Ant Group
UN approves NFT standards initiative led by Tencent
Chinese entertainment conglomerate Tencent has been approved by the United Nations to lead a project exploring the creation of a standard technical and security framework for non-fungible tokens (NFTs) . The project, dubbed a “technical framework for DLT-based digital collection services” will be the world’s first U.N.-approved standards initiative for NFTs, according to state-owned local media. The U.N. agency for information and communication technologies, The International Telecommunication Union (ITU) approved the project, which is expected to complete an initial draft by the end of 2022, according to a report from the South China Morning Post. Currently, any recommendations advised by the ITU only become mandatory and enforceable when nations adopt them as law. “The international stan...
Alibaba founder Jack Ma ‘missing’ after criticism of Chinese government
Chinese business magnate Jack Ma has reportedly gone missing for two months, Yahoo Finance reported early Monday. The seemingly awkward disappearance of the 56-year-old billionaire businessman from the public eye comes nearly three months after he made critical remarks about the ‘stifling of innovation’ by Chinese authorities through stringent regulations, which he said had outlived their relevance. “Today’s financial system is the legacy of the Industrial Age,” Yahoo Finance reported Mr. Ma to have said on October 24. “We must set up a new one for the next generation and young people. We must reform the current system.” The Alibaba and Ant Group founder, who has spent years advancing the course of an open and market-driven economy in the communist East Asian country, has not been seen in ...
Report: Jack Ma’s Ant Group considers overhaul due to regulatory pressure
Chinese financial technology giant Ant Group plans reorganisation that would allow it to be regulated more like a bank, Bloomberg reports. Jack Ma’s besieged Ant Group Co. is planning to fold its financial operations into a holding company that could be regulated more like a bank, according to people familiar with the situation, potentially crippling the growth of its most-profitable units. The fintech giant is planning to move any unit that would require a financial license into the holding company, pending regulatory approval, said the people, who asked not be named because the matter is private. The plans are still under discussion and subject to change, the people said. Ant declined to comment. The operations that Ant is looking to fold into the holding company include wealth managemen...
