Bitdeer appoints Jihan Wu as new CEO

China's Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) has stepped into the realm of the metaverse by forming a working group tasked with setting standards for the burgeoning technology.Photo by Li Yang on UnsplashChinese corporate participationThe announcement, made on Friday, revealed that the working group would comprise representatives from the government, academic institutions and major corporations. In its statement, MIIT explained that the establishment of the metaverse working group aligns with the nation's emphasis on industrial development within the technology sector. Notably, the group will feature key figures from major Chinese tech corporations, including Huawei, Ant Group, ZET, Tencent, Baidu, NetEase, Sense Time and others. Public feedback on the selection of group members is invited until Feb. 18, although the specific areas of focus for the group are not detailed in the document. Initial in-roadsThe working group’s headline tech participants have all made some initial in-roads into metaverse technology. Baidu established its own metaverse project, XiRang, in 2021. Late last year it partnered with Qualcomm on the use of extended reality (XR) technology for use on a new metaverse platform. Huawei is paying attention to the promising metaverse space by building up a catalog of metaverse-related patents. Like Baidu, Tencent is focusing on developing XR technology with metaverse development in mind. Last year NetEase collaborated with a Chinese liquor brand to launch a winery-themed metaverse, while issuing NFTs linked to liquor bottles. Establishing metaverse standardsChina has been contemplating the formulation of metaverse standards for some time. In September 2023, MIIT advocated for the creation of a dedicated working group to address the ongoing challenges in metaverse technology. The government's overarching objective is to ensure the healthy and orderly development of the metaverse industry through standardization and guidance, reducing redundant investment costs and fostering collaborative forces for industrial development. Analysts from JPMorgan foresee a potential uptick in the value of Chinese tech stocks if the metaverse gains traction in the country. According to their analysis, Chinese web giants like Tencent and NetEase stand to benefit significantly from metaverse development. Even non-web companies such as China Mobile, Sony and Agora could witness positive impacts should the technology gain widespread adoption. In fact, China Mobile led the development of a metaverse industry alliance in China in 2023. Regional developmentIn a December document, MIIT outlined plans to formulate strategy documents clarifying the development path of Web3.Last year, several local governments in China committed to the development of the metaverse industry. Sichuan, a province once known as a crypto mining hub, aims to reach a market size of 250 billion yuan ($35.1 billion) in the metaverse industry by 2025. Last May, the city of Zhengzhou announced policy proposals to support metaverse companies. The same month, the province of Henan established a $21.7 million fund to support metaverse-related projects. The following month, an initiative was established in Nanjing to nurture metaverse development. Additionally, Shandong province has plans to grow its metaverse-related initiatives to achieve a market size of 150 billion yuan by 2025. 

The Qatar Financial Centre (QFC), a business and financial center located in the Qatari capital, Doha, has announced that the Qatar Financial Centre Authority (QFCA) and the Qatar Financial Centre Regulatory Authority (QFCRA) have launched the QFC digital assets framework. In a press release published to the QFC website on Sept. 1, the project set out details of its QFC Digital Assets Framework 2024.Photo by 拜耳 闫 on UnsplashIndependent economic zoneThe QFCA and the QFCRA both act in a regulatory capacity relative to the financial center. The QFC is an economic zone, which operates independently from the rest of the country. With that, it has its own legal, tax, regulatory and business framework. The initiative is similar in this respect to projects located within its Middle Eastern neighbors, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), such as RAK DAO in Ras al Khaimah and Abu Dhabi’s international financial center, the Abu Dhabi Global Market (ADGM). The QFC incentivizes international startups to base themselves within the economic zone by allowing full foreign ownership and 100% repatriation of any profits made by the established entity, with a low rate of 10% taxation applied to those profits. In its press release, the QFC claimed that the framework establishes the legal and regulatory foundation for digital assets, including the process of tokenization, legal recognition of property rights in tokens and their underlying assets, custody arrangements, transfer and exchange.  Providing for a transparent ecosystemAdditionally, the framework provides for the legal recognition of smart contracts. The QFC claims that the framework will ensure a “secure and transparent digital asset ecosystem,” in accordance with international standards and best practices.  The financial center established its Digital Assets Lab in October 2023. Since then, it has welcomed in more than 20 startups, with those entities at various stages in terms of developing, testing and commercializing their products and services. The project outlined that the digital assets framework was developed simultaneously, alongside the operation of the QFC Digital Assets Lab, with industry engagement and collaboration arising as a consequence, having played a role in the framework’s development. His Excellency, Sheikh Bandar bin Mohammed bin Saoud Al Thani, the Qatari Central Bank governor, commented on the development, stating: “Launching the 2024 Digital Assets Regulations marks a significant milestone in our journey towards realising the Third Financial Sector Strategy.” The central bank governor added that the project was aligned with Qatar’s endeavor to achieve specific digital transformation goals. Sovereign wealth fund rumorsRumors had emerged in December 2023 that Qatar’s sovereign wealth fund was driving a Bitcoin price surge. While those rumors weren’t substantiated subsequently, this latest development has once again led to some market commentators considering the prospect of one of the world’s largest sovereign wealth funds investing in Bitcoin. Pseudonymous crypto influencer “MartyParty,” who has over 110,000 followers on X, commented on the development, adding that “[The Qatar Investment Authority (QIA) has] been very interested in #Bitcoin and other digital assets and are huge investors in technology.” Back in 2021, QIA CEO Mansoor Bin Ebrahim Al Mahmoud stated at the Qatar Economic Forum that crypto needed to mature before the $500 billion wealth fund would establish a view about investing in the space.

