Welcome to The Daily Forkast, September 8th, 2021, presented by Angie Lau. For the latest in blockchain & crypto news. On today's show:
00:00 Coming up
00:37 Bitcoin takes a plunge.
02:16 Regulator says crypto crackdown is needed in Hong Kong.
04:04 Metaverse action heats up in China.
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Just one day ago, the outlook for crypto markets was looking good. But shortly after El Salvador became the first country to accept bitcoin as legal tender, it took a dove and that rattled the wider crypto market, that's continuing into Asia trading hours.
Not only did bitcoin plunge, but it took other cryptocurrencies down with it.
A pullback across the board saw all the major tokens suffering losses of 10% to 15% within the 24 hours to Wednesday morning Asia time. Solana was the one exception. It traded up 1.5% over the same time period. Bitcoin's price crashed through the US$50,000 mark, hitting a low of a little over US$43,000 Tuesday night Asia time. But the fall followed run-ups across the board over the last month. One expert told Forkast.News that investors shouldn't be overly concerned about the move. "I certainly would want people to feel as though the price movement of bitcoin is a reflection on the long-term success or otherwise of bitcoin in El Salvador." Jonathan Miller of Kraken Digital Asset Exchange agrees that such moves are to be expected as part of the natural cycle, with markets becoming volatile when they're close to all-time highs. He says Solana likely bucked the market trend due to the explosion interest in NFTs, as is proving to be a meaningful alternative to Ethereum because it's faster and cheaper. Looking long term. He's excited about wider developments in the altcoin world. "I think the reality is that we'll see lots of interoperability in the future, and you're already starting to see cross-chain stuff happening and layer 2 networks kind of into-operating as well. So so this is the start of a longer-term story." Miller says that the altcoin world hones in on specific use cases. There's plenty of potential for growth ahead.
Meanwhile, tighter crypto regulation could be in the cards in Hong Kong. That's if the Securities and Futures Commission get their way. An official from the regulator says a crackdown on unlicensed cryptocurrency transactions is needed to protect investors if tighter supervision is introduced. While real question is what could that mean for investors and how might that play out in the broader international regulatory space?
According to local media outlet ETNet, Deputy Chief Executive Officer Julia Leung spoke at an event on Tuesday, saying that Hong Kong is looking to further regulate virtual assets.
As scams related to them have been on the rise. That could see relevant licensing regulations expanded to supervise virtual assets. A former regulator who wrote laws covering crypto told Forkast.News that many scams happen as there's a lack of understanding around digital assets and that while regulations are needed to provide a safe and fair market for all, investor education is also vital. "If you don't understand it. If it doesn't sound right, if it sounds too good to be true, it normally is and is a scam, so don't get into it." Hong Kong has already proposed legislation requiring virtual asset providers or VASPs obtain licenses to operate.And in May, the government published conclusions from a consultation on the licensing regime for VASPs. Once that regime comes into effect, licensed VASPs will be subject to relevant anti-money laundering requirements, and the SFC will be able to supervise them with broader powers.
And finally, the Metaverse is heating up in China. Game developer Shenzhen Zhong Qing Bao Interactive Network's stock price soared by the daily limit on both Tuesday and Wednesday after it announced it was developing a VR-based Metaverse universe game.
Despite the fact that the game is still under development and no release date has been announced as yet. We actually saw share prices leaping to the maximum 20% allowed on both days. The game, named "Brew Master", will allow players to act as winemakers and build their own liquor factory. The wines they create within the game can then be made into NFTs for trading and auction. And even more interestingly, players can also get their virtual recipes made into actual drinks produced by real-world liquor factories. And that's not the only development in the industry. Last Monday, according to the local financial media outlet Yangtze River Commercial Daily, TikTok owner ByteDance paid US$ 1.93 billion to acquire China's biggest VR glasses manufacturer, Pico. With deals like that seems like there's a lot of confidence in potential for growth within the metaverse world in China and beyond.
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#Crypto #Blockchain #BlockchainTechnology #DigitalAssets #Cryptocurrency #DeFi #Bitcoin #Metaverse #ElSalvador #ZQGames #Gaming #HongKong #NFTs #Solana #Altcoins
00:00 Coming up
00:37 Bitcoin takes a plunge.
