promise of cleaning up the environmental mess left by Bitcoin (BTC) miners, may not be as green as it seems. Unlike Bitcoin, Ethereum and others, Chia Network mines coins using an alternative to the energy-intensive proof-of-work. CHIA coins are produced using only hard drive storage and mining them doesn’t require specialized ASIC hardware or GPUs. But reports coming out of China suggest that saving the environment isn’t as easy as it sounds when it comes to crypto. According to local outlet Fast Technology, the shelf-life of a standard 512GB SSD …

Alipay, the mobile payment platform owned by Ant Group, is set to allow some of its users to participate in the emerging digital yuan commerce ecosystem. According to a report by China Securities Journal on Monday, this new feature is a result of MYbank’s participation in the country’s expanded digital currency electronic payment testing protocols. The news further cements Ant Group’s participation in China’s central bank digital currency project. Indeed, the conglomerate owns a majority stake in MYbank — one of the largest internet-only banks in the country. In a statement quoted by CNBC, Ant Group confirmed its involvement in …

This weekly roundup of news from Mainland China, Taiwan, and Hong Kong attempts to curate the industry’s most important news, including influential projects, changes in the regulatory landscape, and enterprise blockchain integrations. Will DOGEmania ever stop? Dogecoin has officially flipped Bitcoin in a few categories here in China, with DOGE trading volume on leading Chinese exchange Huobi surpassing that of leading assets ETH and BTC. On May 6th, according to CoinGecko, DOGE volume made up more than 15% of total exchange volume, whereas BTC and ETH were around 8% each. Searches for ‘Dogecoin’ on WeChat surpassed searches for Bitcoin, with …

Although the majority of Bitcoin (BTC) mining is still based in China, there are signs it is beginning to shift elsewhere. Chun Wang, the co-founder of one of Bitcoin’s largest mining pools, F2Pool, reported that China represented less than half of Bitcoin’s hash rate during April 2020. Wang noted it was the first time the pool had seen Chinese miners represent a minority of the hash rate in its eight years of operation. “The shifting is real,” he said. Here at @f2pool_official, in April 2021, the first month in our 8 years of operation, we have seen more $BTC hashrate …

While key central bank figures in the West like Jerome Powell and Christine Lagarde appear to be procrastinating on the subject of central bank digital currencies, China continues to make significant progress. China’s digital currency electronic payment project, or DCEP, helmed by the country’s central bank, continues to draw significant private sector participation. From tech giants, to e-commerce conglomerates, many of the major private sector firms are playing pivotal roles in the quest to create the digital yuan. DCEP testing also continues to expand, with trial runs via lotteries taking place across several cities. Banks like the Agricultural Bank and …

China’s crypto mining operations may be set for stricter supervision in the future, with the Government reportedly concerned about the energy consumption of Bitcoin mining in particular. Beijing sent an “emergency notice” to conduct checks on data centres involved in Bitcoin and other cryptocurrency mining operations on April 27, which was reportedly met with some panic in China. However Chinese columnist Colin Wu or Wu Blockchain on Twitter, was quick to downplay fears of how this could impact Chinese Bitcoin miners in the short term, noting that: “This caused some panic in China. However, the Chinese government said it was …

This weekly roundup of news from Mainland China, Taiwan and Hong Kong attempts to curate the industry’s most important news, including influential projects, changes in the regulatory landscape, and enterprise blockchain integrations. Huobi Asset Management is looking to be the Grayscale of Asia with the launch of four cryptocurrency-related tracker funds. The funds include a Bitcoin Fund, an Ethereum fund, a multi-asset basket of digital currencies, and a private equity fund for mining businesses. The aim is clearly to entice major institutional investors into the space with a product that feels familiar. The fund and asset management company is set …

Beijing authorities are reportedly conducting inspections of crypto mining data centers to better understand their impact on energy consumption, Reuters reported on Thursday. The Beijing Municipal Bureau of Economy and Information Technology on Tuesday sent an emergency notice to the city’s data center operators asking them to report whether they are involved in mining Bitcoin (BTC) and other cryptocurrencies. The notice required data centers to report the amount of power consumed by crypto mining, the report notes. A bureau official said that notice recipients include China’s top-three telecom operators. He noted that he was unaware of the reason behind the …