MARBLEX Token to Be Listed on Japanese Crypto Exchange Zaif Next Week

e-CNY Payments Enabled for Hong Kong Visitors From Mainland ChinaBank of China’s Hong Kong arm recently launched a digital yuan shopping festival, aiming to spur local consumption and promote the adoption of central bank digital currencies (CBDCs). The festival, which commenced on July 18, allows visitors from mainland China to make purchases in Hong Kong using the digital yuan.Bank of China (Hong Kong) Limited (BOCHK), a subsidiary of China’s central bank, initiated trials of e-CNY cross-border payments in Hong Kong last year, paving the way for the current shopping festival.Photo by Eric Prouzet on UnsplashSubsidized useAccording to a press release published by BOCHK earlier this week, as of July 18, digital yuan wallet holders have been able to use China’s CBDC to make payments at over 200 participating merchants across Hong Kong. Furthermore, consumers have the opportunity to receive shopping subsidies in digital yuan by scanning QR codes at specific stores, as stated in the BOCHK press release.The range of merchants accepting e-CNY payments spans from electronics sellers and pharmacies to supermarkets. Among the participants is U Select, a Hong Kong-based supermarket chain with a wide presence of more than 90 stores throughout the city.BOCHK strategically chose the summer tourist season for the expansion of e-CNY payments in Hong Kong. Chen Guang, representing BOCHK, mentioned the influx of tourists to the special administrative region, presenting a prime opportunity to attract more users and bolster local consumption through this cross-border shopping festival.The move makes BOCHK the first institution to partake in the cross-border e-CNY trial in Hong Kong. In December 2022, the bank initiated the first phase of its “digital yuan exclusive experience,” which allowed a limited number of BOCHK consumers to shop in the city using the digital yuan.Adoption strategyThe digital yuan has witnessed robust adoption in recent times, with China leading the global development of CBDCs. The Bank of China has been actively striving to advance and popularize the use of digital yuan in the country. Various initiatives, including business loans, trial expansions, and partnerships with prominent technology firms, have been undertaken to propel the widespread adoption of the digital currency.The introduction of the digital yuan shopping festival in Hong Kong signifies yet another significant step in China’s efforts to promote its CBDC and drive its usage in both domestic and international transactions. With over 200 merchants already participating and a seamless payment experience for tourists, the festival has the potential to encourage further adoption and shape the future of digital payments in the region.As this initiative gains momentum, it will be crucial to observe its impact on local consumption and the broader implications for CBDC adoption in the global financial landscape.The rate of China’s CBDC development and beyond that, the intent with which it is striving to drive adoption through a seemingly never-ending series of initiatives has been unmatched by any other nation. With that, the first real results of the active and widespread use of a CBDC are going to come from the country that makes up one-fifth of the world economy.

