180 million yuan digital airdrop in China, Devastation in Turkey, CBDC of Laos: Asia Express
Our weekly East Asian news roundup features the most important developments in the industry.
China drops 180 million digital yuan to celebrate Lunar New YearTo state media Global Times, Chinese cities dropped a total of 180 million digital yuan (e-CNY) worth $26.6 million to boost consumption during New Year celebrations Lunar between January 22 and February 5. Nearly 200 yuan activities were launched during the festival, and commercial institutions also participated in these promotions, covering various sectors such as mobile communications, supermarkets, transportation and tourism.
Data from Meituan, a popular Chinese food delivery platform, showed that its 20 million yuan digital vouchers distributed in partnership with the Hangzhou city government were claimed in less than 10 seconds. China has prioritized the development of its central bank digital currency (CBDC) as part of its digital economy transformation, with many local party officials receiving targets over their efforts to promote the currency.
In an act of international solidarity, cryptocurrency exchanges operating out of several countries in the Asia-Pacific region responded quickly to a series of devastating earthquakes that hit Turkey and Syria on February 6 , causing more than 12,000 deaths. of publication. Singaporean exchange OKX said it would donate 1 million lira to the relief effort, while Binance would drop $100 in BNB to Turkish users whose addresses are listed in the affected region. Cryptocurrency exchange MEXC Global also announced that it will donate 1 million lira to help with earthquake relief. Meanwhile, Justin Sun, an adviser at crypto exchange Huobi Global, 2 million lira for the relief efforts. Donations are currently not available to Syrian residents due to sanctions.
"While the [proof of address] method has its limitations and inaccuracies, it is the best method we have for locating potentially affected users. We estimate the total donations will be approximately 5 million US dollars (or 94,000,000 TRY),” Binance said.
CBDC made in Japan in LaosOn February 7, the Bank of the Lao People's Democratic Republic (PDR) and Japanese fintech Soramitsu joined forces to validate the concept of a CBDC in the country. The project, dubbed “DLak” (Digital Lao Kip), follows a year-long feasibility study of a blockchain-based payment infrastructure in Lao PDR, which was initiated by the Japan Agency of international cooperation.
The proof of concept will first be issued to a commercial bank, sent to individuals for in-store payments, and collected by the Bank of Lao PDR from the commercial bank.
According to the central bank of Laos, the objectives of the study are financial inclusion, cross-border remittances and the advancement of payment systems.
Soramitsu has been selected by the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry to conduct CBDC feasibility studies in several countries, including Lao PDR, Fiji, Vietnam and the Philippines. The company has developed a digital currency for the National Bank of Cambodia and is actively involved in proof-of-concept testing for major Japanese companies and open source projects.
Binance has temporarily suspended all US dollar bank transfers from February 8 for its non-US international customers. The company claims that only around 0.01% of its monthly active users use the transfer option, but acknowledges that it still represents "a poor user experience".
According to Binance, the suspension will only affect US dollar bank transfers for users outside the Binance.US exchange and will not impact other methods of buying and selling crypto -currencies. Although the firm did not indicate a specific reason, Cointelegraph re...
Our weekly East Asian news roundup features the most important developments in the industry.
China drops 180 million digital yuan to celebrate Lunar New YearTo state media Global Times, Chinese cities dropped a total of 180 million digital yuan (e-CNY) worth $26.6 million to boost consumption during New Year celebrations Lunar between January 22 and February 5. Nearly 200 yuan activities were launched during the festival, and commercial institutions also participated in these promotions, covering various sectors such as mobile communications, supermarkets, transportation and tourism.
Data from Meituan, a popular Chinese food delivery platform, showed that its 20 million yuan digital vouchers distributed in partnership with the Hangzhou city government were claimed in less than 10 seconds. China has prioritized the development of its central bank digital currency (CBDC) as part of its digital economy transformation, with many local party officials receiving targets over their efforts to promote the currency.
In an act of international solidarity, cryptocurrency exchanges operating out of several countries in the Asia-Pacific region responded quickly to a series of devastating earthquakes that hit Turkey and Syria on February 6 , causing more than 12,000 deaths. of publication. Singaporean exchange OKX said it would donate 1 million lira to the relief effort, while Binance would drop $100 in BNB to Turkish users whose addresses are listed in the affected region. Cryptocurrency exchange MEXC Global also announced that it will donate 1 million lira to help with earthquake relief. Meanwhile, Justin Sun, an adviser at crypto exchange Huobi Global, 2 million lira for the relief efforts. Donations are currently not available to Syrian residents due to sanctions.
"While the [proof of address] method has its limitations and inaccuracies, it is the best method we have for locating potentially affected users. We estimate the total donations will be approximately 5 million US dollars (or 94,000,000 TRY),” Binance said.
CBDC made in Japan in LaosOn February 7, the Bank of the Lao People's Democratic Republic (PDR) and Japanese fintech Soramitsu joined forces to validate the concept of a CBDC in the country. The project, dubbed “DLak” (Digital Lao Kip), follows a year-long feasibility study of a blockchain-based payment infrastructure in Lao PDR, which was initiated by the Japan Agency of international cooperation.
The proof of concept will first be issued to a commercial bank, sent to individuals for in-store payments, and collected by the Bank of Lao PDR from the commercial bank.
According to the central bank of Laos, the objectives of the study are financial inclusion, cross-border remittances and the advancement of payment systems.
Soramitsu has been selected by the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry to conduct CBDC feasibility studies in several countries, including Lao PDR, Fiji, Vietnam and the Philippines. The company has developed a digital currency for the National Bank of Cambodia and is actively involved in proof-of-concept testing for major Japanese companies and open source projects.
Binance has temporarily suspended all US dollar bank transfers from February 8 for its non-US international customers. The company claims that only around 0.01% of its monthly active users use the transfer option, but acknowledges that it still represents "a poor user experience".
According to Binance, the suspension will only affect US dollar bank transfers for users outside the Binance.US exchange and will not impact other methods of buying and selling crypto -currencies. Although the firm did not indicate a specific reason, Cointelegraph re...
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