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.
It’s been over half a year since the crackdowns began in China and pressure from the top-down government is still being enforced. Most projects operating from within China are finding ways to skirt regulations by focusing on the technological aspect, but few are in a very enviable position. Among other issues, finding talented individuals to hire will certainly become more difficult as conservative-minded local citizens will have concerns about safety and the sustainability of the industry.
At home with new policies
Some projects, like VeChain, are using the opportunity to focus on their blockchain-as-a-service technology and are well positioned to continue operations. Blockchain has always been viewed as an important technology for China, especially when used for things like food safety and other socially-responsible applications.
Last week the smart contract platform boldly attended China’s acclaimed International Import Expo, where it showed off its traceability system alongside long-term partners PwC. The expo was even bigger than usual this year due to this marking the 20th anniversary of China joining the WTO. Chinese president Xi Jinping gave a speech via video to celebrate the opening of the expo, noting as usual how China is successfully opening up and developing.
During the 4th #CIIE, VeChain joined @PwC in the discussion around Air Trace. We are proud to attend this grand event and showcase our advantage in low code blockchain development, which will power more significant digital initiatives in the future. 🤝 #CIIE2021 pic.twitter.com/jUb3HeUz5D
— VeChain Foundation (@vechainofficial) November 9, 2021
Enterprise solutions on public blockchain were all the rage a few years ago, but now fewer and fewer competitors to VeChain exist, as most have pivoted to DeFi solutions or simply gone quiet. The real challenge will be to convince China’s organizations to adopt a truly public solution, rather than a consortium model without all the decentralized bells and whistles.
Tech giants such as Alibaba and JD.com have their own private solutions which may be just close enough to true blockchain technology for public officials to gloss over the details.
Turning a new leaf
The gossip columns were abuzz after OKEx founder Star Xu’s LinkedIn status suddenly displayed he was in San Francisco. The leader of the second largest exchange by volume had been under scrutiny this year considering the harsh regulations coming towards exchanges. His abrupt arrival in the US indicates that OK Group is serious about its divorce from China, and will be able to target new markets without fear of disruptions from law enforcement. OKEx has enjoyed strong growth in the past few months are now pushing hard on the…
Read More: cointelegraph.com