Coins.ph, the leading crypto exchange in the Philippines, has announced its support for BRC-20 tokens. As part of that move, the exchange has successfully integrated the ORDI token, thereby becoming the inaugural platform in the country to embrace the BRC-20 standard. The platform clarified its support for BRC-20 in a recent blog post, which it published to its website. Coins.ph revealed its intention to expand its services further by adding support for additional BRC-20 tokens, showcasing a forward-looking approach to cater to the evolving needs of its user base. BRC-20 is a standard facilitating the creation of fungible tokens on the Bitcoin blockchain. The inclusion of this technical standard allows for the minting of tokens with unique features, introducing a new dimension to the capabilities of the world's flagship cryptocurrency.Photo by Kanchanara on UnsplashORDI memecoin additionORDI stands out as one of the most popular BRC-20 tokens, gaining traction and reaching an all-time high above $81 earlier this week. This surge in value followed the addition of trading support by crypto exchange Binance in early November, underscoring the influence of strategic partnerships and market dynamics on token performance. Wei Zhou, CEO of Coins.ph, expressed the company's commitment to staying at the forefront of digital asset innovation through this strategic move. Highlighting the remarkable growth in BRC-20 activity since its launch earlier in the year, Zhou emphasized the importance of enabling users to participate in these opportunities. He mentioned the recent listing of $ORDI and hinted at future product offerings enabled by the BRC-20 standard. Industry trendWhile coins.ph may have been the first exchange in the Philippines to introduce BRC-20 support, it's not the first mover in the broader Asian region. Back in May, leading crypto exchange OKX decided to support the BRC-20 standard through its OKX Wallet product. The company’s support of the standard was validated more recently when it emerged that BRC-20 support played a large role in OKX NFT Marketplace taking top rank as the NFT marketplace with the greatest trading volume earlier this month. Seychelles-based crypto derivatives platform Bitget has also identified the associated growth potential. Earlier this week, the platform unveiled a plan to support development within the Bitcoin ecosystem, inclusive of BRC-20. The fusion of ordinals and BRC-20 enables users to embed images, texts or audio, among other data, into satoshis—the smallest units of BTC. Bitcoin community controversyAmidst these developments, concerns have been raised by Bitcoin core developer Luke Dashjr. On Dec. 6, Dashjr disclosed that developers are working to remove Bitcoin inscriptions before the v27 update scheduled for the next year. This would imply the elimination of ordinals and BRC-20 from the Bitcoin landscape. Dashjr clarified that Bitcoin Core has allowed users to set limits on extra data size in transactions since 2013 through the "datacarriersize" setting. Despite this, inscriptions have found a way to bypass the limit by obfuscating their data as program code. He reassured the community that a recent bug in Bitcoin Knots v25.1 has been fixed, addressing concerns about vulnerability.

Survey Reveals Favorable Public Opinion on Binance’s Acquisition of Korean Exchange GopaxCratos, a South Korean blockchain-based polling app, conducted a survey from June 12 to June 14 to gauge public opinion on whether the Financial Services Commission (FSC) should approve the request of Korean cryptocurrency exchange Gopax’s operator Streami to change its representatives, as reported by local news outlet The Stock. This change is necessary for global crypto exchange Binance to acquire Gopax.The survey, which involved 2,093 participants, revealed that 64.6% of respondents favored approving the acquisition, while 35.4% opposed it. More than half of the participants believed that approving the acquisition would safeguard investors’ assets deposited in Gopax.Photo by Heesang Park on PexelsSurvey resultsWhen analyzed by age group, the survey found that respondents in their teens and 20s were more likely to disagree with the acquisition, with 69.4% and 52.3%, respectively. However, those in their 30s were more inclined to support it. Notably, over 70% of respondents in their 50s agreed with the acquisition.Among those who favored Binance’s acquisition, 55.5% chose investor protection as their reason. 33.5% believed there were no legal grounds to refuse the acquisition (33.5%), and 11.0% expressed concerns about the potential shrinkage of the crypto market (11.0%).On the other hand, the most common reason given by respondents for opposing the acquisition was the risk of Binance’s opaque business and financial structure (45.8%). This was followed by the ineligibility of executives, representatives, and other major shareholders (37.4%) and the risk of disrupting the crypto market (16.8%).Consensus on investor protectionCratos CEO Kang Dong-won explained that the crypto winter, characterized by declining crypto asset values, has been prolonged due to a series of negative news at home and abroad, including the US Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SEC) lawsuits against Binance and Coinbase, poor performance of crypto exchanges, and controversy over a Korean lawmaker’s alleged holding and investment of crypto assets. Kang believes that the survey findings reflect falling crypto yields, leading to a growing consensus on the need for investor principal protection and victim relief.On March 7, Streami submitted a report to notify the Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU) under the FSC about the change of its representatives. However, the Korean financial watchdog has been pending its decision amid Binance’s legal issues.The concern is that if Binance fails to acquire Gopax, investors could suffer losses since their assets worth KRW 56.6 billion are held in GoFi, the exchange’s crypto deposit service. On June 8, GoFi users sent a public inquiry to the FIU regarding the reasons for the delay in approving the exchange operator’s request. In the meantime, Streami is exploring ways to address this challenge by announcing its board meeting scheduled for next week. The meeting will discuss changing its CEO from Leon Sing Foong, Asia Pacific Head at Binance, to Lee Joong-hoon, Gopax’s current Vice President, as it is believed that appointing a Korean national as the CEO would facilitate smoother communication with the government.