Digital yuan transactions beat out Visa at Winter Olympics venue: report

February 10, 2022 Coin Telegraph

Business

Many of the National Stadium retailers allowing purchases with China’s CBDC were outside the Olympics' quarantine bubble for athletes, journalists, and staff.

On the day of the opening ceremony of the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics, there were reportedly more transactions made in China’s central bank digital currency than those through Visa.

In a Wednesday report from the Wall Street Journal, a person familiar with the matter said transactions in digital yuan significantly outnumbered those of Visa on Feb. 4 at the Beijing National Stadium, also known as the Bird’s Nest — the location of the opening ceremony of the 34th Olympic Winter Games. However, many of the retailers allowing purchases with China’s central bank digital currency, the digital yuan — or e-CNY — were outside the Olympics’ quarantine “bubble” for athletes, journalists, and staff.

Bird's Nest on the night of Feb. 4, when the opening ceremony of the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics was held. pic.twitter.com/QjUTOPa6Hr
— XIE Yongjun 解勇军 (@XIEYongjun_CN) February 4, 2022

According to the report, those within the bubble have the option of paying for goods or services with cash, Visa, and digital yuan, and there are many automated machines allowing people to exchange fiat currency for e-CNY. Coupled with the likely intention of reducing contact between individuals in an effort to prevent the spread of COVID-19, it seems the country’s digital currency is pulling ahead of Visa — at least in an environment with limited use cases that includes participation from Chinese consumers.

“Replacing cash with digital yuan for payment can effectively reduce direct contact between people and the risk of the spread of Covid-19,” reportedly said the Beijing Organizing Committee for the 2022 Games.

Though payments using mobile apps like Alipay, WeChat Pay, and others are generally accepted at many retailers in China, these methods aren’t allowed at the Winter Games due to an exclusivity contract with Visa. The credit card company has reportedly not pushed back against the digital yuan payment options, possibly because it is awaiting approval of a domestic license application to operate in China.

CNN reported on Jan. 31 that the first international test run of China’s CBDC is facing hurdles due to the pandemic, with officials limiting the number of people allowed to enter the country. Though China hasn’t released data on the number of digital yuan transactions or athletes using the CBDC, U.S. lawmakers have warned Americans participating in the games of the potential dangers of testing the digital currency, including threatening U.S. interests in cross-border payments.

At the time of publication, Cointelegraph was unable to find any reports of athletes claiming to have used the digital yuan for food or other essentials. The Wall Street Journal reported both the president of the Dutch Olympic Committee and a former Beijing resident now involved in television coverage of the games implied there was little point in using the digital currency when Visa was available. The Winter Olympics are scheduled to conclude on Feb. 20.

US lawmakers issue warnings about digital yuan as Winter Olympics kicks off

February 4, 2022 Coin Telegraph

CBDC

"Do not accept any digital yuan," said Minnesota Representative Tom Emmer in a tweet aimed at Team USA athletes competing in China.

With the opening ceremony of the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics completed and all competing athletes currently in China, two members of Congress are warning of the potential dangers of using digital yuan at the events.

According to a Friday report from Reuters, Pennsylvania Senator Pat Toomey sent a letter to Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen on Thursday expressing concern that the Chinese government could use the games to promote greater adoption of its central bank digital currency (CBDC), the digital yuan. The country has been conducting trials of the CBDC since April 2020, later announcing foreign athletes and visitors would have the opportunity to use it during their time at the Olympic Games.

Toomey claimed that the digital yuan rollout among an international crowd could help to set a standard in cross-border payments, potentially threatening U.S. interests. The Federal Reserve has floated the idea of releasing a digital dollar, but has not reached a decision to do so. The Pennsylvania Senator reportedly asked the State and Treasury Departments to report on the number of foreign visitors using China’s digital yuan to determine if the Olympics rollout could provide any useful information for U.S. officials considering a CBDC.

“The importance of remaining a leader in the global digital economy and supporting new innovations like digital currencies is a significant domain of strategic competition with other countries, including China,” said Toomey.

Many U.S. lawmakers are offering their support for those competing at the games, with some, including Minnesota Representative Tom Emmer, offering a last-minute warning to athletes not to use digital yuan while in China. Emmer has previously referred to China as living under "digital authoritarianism” in proposing legislation to limit the Fed's ability to issue a CBDC.

Good luck to all the @TeamUSA athletes competing in the Olympics.

Word to the wise - Do. Not. Accept. Any. Digital. Yuan.
— Tom Emmer (@RepTomEmmer) February 4, 2022

In July, a group of three senators sent a letter to the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee claiming that the Chinese Communist Party could use the CBDC to surveil visiting athletes both while at the games and upon their return to the United States. The committee reportedly suggested members of Team USA leave their smartphones at home and only use “burner” phones while in China, given the former could be infected with “malicious software.” At the time of publication, the Team USA Instagram page continues to post its own stories and share those from participating athletes’ accounts.

The Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics is the first major testing ground for the country’s CBDC among a broad group of international visitors. Since its launch almost two years ago, transactions using the digital yuan have totaled more than $13 billion, with roughly 10 million merchants activating digital wallets for the CBDC by November 2021.

Coca-Cola officially gets into NFTs for charity

July 28, 2021 Coin Telegraph

Business

“Each NFT was created to celebrate elements that are core to the Coca-Cola brand, reinterpreted for a virtual world in new and exciting ways,” said Selman Careaga.