02:16 Regulator says crypto crackdown is needed in Hong Kong.
04:04 Metaverse action heats up in China.
---
Just one day ago, the outlook for crypto markets was looking good. But shortly after El Salvador became the first country to accept bitcoin as legal tender, it took a dove and that rattled the wider crypto market, that's continuing into Asia trading hours.
Not only did bitcoin plunge, but it took other cryptocurrencies down with it.
A pullback across the board saw all the major tokens suffering losses of 10% to 15% within the 24 hours to Wednesday morning Asia time. Solana was the one exception. It traded up 1.5% over the same time period. Bitcoin's price crashed through the US$50,000 mark, hitting a low of a little over US$43,000 Tuesday night Asia time. But the fall followed run-ups across the board over the last month. One expert told Forkast.News that investors shouldn't be overly concerned about the move. "I certainly would want people to feel as though the price movement of bitcoin is a reflection on the long-term success or otherwise of bitcoin in El Salvador." Jonathan Miller of Kraken Digital Asset Exchange agrees that such moves are to be expected as part of the natural cycle, with markets becoming volatile when they're close to all-time highs. He says Solana likely bucked the market trend due to the explosion interest in NFTs, as is proving to be a meaningful alternative to Ethereum because it's faster and cheaper. Looking long term. He's excited about wider developments in the altcoin world. "I think the reality is that we'll see lots of interoperability in the future, and you're already starting to see cross-chain stuff happening and layer 2 networks kind of into-operating as well. So so this is the start of a longer-term story." Miller says that the altcoin world hones in on specific use cases. There's plenty of potential for growth ahead.
Meanwhile, tighter crypto regulation could be in the cards in Hong Kong. That's if the Securities and Futures Commission get their way. An official from the regulator says a crackdown on unlicensed cryptocurrency transactions is needed to protect investors if tighter supervision is introduced. While real question is what could that mean for investors and how might that play out in the broader international regulatory space?
According to local media outlet ETNet, Deputy Chief Executive Officer Julia Leung spoke at an event on Tuesday, saying that Hong Kong is looking to further regulate virtual assets.
As scams related to them have been on the rise. That could see relevant licensing regulations expanded to supervise virtual assets. A former regulator who wrote laws covering crypto told Forkast.News that many scams happen as there's a lack of understanding around digital assets and that while regulations are needed to provide a safe and fair market for all, investor education is also vital. "If you don't understand it. If it doesn't sound right, if it sounds too good to be true, it normally is and is a scam, so don't get into it." Hong Kong has already proposed legislation requiring virtual asset providers or VASPs obtain licenses to operate.And in May, the government published conclusions from a consultation on the licensing regime for VASPs. Once that regime comes into effect, licensed VASPs will be subject to relevant anti-money laundering requirements, and the SFC will be able to supervise them with broader powers.
And finally, the Metaverse is heating up in China. Game developer Shenzhen Zhong Qing Bao Interactive Network's stock price soared by the daily limit on both Tuesday and Wednesday after it announced it was developing a VR-based Metaverse universe game.
Despite the fact that the game is still under development and no release date has been announced as yet. We actually saw share prices leaping to the maximum 20% allowed on both days. The game, named "Brew Master", will allow players to act as winemakers and build their own liquor factory. The wines they create within the game can then be made into NFTs for trading and auction. And even more interestingly, players can also get their virtual recipes made into actual drinks produced by real-world liquor factories. And that's not the only development in the industry. Last Monday, according to the local financial media outlet Yangtze River Commercial Daily, TikTok owner ByteDance paid US$ 1.93 billion to acquire China's biggest VR glasses manufacturer, Pico. With deals like that seems like there's a lot of confidence in potential for growth within the metaverse world in China and beyond.
---
#Crypto #Blockchain #BlockchainTechnology #DigitalAssets #Cryptocurrency #DeFi #Bitcoin #Metaverse #ElSalvador #ZQGames #Gaming #HongKong #NFTs #Solana #Altcoins