TON Foundation $250M Accelerator Fund LaunchThe team behind The Open Network (TON) layer one blockchain has launched a $250 million fund to promote and incentivize development on the network.The Dubai-headquartered TON Foundation, the community managing the TON/Open Network blockchain project, provided details of the program via social media on Monday.Photo by Ibrahim Boran on UnsplashBoosting ecosystem projectsThe $250 million fund is aiming to boost key TON ecosystem projects, with a particular focus on DeFi. The TON Foundation is already canvassing projects to participate and apply for funding.Successful applicants will be offered between $50,000 and $250,000. The scheme goes beyond funding. Projects will also get to avail of mentorship from partners like GotBit, a consulting service targeted at blockchain start-ups. Growth advisory firm Web3Port will also be available to successful candidates in that mentorship role.UAE-based multi-strategy crypto investment firm Cypher Capital will also be at the disposal of the TON-based start-ups, while they will also have the ability to access the Tonstarter launchpad. Additionally, the scheme features participation from East Asia, with South Korea-based Boom Labs, an incubator for Web3 developers, lending its support.Justin Hyun, Head of Incubation and Growth at the TON Foundation, had this to say about the development:“This is the beginning of many different incubators which will be supported in the future. Funding forms part of our local hubs rollout strategy and our ecosystem will work to attract new developers as well as successful repeat founders, based across a variety of key global locations.”$25M funding in first yearFunding will be allocated from the TONcoin.Fund, a $250 million TON syndicate which invests in teams and projects that build on The Open Network. In the first year of the program, $25 million will be allocated.Bill Qian, Chairman of Cypher Capital, said that the program “is unique within the Web3 universe today.” “TON Accelerator Program is taking the well-known incubator principle from the Web2 ecosystem, refining it, and evolving it by incorporating the best practices of Web3 protocols and methodologies,” he added.DoraHacks Hack-a-TONxIn its announcement the TON Foundation outlined its intention to select the first successful projects from those who took part in the DoraHacks Hack-a-TONx. Hack-a-TONx was a two-month-long hackathon, put together by the TON Foundation in coordination with global hackathon organizer and multi-chain Web3 developer community, DoraHacks.Submissions are being accepted by the TON Foundation from projects that have built on TON, who already have a minimum viable product (MVP). Although originally promoted by the makers of the Telegram messaging app, since 2020, TON has harnessed the TON Foundation to develop the project as a community-run and community-led open source initiative.The African nations of Cameroon, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and the Republic of Congo have all expressed an interest in adopting the TON blockchain. Earlier this month, the TON Foundation entered into a partnership with the Seychelles-based BIT crypto exchange. That collaboration will see BIT accepting TON tokens from its users for the payment of trading fees, with discounts offered to the exchange users who opt to pay using TON.