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Chinese media are repeating concerns about the use of cryptocurrencies to facilitate corruption. Local media published a report entitled “Virtual Currency Electronic Gift Cards Open New Channels for Corruption Crimes and Benefit Transfer.” It states that cryptocurrencies, particularly Bitcoin (BTC), are opening up new channels for corruption and benefit transfer in China. In particular, incidents of bribery through means such as red packet transfers and electronic gift cards are becoming increasingly common, and these transactions are difficult to trace due to their secretive nature in the digital sphere. “Gaps and loopholes in relevant systems and mechanisms provide opportunities for some people to seek personal gain and rent-seeking with power. Under such circumstances, if officials do not have a strong sense of integrity and self-discipline and are not determined enough to fight corruption, they can easily slip into the abyss of corruption.” Peng Xinli...

Nepalese police have uncovered an international gang of gold smugglers that secretly moved over 33kg of gold into the country in exchange for $16 million worth of Tether ( USDT ). According to local media, Dolakha police held a press conference on Tuesday detailing how the gang moved the gold through the Lamabagar border checkpoint with China between November 2022 and September 2023. Police revealed that over the course of a year, the gang sold the gold for Rs. 2.19 billion ($16 million) worth of USDT using 12 crypto wallets. Police also reportedly revealed that the crypto might be linked to illicit activities separate from the gold smuggling. The smugglers are said to have employed children to help hide the gold inside potato and flour sacks before transporting it to Nepal’s capital, Kathmandu. Tether’s history with China goes far beyond commercial paper Read more: Brazil gang caught laundering illegal gold with crypto In return, the smugglers reportedly sent the s...

Some believe that hybrid blockchains with both private and public aspects can solve AI’s black-box problem. Artificial intelligence (AI) and blockchain are emerging digital technologies that have captured the public imagination but also raised serious concerns. So it bears asking: Can AI and blockchain be integrated in a way that benefits humanity? There are reasons to think so. As far back as 2016, Vitalik Buterin wrote that both the crypto economics and AI safety communities were “trying to tackle what is fundamentally the same problem” of how to regulate complex and smart systems with “unpredictable emergent properties.” Both rely for control on essentially “dumb” systems “whose properties once created are inflexible,” after all. Once a smart contract is implemented, it can’t be changed, for instance. The two communities “should listen to each other more,” he concluded. In the past year, with the emergence of ChatGPT and other generative AI tools, worries are growing that AI may be...

BRICS member China is pulling every trick up its sleeve to stall the growth of the US dollar and stocks. China is dumping both US treasuries and equities to keep the Yuan from ending at a new low against the US dollar. In August alone, China sold $21.2 billion worth of US treasuries and stocks to stop the rising dollar. The BRICS alliance combinedly indulged in a $123 billion worth of sell-off in US government bonds and treasuries this year. China is the flag-bearer for BRICS in its quest to free the world from the US dollar supremacy. Also Read: BRICS : Chinese Yuan Surpasses Euro, Becomes Second Main SWIFT Currency While the Communist government challenging the US dollar wasn’t enough, institutional Chinese investors are now hand-in-glove with the Jinping administration. Chinese investors also indulged in massive sell-off by dumping billions worth of US stocks, according to Bloomberg. BRICS: Institutional Chinese Investors Dumped $5.1 Billion Worth of US Stocks Sou...

China’s central bank digital currency (CBDC) pilot, powered by the e-CNY app, has made it even more convenient for tourists to explore the People’s Republic of China. The new innovation allows tourists to pre-charge their digital yuan wallets using Visa and Mastercard payment options.  E-CNY app envisions a seamless experience for tourists The e-CNY app, currently in its pilot phase, caters to both iOS and China-based Google Play Store users. It empowers individual users by enabling them to create and manage their digital yuan wallets. This accessibility ensures that more tourists can enjoy the convenience of digital currency while exploring China. The latest update to the iOS version of the e-CNY app, released on September 22, brings a new feature to the forefront. Version 1.1.1 now supports top-up services with international card options, specifically Visa and Mastercard. Also read: Shiba Inu: Mysterious Whale Buys 4.5 Trillion SHIB Worth $33.6 Million ...

