Asia Categorical – Cointelegraph Journal

Our weekly roundup of stories from East Asia curates the trade’s most necessary developments.

Bitmain allegedly fired employees after wage complaints

Bitcoin application-specific built-in circuit (ASIC) mining producer Bitmain has allegedly fired three of its staff for chatting with the media concerning the withholding of wage funds by their employer. 

Based on native information reviews on Oct. 17, citing an alleged inside Bitmain memo, the corporate accused three employees members of breaching varied clauses of their employment contracts for sharing their remuneration on social media platforms. The be aware reads: 

“The EMT [Executive Management Team] has determined: (1) Worker Li of product operations and circuit improvement, is to be fired instantly and blacklisted. (2) Worker Xie of product operations and circuit improvement, is to be fired instantly and blacklisted. (3) Worker Ding, administrative intern at strategic improvement PMT, is to be fired instantly and blacklisted. The intern’s post-secondary establishment shall additionally be told of the incident.”

“As well as, the corporate reserves the proper to pursue authorized motion in opposition to the people above,” Bitmain allegedly wrote. “With out authorization by the corporate, nothing might be stated, nothing might be given [to outsiders!]”

On Oct. 9, Cointelegraph reported that Bitmain allegedly paused September wage funds for its employees members as the corporate “has but to realize a web optimistic money stream, particularly within the orders of [new] ASICs.” As well as, staff allegedly face a 50% lower to their base wage, with all bonuses and incentives being eliminated. 

Based in Beijing, China in 2013, Bitmain is without doubt one of the world’s largest Bitcoin mining ASIC producers, with an estimated 70% market share throughout the earlier bull market that led to 2021. The agency’s Antminer ASIC sequence at the moment leads the trade by way of hash price computations for mining Bitcoin. Over the previous 12 months, a number of Bitcoin mining operators have gone bankrupt as the worth of Bitcoin plunged whereas electrical energy prices surged. 

Hong Kong traders spooked by JPEX scandal 

Regardless of efforts to regulate the sector, it seems that some Hong Kong residents have misplaced their confidence in crypto after the most important Ponzi scheme within the metropolis’s historical past, the $175 million JPEX crypto alternate scandal, unfolded final month. 

Based on a brand new research revealed by the HKUST Enterprise College Central on Oct. 17, 41% of Hong Kong residents are now not all in favour of holding crypto belongings, a pointy rise of 12% in comparison with earlier than the JPEX incident. The survey featured 7,900 respondents and was carried out between April and October. 

The research additionally revealed that 84% of Hong Kongers have heard of crypto, with 27% of respondents claiming they both maintain digital belongings now or have been beforehand crypto traders. For these investing in crypto, over 80% stated they’d not make investments over 50,000 Hong Kong {dollars} ($6,390) into the sector. Apparently, 57% of respondents stated they understood that crypto exchanges should acquire a license earlier than working in Hong Kong, a rise of 15% in comparison with earlier than the JPEX scandal unraveled. 

Wu Huang, a professor at HKUST Enterprise College Central, commented: 

“We hope that the outcomes of this survey can present trade stakeholders with extra views to assist construct a sound digital asset trade. As digital belongings play an more and more necessary function within the digital financial system, there’s a have to strengthen training efforts to make the general public higher Perceive the dangers and potential of this rising subject.”

Final month, JPEX employees fled their company sales space at Singapore’s Token2049 occasion after the Hong Kong Securities and Futures Fee issued a warning concerning the alternate’s unregulated actions. Subsequently, Hong Kong police arrested greater than 10 company executives and influencers linked to the alternate on expenses of fraud. The JPEX scandal has since grown to over 2,300 victims, with losses estimated at $175 million. The alternate was unlicensed on the time of the incident. 

“Factually inaccurate” information report wipes out $54 million in market cap

Relating to reporting, Cointelegraph has seen some blunders over time. That stated, faux information is an issue throughout the trade. 

On Oct. 16, Bloomberg reported that BC Know-how Group, proprietor of licensed Hong Kong crypto alternate OSL, is considering the sale of the latter for 1 billion Hong Kong {dollars} ($128 million).

On Oct. 17, BC Know-how Group issued a clarification stating: “The Board needs to make clear that the contents and statements within the [Bloomberg] Article are factually inaccurate and extremely deceptive” and that it was not considering a sale of OSL. 

Sadly, traders who purchased BC Know-how inventory based mostly on the divestiture euphoria weren’t so comfortable. After publishing the clarification assertion, shares of BC Know-how tanked 22% throughout the buying and selling day, wiping off $54 million in market capitalization. “Shareholders of the Firm and potential traders are suggested to train warning when dealing within the shares of the Firm,” administration wrote. 

Bitget’s new crypto bank card

Becoming a member of the likes of its friends, cryptocurrency alternate Bitget is launching its personal crypto-fiat bank card. Based on an Oct. 16 announcement throughout the Future Blockchain Summit in Dubai, the Bitget Card, issued by Visa and backed by digital belongings in customers’ accounts and wallets, might be denominated in U.S. {dollars} and might be accepted in over 180 international locations. 

Though many exchanges have rolled out their very own crypto debit or bank cards, some have seen pushback from cost processors. On Aug. 25, Mastercard stated it will finish its cryptocurrency card partnership with Binance in Latin America. Though the agency didn’t cite a particular motive, specialists have pointed to Binance’s current regulatory scrutiny because the underlying trigger. 

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Zhiyuan Solar

Zhiyuan Solar is a journalist at Cointelegraph specializing in technology-related information. He has a number of years of expertise writing for main monetary media retailers reminiscent of The Motley Idiot, Nasdaq.com and Searching for Alpha.