According to a press release on Feb. 22, Tencent Cloud, the cloud computing branch of Chinese internet giant Tencent, announced that it had concluded multiple agreements with blockchain firms to support the active development of the Web 3.0 ecosystem. Firstly, Tencent Cloud signed a memorandum of cooperation with decentralized blockchain infrastructure provider Ankr to jointly develop a series of blockchain API services for remote procedure call nodes. The new service will be deployed on Tencent Cloud's infrastructure and will provide connections to mainstream blockchains building on Web 3.0 games and applications. Secondly, Tencent Cloud said that it reached strategic cooperation …

Bitcoin (BTC) showed weakness on Aug. 15, posting a 5% loss after testing the $25,000 resistance. The move liquidated over $150 million worth of leverage long positions and has led some traders to predict a move back toward the yearly low in the $18,000 range. The price action coincided with worsening conditions for tech stocks, including Chinese giant Tencent, which is expected to post its first-ever quarterly revenue decline. According to analysts, the Chinese gaming and social media conglomerate is expected to post quarterly earnings around $19.5 billion, which is 4% lower than the previous year. Moreover, on Aug. 16, …

China’s internet giant Tencent has reportedly shut down one of the two nonfungible token (NFT) platforms owing to declining sales aided by the regressive monetary policies of the Chinese government. Tencent shut down one of its NFT platforms on July 1, while the other one is struggling to remain afloat. A report from a local daily indicates that the wind-down process for the same began in May. The tech giant transferred key executives responsible for managing the NFT platform in the last week of May and completely removed the digital collectible section from its Tencent News app by the first …

The popularity of nonfungible tokens (NFTs) is on the rise as recent data shows that the number of digital collectible platforms in China has grown to over 500, a 5X increase from February 2022, when the total number of NFT platforms was just over 100. According to a report published by a local Chinese daily, the sharp rise in the number of NFT platforms comes amid the growing hype and popularity of the digital collectibles in the country. Major tech giants including Tencent and Alibaba have shown interest in the nascent space and have filed multiple trademark patents. The rise …

China's leading social media platforms and internet giants have updated their policy to restrict or remove nonfungible token (NFT) platforms, citing a lack of regulatory clarity and fearing government crackdown. Chinese social media giant WeChat reportedly removed several digital collectible platform accounts for violations of the rules. Digital collection platform Xihu No.1, one of the hyped NFT projects in the market, was among the removed platforms. Another platform called Dongyiyuandian revealed that its official app has been banned, reported a local daily. WhaleTalk, a digital collectible platform launched by tech giant Ant group, also updated its policy to increase the …

Australian NFT trading platform Immutable announced a $200 million Series C funding round led primarily by Singaporean state-owned investment firm Temasek and with participation from Animoca Brands and Tencent. Additional investment from ParaFi Capital, Princeville Capital and Arrington Capital as well as from existing backers King River Capital, Prosus Ventures, AirTree Ventures, Declaration Partners and others have raised Immutable’s valuation to $2.5 billion. The company intends to put this capital toward developing its Immutable X layer-2 scaling solution for nonfungible tokens (NFTs) on the Ethereum network and scaling Immutable Gaming Studio, which includes its flagship Gods Unchained and Guild of …

According to local sources, the Chinese government has released a series of statements denouncing the value of the nonfungible token, or NFT, market, even though two of the nation’s major tech firms are pursuing the technology. The story was first released locally by the Securities Times — a news publication service acting as a spokesperson for the official Chinese Communist Party outlet People’s Daily — and reported by the South Morning China Post. The remarks claimed that “it is common sense that there is a huge bubble in NFT transactions,” and that most NFT buyers who acquire with a financial …

A major Hong Kong-based online brokerage firm has reportedly suspended cryptocurrency futures trading due to regulatory concerns. Futu Securities, one of the biggest trading brokerages in Asia, has halted support of crypto futures contracts and trading services in response to regulatory requirements, Chinese financial publication Sina Finance reports Thursday. The platform’s customer service reportedly stated that the suspension will affect major contracts including CME Bitcoin futures, one of the world’s earliest Bitcoin (BTC) futures contracts. The customer service team noted that non-futures crypto products like Grayscale Bitcoin Trust and the Osprey Bitcoin Trust will be still available on Futu. Futu …

China’s central bank digital currency, or CBDC, will provide backup for major retail payment services like AliPay and WeChat Pay as its key objective, according to an official at the People’s Bank of China. Mu Changchun, head of the People’s Bank of China’s digital currency research institute, claimed that China’s digital yuan is needed to ensure financial stability in case “something happens” to AliPay or WeChat Pay, the South China Morning Post reports. Speaking at an online panel discussion on Thursday, Mu stated that Alibaba’s Alipay and Tencent’s WeChat Pay account for 98% of the mobile payment market in China, …

Chinese holding conglomerate Ping An Group filed the largest number of blockchain-related patents in 2020, according to a new report. Intellectual property-focused magazine Intellectual Asset Management has released a report on the rankings of the world’s foremost blockchain patentees. Based on data from the Derwent World Patents Index, the rankings show that Ping An filed 1,215 blockchain patent families in 2020, more than Tencent and Ant Group combined. Owning a total of 1,749 blockchain patent families, Ping An sharply increased its number of patent applications in 2020, up from just 291 in 2019. Based in Shenzhen, Ping An operates a …

For the past several years, the trade war between China and the U.S. has been at the center of international relations, with technology playing an outsized role. Within crypto, advancing interest in central bank digital currencies has become part of that narrative of geopolitical competition. Many have framed the development of CBDCs in China and the U.S. as a race — in which case, China is clearly closer to launch and, hence, the “winner.” But a race to the finish is a flawed paradigm, and one to which Cointelegraph has contributed its fair share. For the moment, China is actively …

China’s central bank is pushing exposure to its ongoing national digital currency pilot by enlisting two major private banks in the project. According to a Monday Bloomberg report, MYbank and WeBank will help the People's Bank of China extend its user exposure in the ongoing pilots of its central bank digital currency, the digital yuan. As part of the integration, MYbank’s service will soon be introduced to the PBoC’s digital yuan app, people familiar with the matter told Bloomberg. The e-wallets by MYbank and WeBank will reportedly have exactly the same functions as those from the six state-owned lenders in …