China’s surprise NFT move, Hong Kong’s $15M Bitcoin fund: Asia Express
China to protect NFTs
In a surprise move, the Chinese government has guaranteed legal protection for NFTs.
In response to a series of often conflicting judicial opinions on the state of cryptocurrency in the country, the Chinese government has officially issued a legal commentary on dealing with cases of nonfungible tokens (NFTs) theft and their status as virtual property protected by law.
According to a Nov. 9 publication by China’s state-controlled Southwest University of Political Science and Law (SUPL), digital collectibles such as NFTs — unlike ordinary online images — conform to the characteristics of online virtual property due to their non-tamperable features, unique codes and detailed transaction information.
“This highlights the scarcity of digital collections, which have both use value and exchange value,” jurists write. “According to Article 127 of the Civil Code, it can be seen that from the perspective of civil law, online virtual property is regarded as an object of rights that ‘is different from property rights, creditor’s rights, intellectual property rights, etc. and is protected by civil law’.”
In addition, jurists state that the theft of NFTs, therefore, carries applicable criminal penalties, which can be evaluated in conjunction with related offenses committed during the course of the theft, such as hacking into computer systems or data theft.
“Digital collections have technical characteristics that cannot be copied, indicating that the holder has exclusive control. If the digital collection is stolen by others, the holder loses exclusive control,” jurists from SUPL say.
“Although our country has not yet opened the secondary circulation market for NFTs, consumers can rely on the trading platform to complete operations such as purchase, collection, transfer, and destruction, and achieve exclusive possession, use, and disposal rights.”
China has seen a rise in civil disputes this year involving cryptocurrencies, with some courts ruling that virtual assets are protected by law and others saying they are not. Last month, Chinese government-owned newspaper China Daily announced a 2.813 million Chinese yuan ($390,000) grant for third-party contractors to design an NFT platform. In May, Chinese prosecutors announced they would crack down on “pseudo-innovations” within its NFT market.
Bitget’s to invest in India
Cryptocurrency exchange Bitget will invest $10 million over five years in startups primarily based in India.
According to the Nov. 7announcement, startups will have the opportunity to pitch to Bitget and venture capitalists including Sequoia Capital, Lightspeed Ventures, and Draper Labs, during the BUIDL for Web3 multichain summit in India.
“Bitget aims to identify valuable and promising projects in the crypto space and provide them with comprehensive support, accelerating innovation in emerging technologies,” the exchange says. To qualify, projects must have a minimum viable product and hold multiple layers of security functionalities with auditing transparency.
Gracy Chen, Bitget’s managing director, says that India is “the most wanted place to invest in Asia,” citing its constant advancements in blockchain and overall entrepreneurial spirit. The exchange’s previous investments in Indian Web3 startups include AI-based script generator Grease Pencil, AI resume generator HAIr, and AI dermatological app Derma360.
Read also
Linekong’s $15M Bitcoin Fund
Linekong Interactive, a Chinese tech firm listed on The Stock Exchange of Hong Kong (HKEX), will kickstart a $15 million fund dedicated to revitalizing the Bitcoin (BTC) ecosystem.
Accordingto founder Wang Feng, the new fund is dubbed “BTC Next” and will accelerate novel projects developing asset issuance, exchanges, virtual machines, NFTs and GameFi protocols on the Bitcoin blockchain.
“BTC NEXT will participate in the research and investment of Bitcoin network ecological assets as early as possible, publish crypto investment portfolios regularly, and update the list of Bitcoin ecological crypto assets participating in investment,” Wang writes.
The Bitcoin ecosystem has expanded greatly this year with the invention of Ordinals and Inscriptions, two novel data storage methods that, together, allow users to mint unique digital assets on the Bitcoin blockchain. The market cap of Bitcoin tokens minted on the BRC-20 standard, mirrored after the Ethereum ERC-20 standard, has surpassed $1.4 billion since inception.
Linekong was founded in Beijing in 2007 with a focus on video games and cinema. In 2018, Wang Feng resigned as CEO of Linekong to focus on blockchain, founding several projects in the nonfungible tokens, decentralized finance, and Bitcoin mining space. He returned to Linekong as CEO in 2022 after an invitation from the firm’s board of directors to better integrate Linekong products with Web3.
SEBA Bank approved in Hong Kong
Swiss fintech SEBA Bank has received a license from Hong Kong’s Securities and Futures Commission (SFC).
The license permits SEBA Bank to conduct regulated activities in Hong Kong and distribute virtual asset-backed securities, advise on crypto assets, and manage crypto investment accounts on behalf of clients. It also permits SEBA Bank to distribute, manage, and advise on traditional securities, such as stocks.
“Hong Kong has been at the center of the crypto economy since Bitcoin’s inception, and we are very pleased to have added this Hong Kong license with the full approval from the SFC to our existing licenses in Switzerland (FINMA) and Abu Dhabi (FSRA),” comments SEBA Bank CEO Franz Bergmueller. Meanwhile, Amy Yu, the firm’s Asia-Pacific CEO, praised the SFC for creating a “facilitative” environment during the licensing process.
Cointelegraph previously reported that SEBA Banklaunchedinstitutional Ethereum staking services in September. In early 2022, the firmraised $119 millionin a Series C funding round.
Subscribe
The most engaging reads in blockchain. Delivered once a
week.
