Top News from Tuesday to Today

China’s President Xi Jinping elaborated in a long speech on Thursday that the country should regard blockchain as a core technology for for new technologies innovations and existing technology transformations. He elaborates on the various applications blockchain can have on education, elderly care, poverty assist, healthcare, good authentication, food safety and public service. Bitcoin prices has since then has reverted its downward path and has seen a sudden surge upwards. It’s gained around 2% overnight and appears to be still rising. Here’s the original article in Chinese and we’ve found the the post that had the most elaborate highlight of his speech.

Laura Shin interviews James Ferguson of Gods Unchained and he talks about how the video game doubled its users after a Hearthstone tournament winner made a pro-Hong Kong statement. http://bit.ly/32OcDDo

Fascinating DeFi East Vs West Stats. http://bit.ly/2pcGHKn

Chinese Crypto Project Aelf Dissolves Many of its Wechat Community Groups in China; Founder suspecting of liquidating 10mn of his aelf tokens. http://bit.ly/2PjFED3

NYTimes (prior to Xi announcement): China’s Cryptocurrency Plan Has a Powerful Partner: Big Brother. http://bit.ly/365ayF8

Korean Blockchain Investment Focus– game and De-Fide-fi… “Worry about securing users”. http://bit.ly/2BGtBI1

LocalBitcoins’ trading volume dropped 30% in the last month, driven by Asia, Eastern Europe and Sub-Saharan Africa. http://bit.ly/2NeRtrw

Investments

Blockchain.com investment arm has taken an equity stake in Singapore based wblockchain game technology firm Enjin. http://bit.ly/2PhZ6jU

DFG Crypto announced the completion of the multi-million dollar investment in the Polkadot project, including strategic investments in the primary market and continued increase in the secondary market. http://bit.ly/365a69U

  Coins News

Running at the current bitcoin price, Antminer S9, are on the verge of losing money. many individual miners are either shutting down their machines, or selling their S9 mining rigs in panic. http://bit.ly/35ZvgXf

Poolin Eyes Mining Pool’s Expansion to Europe. http://bit.ly/2qKakDq

  Exchange News

Huobi Japan, has raised 500 million yen (~$4.6 million) in new equity funding. http://bit.ly/2qFKksF

OKEx has officially joined Kakao’s klaytn blockchain as an Ecosystem Partner. http://bit.ly/341cOvl

Binance’s direct fiat-to-crypto trading facility goes live, starting with Nigerian naira pairs. http://bit.ly/2ojp8In

🧳 Business

Singapore Blockchain Landscape Map, as presented by Singapore government arm Info-communications Media Development Authority, including Binance and more. http://bit.ly/2Pkik8j

First Half-year data for DeFi market: Compound lock volume soared 266% and Maker market share fell 38%.  http://bit.ly/31Fm32Z

SoftBank is teaming up with IBM to develop cross-carrier blockchain solutions, with the focus on technologies that will allow smartphone users to make local payments when traveling overseas and roaming. http://bit.ly/33XJDt7

SEMIC, a subsidiary of Seamico Securities, has been approved by the SEC to implement the first legal ICO in Thailand. The company plans to raise 2 billion to 3 billion Thai baht (approximately $ 66 million to $ 99 million) through ICO. http://bit.ly/2NmXLpp

China’s Ping An Insurance to Spend $22B on Tech, From AI to Blockchain. http://bit.ly/2pcCZQX

The German Stock Exchange announced on July 23 that it has completed a settlement test for securities transactions using digital tokens and distributed ledger technology (DLT) in cooperation with Commerzbank. http://bit.ly/36554Ky

⚖️ Regulation

Central banks “need to answer” the challenge posed by Facebook’s attempt to create a faster and more affordable payments network with Libra, says Ravi Menon, managing director of the Monetary Authority of Singapore. http://bit.ly/2peDNVF

Bank Of Lithuania Becomes First Market Regulator to Issue Guidelines on STOs. http://bit.ly/349yTZ1

Chinese Police Charge 6 Over ¥320 Million Cryptocurrency Scam. http://bit.ly/365ayF8