China extends CBDC tentacles, Malaysia is Hong Kong's new crypto rival: Asia Express

Chinese president takes aim at CBDCs

On July 4, Xinhua News Agency, China's state broadcaster, published a speech by President Xi Jinping at the 2023 Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) summit. one of the largest regional organizations for political, economic and security cooperation in the world. It was created by China and Russia in 2001.

During his speech, President Xi welcomed Iran as a full member of the organization and praised Belarus for joining. He also highlighted the importance of Central Bank Digital Currencies (CBDCs):

"The Chinese side proposes to expand the share of local currency settlements of SCO countries, expand sovereign cooperation in digital currency, and promote the establishment of SCO development banks. "

In January, the People's Bank of China reported that there were 13.61 billion digital CBDCs in circulation, representing approximately 0.13% of the money supply. Since then, the use of the CBDC has expanded to various consumers across the country and as a means of payment for . However, experts warned that, despite the constant promotion, the currency has .

On July 10, local media outlet East Money reported that a Yuan Digital CBDC-linked SIM card would soon be available for Chinese consumers. Since the CBDC digital yuan digital wallet is integrated into the SIM card itself, individuals can pay their phone bills through a POS terminal even if their phone is not powered.

Chinese President Xi Jinping at the Shanghai Cooperation Summit (CCTV)

Hong Kong crypto licensing costs soar to HK$100 million

According to an article published on July 5 by Tencent News, the combined labor, material and technical costs associated with obtaining a Hong Kong crypto exchange license have jumped to 100 million Hong Kong dollars ($12.77 million) since its inception on June 1.

However, even if the infrastructure is in place, insiders noted that the license application could still be denied or the business opportunity would disappear once the license is approved. Tencent News wrote:

"Teams moving from Hong Kong moved to Malaysia last month. They can rent a large floor office space for a monthly rent of 60,000 RMB ($8,296) in the local downtown area, and there are very cheap IT technicians in the region. These emigrant teams believe that compared to Hong Kong, it is even more advantageous to do crypto projects in Southeast Asia."

All crypto exchanges in Hong Kong must obtain a regulatory license or cease operations in the administrative region by the middle of next year. Since the announcement, exchanges such as Huobi, OKX, BitgetX, Hashkey Pro and Gate.io have all applied for a license in Hong Kong.

Read also

Features

Shanghai Special: Fallout from the Crypto Crackdown and What Happens Next

Features

Bitcoin 2022 — Will the True Maximalists Rise Up?

Chinese cross-chain protocol hacked again

On July 7, the developers of China's Multichain cross-chain bridge protocol shared an ominous message: "The Multichain service is currently down and all bridge transactions will be blocked on the source chains. There is no of confirmed recovery time. Please do not use the multi-chain bridging service now. On the same day, blockchain security firm PeckShield, which had over $126 million in funds, had b...