Despite a blanket ban on cryptocurrencies imposed by Beijing in 2021, many Chinese courts over the years have established that virtual asset holders have property rights. People’s courts in China exercise judicial power independently and are not subject to interference by an administrative or public organization. These courts try criminal, civil, administrative, and cases that involve economic disputes. The report titled "Identification of the Property Attributes of Virtual Currency and Disposal of Property Involved in the Case," acknowledged that virtual assets have economic attributes and thus can be classified as property, reported a local daily. Although China has deemed all foreign digital assets illegal by imposing a blanket ban, the report argued that virtual assets held by individuals should be considered legal and protected by law under the current policy framework. The report also added suggestions to deal with crimes involving virtual asset s and noted that sinc...

Crypto-friendly bank DBS has conducted the first e-CNY transaction for corporate clients, involving a catering company in Shenzhen. Cryptocurrency-friendly bank DBS is cooperating with mainland China on the development of a new payment solution for the digital yuan, also known as e-CNY. DBS Bank China officially announced on July 5 the launch of the e-CNY merchant solution, allowing mainland businesses to receive payments in the central bank digital currency (CBDC). The new service will allow corporate clients of DBS Bank China to collect payment s from their customers in e-CNY and conduct automated settlement of e-CNY directly into their CNY bank deposit account. DBS’ solution is designed to enable a number of benefits, allowing businesses to collect CBDC “without having to go through manual settlement processes,” the announcement notes. The tool also features capabilities allowing merchants to receive payments in underserved regions with limited internet connectivity. Additionally...

According to public prosecutor, marketing models such as rewards and dynamic rights and interests can easily evolve into illegal pyramid schemes. On May 15, the Supreme People’s Procuratorate of the People’s Republic of China, the national agency responsible for legal prosecution, shared its thoughts on the non-fungible token (NFT) market . In an article published, three authors laid out the prosecutor s’ vision of the market risks and the following reasons to enforce it more actively. The article pays attention to the tendency of “securitization” of NFTs, i.e. the shared ownership of one copy by multiple users, which, in the authors’ opinion, no longer corresponds to criteria of non-reproducibility, indivisibility and uniqueness. Among other threats, the prosecutors see the “inflation of prices” on NFTs, triggered by marketing methods such as airdrops, blind boxes and limited sales. Taking the ambitious breed of esthetic and economic analysis, the authors mention a lack of “artistic...

Two collections have appeared on NFT marketplace OpenSea depicting images and art related to the rare widespread protests in China over its lockdown policies. China’s COVID-19 protests cemented as NFTs Nonfungible Tokens (NFTs) depicting the ongoing protests in China against the country’s tough zero-tolerance COVID-19 policy have found their way to the NFT marketplace OpenSea. At least two collections have been created in November, the first is a Polygon (MATIC)-based collection called “Silent Speech” featuring 135 NFTs depicting images of protesters, signage, graffiti and even social media screenshots related to the ongoing protests up for auction starting at 0.01 Ether (ETH), or just under $11.50. A Silent Speech NFT titled “Beihang University” (translated) shows an image of multiple tealight candles within surgical masks. Candles are an often used symbol of remembrance. Another collection titled “Blank Paper Movement” of 36 Ethereum-based NFTs with a floor price of 10 ETH, or nea...

The entire world witnessed China’s big crypto crackdown. The country harbored a few of the biggest and most prominent crypto platforms. However, the Chinese government ousted all things crypto from the country. Despite this, Bitcoin continues to live in China. This time, however, it was through bribes. It was recently brought to light that two Chinese intelligence officers working for the People’s Republic of China attempted to bribe a government official in the US with Bitcoin. Guochun He, as well as Zheng Wang, were on a mission to garner information pertaining to a company that was in legal trouble. The documents that were stolen are speculated to be related to Chinese tech giant Huawei. Source The aforementioned intelligence officers intended to steal documents as well as any possible information from the US Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of New York. The duo was accused of hindering the investigation, notably by attempting to bribe a member of th...