Yesterday it was announced that the Chinese government has launched a so-called whitepaper published to promote and develop the Web3 industry. The market, including Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao, was quick to speculate that this is potentially good news for the crypto industry. However, according to an influential crypto Twitter account, this is not the case.
White paper does not refer to crypto
De Chinese journalist Colin Wu reports via Wu Blockchain that the whitepaper mainly only covers artificial intelligence and the metaverse. Nowhere in the whitepaper is crypto mentioned. However, there are vague references to NFTs. The fact that China opens the doors to the crypto sector with the launch of the white paper is therefore probably a bit exaggerated.
An unimportant government department in Beijing released a web3 white paper. And any view that the Beijing web3 white paper is related to cryptocurrencies is wrong or deliberately exaggerating emotions. It focuses on AI and the Metaverse, which the Chinese government is more…
— Wu Blockchain (@WuBlockchain) May 27, 2023
But it’s certainly not bad news. China clearly expresses its ambition to set up a Web3 hub in the capital Beijing. For example, the city will invest 14 million in the Chaoyang district of the city where the hub is to be centered.
But for the time being there is little talk about crypto in China and its trading is prohibited in the country. However, this is a totally different story in Hong Kong. The city-state, which is informally under the influence of China, is openly beginning to emerge as a crypto hub. Clear crypto rules were introduced earlier this year, and Hong Kong will soon start issuing licenses to crypto exchanges.
What is China planning?
In February we already toyed with the idea that China might have something to do with the developments in Hong Kong. It can be said that the Chinese government is pulling the political strings in Hong Kong. According to Bloomberg Chinese officials visited crypto meetings several times in the metropolis for the introduction of the crypto laws. Could Hong Kong be a crypto testing ground for China?
Hundreds of crypto companies are now eager to get started in Hong Kong. Should Hong Kong’s crypto ambitions develop positively, it wouldn’t be a surprise to see such initiatives trickle down to China. Knowing the Chinese government, these Chinese ‘crypto hubs’ will be centered in specific cities, as we are currently seeing with the setup of the Web3 hub in Beijing’s Chaoyang district.
2023-05-28 17:03:01
#Chinas #web3 #plans #crypto
