Asia Specific – Cointelegraph Journal

Our weekly roundup of reports from East Asia curates the trade’s most essential developments.

Bitmain allegedly fired workers after wage complaints

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

In response to native information stories on Oct. 17, citing an alleged inside Bitmain memo, the corporate accused three workers members of breaching varied clauses of their employment contracts for sharing their remuneration on social media platforms. The word 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 learn of the incident.”

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

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

Based in Beijing, China in 2013, Bitmain is likely one of the world’s largest Bitcoin mining ASIC producers, with an estimated 70% market share in the course of the earlier bull market that resulted in 2021. The agency’s Antminer ASIC sequence at the moment leads the trade by way of hash fee computations for mining Bitcoin. Over the previous 12 months, a number of Bitcoin mining operators have gone bankrupt as the value 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 trade scandal, unfolded final month. 

In response to a brand new research printed by the HKUST Enterprise Faculty Central on Oct. 17, 41% of Hong Kong residents are now not interested by 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 had 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 receive 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 Faculty 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 essential position within the digital financial system, there’s a must strengthen schooling efforts to make the general public higher Perceive the dangers and potential of this rising area.”

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

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

In the case of reporting, Cointelegraph has seen some blunders through the years. 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 trade 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 joyful. After publishing the clarification assertion, shares of BC Know-how tanked 22% in the course of 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 trade Bitget is launching its personal crypto-fiat bank card. In response to an Oct. 16 announcement in the course of the Future Blockchain Summit in Dubai, the Bitget Card, issued by Visa and backed by digital belongings in customers’ accounts and wallets, will probably be denominated in U.S. {dollars} and will probably be accepted in over 180 nations. 

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 cause, specialists have pointed to Binance’s latest 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 shops equivalent to The Motley Idiot, Nasdaq.com and Searching for Alpha.