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Insider sources have suggested that the Hong Kong Stock Exchange (HKEX) is eyeing takeovers in the blockchain and other tech sectors, according to a Bloomberg article published September 21. Bloomberg cites “people with knowledge of the matter” as saying that the exchange is considering a change in strategy due to stalling trading links with exchanges in China, citing worsening U.S. – China trade relations as a further cause for concern . The sources reportedly told Bloomberg that HKEX CEO Charles Li has met with “at least three investment banks” to discuss diversifying the exchange’s model, including a possible set of takeovers in the “data, analytics and blockchain sectors.” Due to the sensitivity of the matter, Bloomberg’s sources asked to remain anonymous. They reportedly suggest that Li has been looking to the venture capital arms of U.S.-based stalwart exchanges CME Group Inc. and Nasdaq Inc. “as possible models,” with Bloomberg noting that Nasdaq saw 19 percent of its ...

Chinese financial regulators are moving to block more than 100 overseas crypto exchanges that are offering trading services to Chinese residents. Shanghai Securities Times, a mouthpiece of Chinese financial regulators,  reported on Thursday the China National Fintech Risk Rectification Office identified so far 124 trading platforms with overseas IP addresses but available in the country. To continue cracking down crypto trading activities in China, the Office will step up its efforts to monitor the space and block the internet access to these trading platforms, the report said. Authorized in 2016 by China’s State Council, the National Fintech Risk Rectification Office is a government agency that tackles on financial risks related to issues like peer-to-peer lending and cryptocurrency trading. In September 2017, the People’s Bank of China notably announced a rule to ban initial coin offerings (ICOs) and crypto trading in the country. Following the notice, major exchanges...

The Daily In today’s edition of Bitcoin in Brief we cover stories about Intercontinental Exchange’s crypto trading platform Bakkt, which won’t be offering leverage or margin trading, and a US politician who has revealed she’s bought a couple of cryptocurrencies. Also Read: Researcher: Stop Worrying About Bitcoin’s Environmental Impact Bakkt Won’t Offer Leverage Bakkt, the recently-announced subsidiary of the parent of the New York Stock Exchange — Intercontinental Exchange (NYSE: ICE), has decided it won’t offer leverage on crypto trading. This was decided in the name of ensuring efficient price discovery and is meant to set it apart from other venues. Kelly Loeffler, the CEO of Bakkt, stated: “A critical element to price discovery is physical delivery. Specifically, with our solution, the buying and selling of Bitcoin is fully collateralized or pre-funded. As such, our new daily Bitcoin contract will not be traded on margin, use leverage, or serve to create a paper cla...

In a fresh crackdown on cryptocurrency-related activities, China has blocked several blockchain-related news accounts on WeChat, one of its top social apps. WeChat Crypto Accounts Shuttered In 2017, China had imposed a ban on ICOs because of their unregulated nature and the scams associated with them. The recent ban has been imposed due to the accounts’ non-compliance with “national interests” and “public orders”, as the concerned accounts were found to be publishing information on Initial Coin Offerings (ICOs) and cryptocurrency trading. The ban includes the accounts of some of the biggest cryptocurrency platforms of the country such as Jinse Caijing, Shenlian Caijing, Huobi News according to reports  though their sites and apps are still functioning. These company’s leveraged WeChat’s large user base of over a billion members to reach out to their own niche audience segment. Their revenue models included sponsored content about upcoming ICO projects. The information offered ...

Vague statements in Chinese mining giant Bitmain Technologies ’ investor deck ambiguously and potentially misleadingly list investors ahead of its rumored Initial Public Offering (IPO). In a Bitmain pre-IPO investor deck acquired by Cointelegraph, DST Global is listed as an investor, with claims that the investment is “recently completed.”  Henry Wu, a lawyer and legal expert at Chinese law firm L&Y Law Office, spoke with Cointelegraph, explaining that the document’s wording in the original Chinese is left vague. While it is possible to dispute the meaning, to the layperson or an uninitiated potential investor, the language would suggest Bitmain has acquired funds from DST Global. Earlier today, John Lindfors, a managing partner at DST Global, said in an email to Cointelegraph that he “can confirm that DST has never invested in Bitmain.” Wu said that if an investor used the information that DST Global invested in Bitmain to decide whether to contribute their own fund...