Politics
‘Shy’ Reform voters in Labour areas led to Farage’s party winning by-election, Harriet Harman says
“Shy” Reform voters in Labour areas led to Nigel Farage’s party winning the Runcorn by-election by just six votes, Labour peer Harriet Harman said.
The Runcorn and Helsby seat, created in 2024, went to Reform UK’s Sarah Pochin who defeated Labour candidate Karen Shore by six votes.
Reform overturned a 34.8% majority gained by former Labour MP Mike Amesbury last year before he stood down earlier this year after he punched a constituent on a night out.
It is the closest by-election result since records began in 1945.
Read more: Badenoch apologises to Tory councillors
Labour peer and former minister Baroness Harman told Beth Rigby on the Electoral Dysfunction podcast: “If we’d have known it was so close, I, myself, would have gone on extra time there and got those six votes.
“So, there’s a real level of frustration and I’m sure there’ll be a post-mortem, but I think there’s a lot of talk about shy Reform voters in Labour areas.”
In the local elections, running at the same time, the Conservatives lost control of all 18 councils it was contesting, with Reform taking eight of those.
The party also won two of the six mayoral contests – Reform’s first two mayors.
Harriet Harman on the Electoral Dysfunction podcast
Baroness Harman said Labour now has “got to get on with delivering on the health service” and pointed out the minimum wage increase and breakfast clubs are only just being rolled out.
But she said the government also needs “more of a story” instead of just telling people to “bear with us” while it fixes what the Conservatives did.
“It seems to be that Farage has got no delivery, as yet, and all the story, whereas the government is really getting on with delivery, but it hasn’t got a big enough story about what that fits,” she said.
Read more: Reform’s political earthquake is now shaking our political system
An installation represents a bus stop during Reform UK’s local elections campaign launch in Birmingham. Pic: Reuters
She added that “Blue Labour” MPs – a socially Conservative wing of the Labour Party – “will be emboldened to press for further action” on issues like immigration, which they want to see a tougher stance on.
“There’s been grumbling about the big salience of the concerns of the winter fuel payment, but I don’t see there being any change on that,” she said.
Baroness Harman said she does not think the by-election and local election results were “utterly predictable” and will not lead to any splits or instability within the party.
Kemi Badenoch has apologised to Tory councillors who lost their seats after Reform made massive gains at the Conservatives’ expense in Thursday’s local elections.
The Conservative leader said she knew it was “disappointing” and that she was “sincerely sorry”, but added: “We are going to win those seats back – that is my job now.”
The Tories lost overall control of all 18 councils they had been in charge of that were up for election. There were 23 councils in the race in total.
Politics latest: Sky News analysis shows Reform surge in estimated national vote
A particularly bad loss was Buckinghamshire, which has been under Tory control since 1973 when local government was reorganised. The Conservatives lost overall control by just one seat after losing 29 seats.
Reform, which has never run in local elections before, gained eight councils from the Tories, one that had no overall control previously and one from Labour – the only Labour council up for grabs in this election.
Nigel Farage with the new Runcorn and Helsby MP Sarah Pochin. Pic: Reuters
The Lib Dems won Shropshire from the Tories, as well as Cambridgeshire and Oxfordshire – both of which had no overall control before.
The Conservatives had one win, with Paul Bristow being voted in as Cambridgeshire and Peterborough mayor, previously held by Labour.
Reform’s first major win of the election was the Runcorn and Helsby by-election where Labour lost to Reform by six votes. It was triggered by ex-Labour MP Mike Amesbury resigning after his conviction for punching a constituent.
Sir Keir Starmer said he “gets” why his party suffered defeat there and the results show “we must deliver that change ever more quickly, we must go even further”.
Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player
Tories suffer heavy defeats
Addressing the Conservatives’ abysmal results, Ms Badenoch said: “Other parties may be winning now, but we are going to show that we can deliver and that we are on course and recovering.
“But they [the public] are still not yet ready to trust us,” she added.
“We have a big job to do to rebuild trust with the public.
“That’s the job that the Conservative Party has given me, and I’m going to make sure that we get ourselves back to the place where we are seen as being a credible alternative to Labour.”
Read more:
Reform’s political earthquake is now shaking our political system
Reform wins two new mayoral contests
Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player
Farage: ‘This is Reform-quake’
Ms Badenoch said Labour’s election results showed Sir Keir Starmer “is on course to be a one-term prime minister”.
However, when asked if she would still be leader at the next general election, Ms Badenoch dodged the question and said: “I’m not playing all these questions that the media loves to ask about my future.
“This is not about me.”
She insisted she was the right person to lead the Conservatives, as she was chosen by the party’s members.
“I told them it wouldn’t be easy, I told them it would require a renewal and rebuilding of our party,” she said.
“That doesn’t happen in six months. I’m trying to do something that no one has ever done before, which is take their party from such a historic defeat back into government in one term.”
-
Sports3 years ago‘Storybook stuff’: Inside the night Bryce Harper sent the Phillies to the World Series
-
Sports1 year agoStory injured on diving stop, exits Red Sox game
-
Sports2 years agoGame 1 of WS least-watched in recorded history
-
Sports2 years agoMLB Rank 2023: Ranking baseball’s top 100 players
-
Sports4 years ago
Team Europe easily wins 4th straight Laver Cup
-
Environment2 years agoJapan and South Korea have a lot at stake in a free and open South China Sea
-
Environment2 years agoGame-changing Lectric XPedition launched as affordable electric cargo bike
-
Business3 years agoBank of England’s extraordinary response to government policy is almost unthinkable | Ed Conway