Korea using Blockchain in Democratic Process; China’s Ban; Bitmain KYC; Binance Labs Incubator; 95% ICOs Trading Below ICO price 🎊Our fifth podcast with Crypto investors Richard Lee and Mike Chen is out. 🎊 Check it out ! In this episode, Joyce is joined by Crypto investors (left), founding partner of GBIC (Global Blockchain Innovative Capital), and (right), founding partner of GBIC and CEO of Block72. Both Richard and Mike have been seasoned crypto investors, and they look at companies from both Asia as well as the US. Their investments include Logos Network, Hadron Cloud, Origo, Airswap, and more. Richard Lee Mike Chen 🤔 Timestamps and discussion points from the podcast 1:45 — Introduction to GBIC and Block72 from Richard Lee and Mike Chen6:50- Markets in China and US, such as megacap ICOs, valuations, reverse-ICOs in Asia, VCs coming into the play16:14- Investment in Asian projects vs US projects, differences and how to think about them31:00- How being a global fund with reach in different countries is advantageous for a volatile market in Crypto34:45- Large tech companies in China doing reverse-ICOs outside of China38:20- Potential for India as the next market is is a multi-strategy crypto fund with offices in New York, Shanghai and Seoul. is a global consulting firm specializing in blockchain and distributed ledger technology, with offices in multiple offices across the world including New York, Shanghai, Beijing, Seoul, and San Francisco. GBIC Block72 Subscribe 🌟 China’s Ban This Week A number of government announcements came out from China this week banning various crypto activities in mainland. A quick take from me on each of these bans: Beijing’s ban of was targeted primarily to purge shillcoins. And there are of them in China commercial venues from hosting cryptocurrency events lots Blocking in the mainland can easily be circumnavigated by VPN (And many people already use VPN to get around to access Facebook/Google) access to over 120 offshore exchanges’ websites — lots of the accounts were originally just shilling coins, the good ones will have their bans lifted and the bad ones will figure out other ways to target citizens A number of media Wechat accounts have been banned have also been banned, but I think this will merely create short-term impact to the market, create large spreads until the Chinese figures out another way Large Alipay and Wechat transactions for crypto purchases To understand my thoughts in more detail, check it the full writeup here 🌟 Top News in Asia from Wednesday through Friday WSJ- after the government imposed a wide-ranging ban on local exchanges and fundraising for digital currencies. China is tightening its clampdown on cryptocurrencies, nearly a year https://on.wsj.com/2Lri9m2 Crackdown continues: Chinese authorities issue joint warning on ‘Illegal’ crypto fundraising. http://bit.ly/2P6bEHJ Binance Labs to hand out $500,000 to each program participant in exchange for a 10 percent stake in the business. https://tcrn.ch/2LpbYPn Bitmain introduces mandatory KYC. http://bit.ly/2P39sAz Over 95% of ICO tokens which got listed on Chinese major crypto exchanges . trade below the ICO price in the first half of 2018 http://bit.ly/2P45oAd South Korean political parties are debating the idea of , with advocates calling for the introduction of blockchain-powered voting systems. using blockchain technology as part of the democratic process http://bit.ly/2P1Va3f Singapore Central Bank partners with Deloitte, Nasdaq on blockchain asset settlement. http://bit.ly/2P3PXI1 . Philippines, Thailand, and South Korea are moving towards creating the next crypto valley http://bit.ly/2LpwvDi 💰 Deals Singapore-based fintech company in a private sale round.to create a cryptocurrency wallet for handling transactions globally. X Infinity has raised $20.5 million http://bit.ly/2MtukV1 , has raised an undisclosed amount of investment for its seed round led by SoftBank China Venture Capital, Baidu Ventures, Danhua Capital, and Fenbushi Digital. Atlas Protocol, an open protocol for blockchain interactive advertising and marketing http://bit.ly/2Mw1PWG Aly, the parent company behind the stock and cryptocurrency tracking app Spiking, has closed its pre-series A round with US$880,000 in funding. http://bit.ly/2MwS4Hu 💰 Coin and Token News Blockchain Seoul 2018 — B7 CEO Summit to be held on Sept 17 — , will talk about the direction of blockchain development and technology trajectory. Kathryn Brightman, CEO of Tezos, and Don Song, CEO of Oasis Labs http://bit.ly/2MsRL0o Jihan Wu from Bitmain: “ ” I believe ICOs are kind of an unsustainable financial bubble. It will burst eventually. http://bit.ly/2OXZhNN 💸 Exchange News South Korea’s biggest crypto exchanges Upbit recorded , Bithumb recorded $39mn in revenue in the Q3 2018 ( > 20% less than last year). $100 million in Q3 revenue http://bit.ly/2OYNy1k is offering new users a refund of 70% of the transaction fees as a token of appreciation and good will. Korea exchange Bithumb http://bit.ly/2P16o7Y 🎌 Regulation News with malware for both Windows and macOS. North Korean hackers have infected a cryptocurrency exchange http://bit.ly/2OXrnIX . World Bank offers world’s first public blockchain bond in Australia http://bit.ly/2MwS4Hu Newly appointed chief of Japan’s top financial regulator has stated his belief that there is industry. no need for “excessive” regulation of the country’s cryptocurrency http://bit.ly/2MrAFAd Pyongyang will hold an international blockchain conference at the end of September. http://bit.ly/2P4VVsk Shanghai Securities Times said that the but that are still available in the country. China National Fintech Risk Rectification Office has so far identified 124 trading platforms with overseas IP addresses http://bit.ly/2MyHG2k Tencent’s super-app that promoted initial coin offering (ICO) and cryptocurrency trading as China continues to clean up ICO activities. | followed. WeChat has shut down many official accounts http://bit.ly/2MyaBn5 Alibaba’s Alipay hotels and all other possible venues in the district from hosting activities related to cryptocurrencies. Chaoyang District of Beijing has released an official notice to ban office buildings, http://bit.ly/2MwoMck 💼 Business News Bitpay wallet users in . Japan can turn Bitcoin and Bitcoin Cash into gifts cards for Amazon http://bit.ly/2LpvP10 🌹🌹🌹 What did you guys think of our thus far? What do you want to read or learn more about on Asia? Global Coin podcast Check our past 7 weekly pieces on , , , , , , and Southeast Asia Cryptocurrency Developments A Guide to Asia Crypto funds/investors Takeaways on Asia Crypto from Techcrunch Zug Cryptokitties Binance Bitmain China’s Crypto winners Subscribe