Chinese police have arrested three “highly experienced” hackers suspected of stealing up to 600 million yuan (around $87.3 million) in crypto, local news outlet Xinhua reported August 18. The alarm was reportedly first raised by an individual identified by the surname Zhang, who is said to have first filed his complaint March 30 with local police in the northwestern city of Xi’an. The victim claimed that his computer had been hacked, resulting in the theft of Bitcoin ( BTC ), Ethereum ( ETH ) and other crypto holdings worth up to 100 million yuan ($14.5 million). Initial investigations by a dedicated police task force indicated that the suspects had used a remote attack to transfer funds from Zhang’s computer without leaving a trace, in what is reportedly considered to be a “rare case.” The authorities are said to have received assistance from several local internet service providers, allowing them to identify the first suspect, an individual known as Zhou, within three months....

Police in China has detained three men suspected of pulling the country’s biggest ever cryptocurrency heist — worth 600 million yuan ($87 million).  Theft is China’s Biggest: Reports As multiple outlets report quoting local news publication Huashang News  on August 19, authorities concluded an investigation spanning almost six months into three men who allegedly hacked a computer for Bitcoin and Ether. “Our bureau has not dealt with this kind of case before,” South China Morning Post quotes a police officer as telling Huashang .  “It’s the first virtual currency-related case in Shaanxi.” According to Huashang , the investigation behind the arrest of the men — known as Zhang, Cui and Zhou — began in March, when the victim came forward to report a hacking of his computer. At the time, losses were thought to total 100 million yuan. Having analyzed “30,000 pieces of information” related to the event and the alleged perpetrators, the arrests were made on Wednesda...

Canadian Coinberry and Swiss-based BRD announced a partnership, which is set to introduce 1.2 million BRD customers to crypto trading. New Crypto Trading Platforms Streaming Into the Market Trading bitcoins and other cryptocurrencies continues to attract investors. For instance, despite a bear market, cryptocurrency trading platforms are still being added to the market. On August 15, 2018, Coinberry and BRD announced a partnership “which will introduce 1.2 million BRD customers to the Canadian crypto trading platform.” Better together. We’re happy to announce the @BRDHQ & @coinberryio partnership at @Futurist_conf . Now it’s easier than ever to buy and safely store your #crypto . Stay tuned, we heard there’s another announcement coming soon! #FUTURIST18 pic.twitter.com/HFN0gEWRDR — Coinberry (@coinberryio) August 15, 2018 BRD claims to have been the first cryptocurrency app available in the iOS space. According to the announcement: Now available via iPhone and Andr...

Markets slowly healing this Friday; VeChain, XRP, Lisk, and Ontology performing well. The markets are still slowly healing from their lowest levels this year as we near another weekend in crypto land. Total market capitalization is creeping up and is over $210 billion again but still not showing any signs of a sustained recovery. Bitcoin has held the $6,400 support level and has inched up 1.3% on the day to just below $6,500. The next major resistance point for BTC is $6,600 and signals are quite bullish at the moment. Ethereum has clawed its way back to $300 and is 3% higher on the day. ETH too is poised for more upsides as this Friday proceeds. Altcoins are mostly in the green at the moment with some gaining more than others. In the top ten Ripple’s XRP is making the most progress with an 10% jump on the day to trade at $0.320. On the week however XRP has lost 7.5% and it has been down trending for the past six months. Monero is also posting a good bounce back with 5.8% to $96,...

The Ex-COO of ‘Chinese Google’ Baidu and blockchain bull Qi Lu has joined Y Combinator (YC) to run the company’s new China-based division, according to a blog post August 14.   Y Combinator –– the major Silicon Valley-based entrepreneurial accelerator that funded such startups as Dropbox, Airbnb, Coinbase, Reddit, among others –– announced that is has officially entered the Chinese market, launching a new division of the company there. The company also announced that the new division will be launched and run by ex-Baidu exec Qi. In the announcement, YC president Sam Altman said he expected Qi to “build a long-term local organization that will combine the best of Silicon Valley and China and create a lot of innovation.” Altman added: “Qi embodies all of these values, and China has been an important missing piece of our puzzle — the entrepreneurial energy and talent there is an amazing force.” In an interview published today, August 15, in local media outlet 36Kr, Qi re...

