China
The total crypto market cap drops under $1.2T, but data show traders are less inclined to sell
An improving Tether discount in Asian markets and positive futures premiums for BTC and ETH suggest a slight recovery is in the making. The total crypto market capitalization has been trading in a descending channel for the past 29 days and currently displays support at the $1.17 trillion level. In the past 7 days, Bitcoin (BTC) presented a modest 2% drop and Ether (ETH) faced a 5% correction. Total crypto market cap, USD billion. Source: TradingView The June 10 consumer price index (CPI) report showed an 8.6% year-on-year increase and crypto and stock markets immediately felt the impact, but it’s not certain whether the figure will convince the U.S. Federal Reserve to hesitate in future interest rate hikes. Mid-cap altcoins dropped further, sentiment is still bearish The generalized beari...
Bitcoin price action decouples from stock markets, but not in a good way
This week the stock markets began to flash a little green and Bitcoin (BTC) is decoupling from traditional markets but not in a good way. The cryptocurrency is down 3% while the Nasdaq Composite tech-heavy stock market index is up 3.1%. May 27 data from the United States Commerce Department shows that the personal savings rate fell to 4.4% in April to reach the lowest level since 2008 and crypto traders are worried that worsening global macroeconomic conditions could add to investors’ aversion to risky assets. For example, Invesco QQQ Trust, a $160 billion tech company-based U.S. exchange-traded fund, is down 23% year-to-date. Meanwhile the iShares MSCI China ETF, a $6.1 billion tracker of the Chinese shares, has declined 20% in 2022. To get a clearer picture of how crypto traders are posi...
Live Nation Electronic Asia’s Label & Management Group Partners With Astralwerks, Capitol Records
Live Nation Electronic Asia (LNEA), Live Nation’s Asian electronic dance music division, has entered into a multi-year global licensing and distribution agreement for its recently launched Fabled Records label. The partnership with leading dance label Astralwerks and Capitol Records China is focused on supporting emerging Chinese electronic music and artists. Per the terms of this partnership, Astralwerks and Capitol Records China will work together on the global release and distribution of Fabled Records artists and projects, with such projects receiving access to Universal Music Group’s international divisions, with global marketing support in China helmed by Capitol Records China and Astralwerks in the rest of the world. UMG launched Astralwerks Asia in 2019 and Capitol Records China ea...
Bitcoin’s current setup creates an interesting risk-reward situation for bulls
The Bitcoin (BTC) chart has formed a symmetrical triangle, which currently holds a tight range from $28,900 to $30,900. This pattern has been holding for nearly two weeks and could potentially extend for another two weeks before price makes a more decisive movement. Bitcoin/USD 12-hour price at Kraken. Source: TradingView For those unfamiliar with technical analysis, a symmetrical triangle can be either bullish or bearish. In that sense, the price converges in a series of lower peaks and higher lows. The decisive moment is the support or resistance breakthrough when the market finally decides on a new trend. Thus, the price could break out in either direction. According to Bitcoin derivatives data, investors are pricing higher odds of a downturn, but recent improvements in global economic ...
Weekly Report: China back atop mining charts as Russia mulls crypto legalisation
Despite China’s ban on crypto mining, it remains among the leaders in hash rate Portugal is issuing regulations to establish capital gains tax on cryptocurrencies Japanese bank Nomura is launching a crypto subsidiary later this year Russia’s trade minister insists crypto legalisation is not a matter of if but when Shopify merchants can now integrate Crypto.com Pay for payments on their storefronts Report: China lags only the US in Bitcoin mining despite ban mid-last year Crypto mining, particularly Bitcoin, has and will foreseeably continue being an environmental concern given that it uses a proof of work consensus model, which by design is energy-intensive. Last year, China banned all cryptocurrency mining in the country over the massive power...
China returns as 2nd top Bitcoin mining hub despite the crypto ban
The Chinese government has not managed to take down cryptocurrency operations as part of its crypto ban last year as China has re-emerged as one of the world’s largest Bitcoin (BTC) mining hubs, according to a new report. China became the second-largest Bitcoin hash rate provider as of January 2022, months after the local government banned all crypto operations in the country, according to the latest update from the Cambridge Bitcoin Electricity Consumption Index (CBECI) shared with Cointelegraph on May 17. Bitcoin miners in China accounted for 21.1% of the total global BTC mining hash rate distribution as of early 2022, following only the United States, which produced 37.8% of the total hash rate as of January, according to the data. China was once the world’s largest Bitcoin m...
