This week’s roundup is dominated by China, the largest economy in Asia in terms of gross domestic product. However, while most of the news coming from the country is positive, a few negative news ruled the global crypto space.
For instance, Alibaba, a mobile payment heavyweight, affirmed its ban on virtual currency transactions. Other news from China making headlines in the week under review includes a list of Chinese cryptocurrency influencers and Nasdaq supporting blockchain projects in China. Also, what’s the relationship between Bitcoin’s trust minimization and its market value? Is the ban on crypto trading in China fueling the popularity of controversial virtual currencies?
Below, we summarize the top 5 news making headlines between Oct 14-20:
Changpeng Zhao, Binance’s CEO, may have stepped on Alipay’s toes when he confirmed that Alipay and Wechat users to send payments to Binance.
Alipay took to Twitter to tell Changpeng Zhao “NO, you cannot,” adding:
“There’re several reports about Alipay being used for Bitcoin transactions. To reiterate, Alipay closely monitors over-the-counter transactions to identify irregular behavior and ensure compliance with relevant regulations. If any transactions are identified as being related to Bitcoin… Alipay immediately stops the relevant payment services.”
2. Top 5 Crypto Chinese Influencers
Before China banned crypto transactions within its borders, it was the largest crypto market. While investors in the country took an early lead to invest in cryptocurrencies, Chinese crypto influencers and celebrities were also solidifying their position.
The top five Chinese crypto influencers include Justin Sun, co-founder of Tron, a popular blockchain project, Li Xiaolai, founder of BitFund, a crypto venture fund, Hei Yi, Binance co-founder, Guo Hongcai, a serial investor and a Bitcoin millionaire, and Chen Weixing the person behind an attempt to build “Uber on blockchain.” Chen has invested in Binance, Tron, Huobi, and Qtum.
3. Controversial Crypto Coin’s Rise Fueled by China Trading Ban
A recent study by Chainalysis, a research firm, has revealed that Chinese OTC crypto traders are taking their activities to the next level. Interestingly, the traders are said to have followed the footsteps of their spots traders who are majorly using Tether (USDT) to buy Bitcoin.
According to Bloomberg:
“Tether was used in 99% of Bitcoin spot trades in China this year, almost completely displacing the yuan, while Bitcoin trading in markets like Japan and Korea is still mainly conducted through fiat.”
Notably, Tether’s dominance in the Chinese spot trading space started was evident in 2018 after China banned cryptocurrency transactions in 2017. Since the ban, Chinese crypto enthusiasts have been converting yuan to Tether using OTC or P2P methods.
4. Nick Szabo: Trust Minimization is Bitcoin’s Main Market Value
The less the trust, the higher the value. This is according to Nick Szabo, a respected coder and the person who is claimed to be the anonymous Bitcoin creator.
In a tweet, Szabo said:
“Multitudes and charlatans have entered the cryptocurrency and smart contract spaces who not only lack cypherpunk sensibilities but hate cypherpunk values, including the values such as trust minimization that give cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin their market values.”
5. Nasdaq Continues Cryptocurrency Moves With its Own Index
Being the second-largest stock exchange in the world, Nasdaq is making headlines by supporting blockchain projects. On Oct 15, for example, it listed an AI-powered index that has 100 virtual currencies.
Notably, the index will fetch data from the top nine global crypto exchanges. Since crypto prices are affected by opinions or news, the index will also include data from Twitter among other social media platforms.
Additionally, the index will only feature coins that have “no fake volume, have no manipulation, (and doesn’t) come from scrupulous companies.” The index was launched in 2017 and has an estimated accuracy of 8.2 percent.