Y Combinator (YC) has just announced a new China division and its chief believes blockchain will bring long-term advantages to startups, according to a report The Silicon Valley-based seed investment firm, which has incubated notable startups including Reddit, Dropbox and crypto exchange Coinbase, officially announced its entry into the Chinese market in a blog post on Wednesday alongside news that Lu Qi – a former chief operating officer of Baidu – will be in charge of the new arm. In an interview with local media outlet 36Kr, Lu  commented  today that YC China’s main goal will be to focus on startup incubation, talent training and research and development, as well the creation of a non-profit research lab. Lu also discussed blockchain, saying he believes its core features of data encryption and digitization of trust mean it has long-term potential in business. He added that the technology is especially interesting for its provision of different types of ince...

The state-owned China Aerospace Science and Industry Corporation Ltd. is turning to blockchain technology to innovate its unwieldy electronic invoice system, according to an announcement republished on a government site August 13. The article, from official state newspaper People’s Daily , was posted yesterday by the State Administration of Science, Technology and Industry for National Defence and outlines how blockchain will help innovate the supervision of invoices for tax purposes nationwide. As the article notes, statistics indicate 1.31 billion Chinese electronic invoices were in circulation in 2017. By 2022, the number is forecast to hit 54.55 billion, according to a projected average annual growth rate of over 100%. China Aerospace’s existing electronic invoice services are end-to-end, covering issuance, delivery, filing, inspection and reimbursement for the country’s taxpayers and authorities. It has already issued some 2.5 billion invoices to date, the article notes. Wh...

China’s Communist Party is moving to make blockchain literacy the norm across public offices with the publication of an explainer for officials and members. Released by the publishing house of the People’s Daily – the party’s news outlet – the book is titled “Blockchain – A Guide for Officials”, according to a report from the Daily on Monday. Starting with an explanation of the origin and features of blockchain, the guide moves onto the current and future applications and challenges the tech brings to the business and legal world. According to the People’s Daily, the goal is to help government officials better understand the concept of blockchain as part of a wider effort to facilitate the development and adoption of the technology. Ye Zhenzhen, head of People’s Daily, writes in the book: “The biggest impact of blockchain lies in its operation mechanism … which seeks to achieve consensus as a way to govern a community. It offers us a brand new angle to think about and resol...

Singapore -based venture capital firm Golden Gate Ventures will launch a $10 million fund for investments in blockchain and cryptocurrency companies, Reuters reported August 10. Golden Gate Ventures (GGV), one of the leading venture capital firms in Southeast Asia, will invest in early-stage companies including cryptocurrency exchanges, security providers, and blockchain tech startups through the LuneX Ventures fund. Local tech media platform e27 reports that the fund was launched through a partnership between GGV and Kenrick Drijkoningen, GGV’s former head of growth. Drijkoningen told e27 that LuneX Ventures has a “strong pipeline of five to 10 investments ready to go,” noting that they have made their first funding commitment to the Singapore-based Sparrow Exchange. Drijkoningen also praised blockchain, referring to it as “a foundational technology, on par with or possibly exceeding the Internet in disruptive potential,” adding: “Right now valuations have come down to more ...

A Hong Kong man skeptical of the cryptocurrency exchange KuCoin, paid a visit to its registered address in Hong Kong, only to find that it doesn’t actually exist. Communication Breakdown In a recent post on Medium , Jackson Wong from Hong Kong wrote about his experience visiting the KuCoin offices in Hong Kong — or rather not visiting, as he found barely a trace of the company in its registered HK location. The search was prompted by concerns Wong voiced in a previous post in January of this year, in which he warned readers that KuCoin was not actually operating out of Hong Kong like they had claimed. This came after finding out that KuCoin’s registered operating address was in mainland China. This was important at the time because of an announcement by the People’s Bank Of China (PBOC) stating that it would block access to all domestic and foreign cryptocurrency exchanges and ICO websites, which would include affecting the KuCoin exchange. Wong warned us...