This weekly roundup of news from Mainland China, Taiwan and Hong Kong attempts to deal with the most important news in the industry, including influential projects, changes in the regulatory landscape and blockchain integrations from business.

Is China Banning Crypto Again?

FUD watchers got a glimpse of an old favorite as three government agencies in China, including the China Internet Finance Association, the China Banking Association, and the China Payment and Clearing Association, again warned the public of the risks of investing in cryptocurrencies. This dates back to a 2017 decision that all exchanges must close and a 2018 decision on ICOs. But is it really illegal?

For starters, these types of announcements are a good indication that cryptocurrencies are starting to become more and more popular. Whenever speculative digital assets start to grab headlines and infiltrate more traditional culture, these warnings and reminders are common to discourage more open adoption.

Last year it was established that the possession of virtual currencies was not in itself illegal, only that virtual currencies could not be used as legal tender. Even though the exchanges are supposed to be illegal, many exchanges operate in the country, even in partnership with government organizations in free zones and the organization of major events. There is a great understanding of the freedom to innovate, as long as it doesn’t start breaking other laws, such as money laundering, fraud, or assisted capital flight. Without this convenient truth, there probably wouldn’t be much column that Our Man in Shanghai could write about.

FUD leads to epic crash

Chinese FUD appeared to be the tipping point as people’s fears of a bear market similar to 2018 started to feel real. “Cryptocurrency crash” has become one of the most popular keywords on the Chinese internet, ranking third on the list of trends both the Baidu search engine and the Weibo micro-blogging platform. An asymptomatic case of COVID-19 in central Anhui province took the top spot, in case anyone is wondering.

Bank not Nervos on regulation

The Nervos Foundation has launched an innovation fund with CMB International, a 100% subsidiary of China Merchants Bank. China Merchants Bank is one of the top ten banks in terms of holdings, with more than 84,000 employees. The pooled fund is intended to jump-start ecosystem building on top of Nervos and provide strong validation for the Hangzhou-based blockchain network.

Source: Global Digital Assets Summit

The big event in Shanghai

If you were looking to meet the top influencers and blockchain projects in China this week, chances are Shanghai is the best place to find them. The Bellagio hosted the World Digital Assets Summit, a glamorous event which included panels, keynotes, charity auctions and banquets for many prominent projects and VCs in the space. The offline calendar of events is back in full force in China, which has managed to avoid the major lockdowns many other countries face in 2021.

Huobi ventures into $ 100 million fund

The Huobi Group, which owns the first cryptocurrency exchange of the same name, set up an investment arm on May 14. This fund will primarily target projects that support NFTs, games and Huobi’s own smart channel, HECO. Huobi Ventures will inject $ 100 million into projects through strategic investments and mergers and acquisitions over the next three years.