Tencent Music Revenues Fall 15%, Subscriptions Grow Amid Regulatory ‘Headwinds’
The effects of government intervention on Tencent Music Entertainment, the leading music streaming platform in China, were visible in the first quarter as the company’s revenues dropped 15.1% to RMB 6.64 billion ($1.05 billion) from the prior-year period. Shenzhen-based TME operates QQ Music, Kugou Music, Kuwo Music and WeSing. In a statement, executive chairman Cussion Pang attributed the decline to “headwinds in an evolving market landscape,” a reference to the difficulties created by increased Chinese regulations and increased competition from Cloud Village, the music streaming platform spun off by Netease in Dec. 2021, and Quishiu Yinyue, a new music service by Douyin, the Chinese version of short-form video platform TikTok. The quarterly report’s bright spot was music subscripti...
Shanghai court affirms that Bitcoin is virtual property, subject to property rights
The Shanghai High People’s Court has issued a document in which it states that Bitcoin is subject to property rights laws and regulations. That finding was made in relation to a lawsuit filed in a district court in October 2020 involving the recovery of a loan of 1 Bitcoin (BTC). The lower court recognized Bitcoin as having value, scarcity and disposability, and therefore being subject to property rights and meeting the definition of virtual property. According to the Sina website, the Shanghai Baoshan District People’s Court ruled in favor of plaintiff Cheng Mou, ordering defendant Shi Moumou to return the Bitcoin. When the defendant failed to do so, the case was returned to the court, which held a mediation in May 2021. Since the defendant no longer had possession of the Bitcoin, t...
Deribit and OKX attract significant traffic from China despite a blanket ban: Report
Data from website traffic metric provider Similarweb shows that Deribit and OKX continue to attract significant traffic sources from China despite a blanket ban on crypto transactions and foreign exchanges last year. China has banned the use of cryptocurrencies more than a dozen times in the last decade. However, the one imposed in September last year was considered the harshest one. Several crypto exchanges including Huobi and Binance had shut doors for the Chinese traders in fear of regulatory action. The strict regulatory reforms ensured that Chinese traders mainly shifted their focus to decentralized exchanges (DEXs) and protocols. Chinese crypto traders have always found a way to bypass strict crypto regulatory measures imposed by the government. While many believed the blanket ban on...
Hundreds of NFTs listed on OpenSea from Shanghai residents during COVID lockdown
The city of Shanghai has been in a month-long mandated quarantine, which confines its 25 million residents to their homes. Initially, the latest COVID-19 outbreak began in March of this year and developed into the worst infection zone since the beginning of the pandemic. As the virus infected hundreds of thousands of people, the extremely restrictive lockdown prevented residents from leaving their homes for weeks on end. In addition to the spike in infections, the lockdown prevented people from obtaining food and medical treatment, and introduced other austerities. This led to frustrated citizens taking to the internet for solidarity and venting. However, government authorities have been reportedly censoring videos that surfaced on the internet showing scenes of confinement within Sh...
The Ledger: Tencent Music Highlights Risks of Doing Business in China
Doing business in China got tougher in 2021 after government agencies handed down new rules and levied fines against some well-known companies. For evidence this has made investing in Chinese companies more complicated, look no further than Tencent Music Entertainment’s annual report released Tuesday. All publicly traded companies’ financial statements include risk factors mandated by the Securities and Exchange Commission to help investors understand companies’ unique challenges and possible negative outcomes if things go south. TME’s previous annual reports have listed numerous risk factors, ranging from licensing third-party content to its corporate structure. It’s a long list that just got longer. The new risk factors in TME’s 2022 annual report are further evidence of the challenges f...
2 key metrics point toward further downside for the entire crypto market
The total crypto market capitalization has been holding a slightly ascending trend for the past 3 months and the $1.75 trillion support was most recently tested on April 27 as Bitcoin (BTC) bounced at $38,000 and Ether (ETH) at $2,800 on April 27. Total crypto market cap, USD billion. Source: TradingView The crypto market’s aggregate capitalization showed a 3.5% decrease in the last 7 days and notable losers were a 18.8% loss from XRP, a 10.2% loss from Cardano (ADA), and 9.7% drop in Polkadot (DOT) price. Analyzing a broader range of altcoins provides a more balanced picture, that includes 25% gains from some gaming and Metaverse projects in the same time period. Weekly winners and losers among the top 80 coins. Source: Nomics Apecoin (APE) rallied 44% due to the upcoming Otherside metave...