One of the most recognizable brand names in the world is planning to release a collection of nonfungible tokens to raise money for Special Olympics International.

The OpenSea marketplace will be holding a three-day auction for Coca-Cola branded nonfungible tokens, or NFTs, starting on July 30. The NFT collections, created in partnership with digital designer Tafi, were “inspired by video-game loot boxes” and contain “hidden surprises” available only to those who purchase the artwork.

The “Friendship Boxes” feature a classic Coca-Cola cooler, a wearable bubble jacket which can be used in the Ethereum-based virtual reality world Decentraland, a friendship card, and a sound visualizer which plays audio of a bottle opening, a beverage being poured over ice, and the fizz sound common to carbonated beverages. Soft drink enthusiasts can place their bids in Ether (ETH) through OpenSea until Aug. 2.

“Each NFT was created to celebrate elements that are core to the Coca-Cola brand, reinterpreted for a virtual world in new and exciting ways,” said Global Coca-Cola Trademark president Selman Careaga. “We are excited to share our first NFTs with the metaverse.”

The soft drink manufacturer said it would donate the proceeds from the auction to Special Olympics International, a sports organization aimed at ending discrimination against people with intellectual disabilities. The opening bid for the auction was not available at the time of publication.

Though the popular beverage producer has rarely if ever been directly involved in the crypto and blockchain space, some of Coca-Cola’s bottling partners use decentralized ledger technology for supply chain management. Cointelegraph reported in August that New Zealanders and Australians had the choice of purchasing the famous carbonated drink and others using crypto through a partnership between digital asset platform Centrapay and Coca-Cola Amatil.

Ethereum Community Backs Ethiopia Ahead of Olympics

July 23, 2021 The Crypto Briefing

China wants US senators to ‘stop making trouble’ out of digital yuan

July 21, 2021 Coin Telegraph

2022

China's Foreign Ministry responded to U.S. senators' claim regarding the digital yuan's function as a tracking and tracing tool during the 2022 Beijing Winter Games.

The heat is rising between the United States lawmakers and Chinese officials even before the Olympic flame ignited at the 2022 Beijing Winter Games.

During a press briefing on Tuesday, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian addressed U.S. senators’ warning letter to the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee regarding the use of digital yuan at the Olympic games next year.

Calling for the U.S. politicians to “abide by the spirit stipulated in the Olympic Charter,” Lijian asked them to “stop making sports a political matter and stop making troubles out of the digital currency in China,” the South China Morning Post reported.

Claiming that the recent actions revealed the ignorance, Lijian suggested U.S. lawmakers “figure out what a digital currency really is.”

Earlier this week, Republican senators Marsha Blackburn, Roger Wicker and Cynthia Lummis wrote a letter to U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee board chair Susanne Lyons. Highlighting the allegation that digital yuan can be "tracked and traced" by the People’s Bank of China (PBoC), the three requested officials prevent U.S. athletes from using or accepting Chinese digital currency.

Claiming the Chinese Communist Party could use the digital currency to surveil visiting athletes upon their return to the United States, senators said the new features of digital yuan enables Chinese officials “to know the exact details of what someone purchased and where.”

In the letter, the three requested a briefing on the topic for the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation within 30 days.

On the other hand, China regards the Beijing Winter Olympics, slated for next year, as the first test of China’s central bank digital currency by foreign users.

Speaking at the Boao Forum for Asia in April, PBoC deputy governor Li Bo said, “For the upcoming Beijing Winter Olympics, we were trying to make e-CNY available not only to domestic users but also to international athletes and like visitors.”

US lawmakers don’t want Olympic athletes to use digital yuan at 2022 games

July 19, 2021 Coin Telegraph

CBDC

The trio urged the Olympic committee to work with federal agencies "to protect the privacy of American athletes from the Chinese Communist Government."

Three U.S. senators have signed a letter urging Olympic officials to forbid American athletes from handling digital yuan during the Beijing 2022 Winter Games.

In a Monday letter to U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee board chair Susanne Lyons, Republican senators Marsha Blackburn, Roger Wicker, and Cynthia Lummis requested officials prevent U.S. athletes from using or accepting digital yuan given their allegation it can be "tracked and traced" by the People’s Bank of China, or PBoC. The three claimed that the Chinese Communist Party could use the digital currency to surveil visiting athletes and upon their return to the United States.

The senators said that the Chinese government had recently rolled out new features for the digital yuan, giving officials the ability “to know the exact details of what someone purchased and where.” They cited the messaging and payment app WeChat as precedent, claiming the platform was “already being used to surveil, threaten, and arrest Chinese citizens.”

Lummis, Blackburn and Wicker requested a briefing on the topic for the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation within 30 days. They urged the Olympic committee to work with federal agencies “to protect the privacy of American athletes from the Chinese Communist Government.”

China started piloting trials of its digital yuan in April 2020, giving away thousands of dollars worth of the central bank digital currency, or CBDC, to residents in different cities. The PBoC also said it was exploring letting foreign athletes and visitors use the CBDC during the Beijing Winter Olympics in 2022, which would reportedly be the first such test by foreign nationals in China.

Though the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo were delayed by a year due to the ongoing pandemic, Beijing is reportedly still on track in preparing for the winter games, scheduled to begin in February 2022. China’s National Health Commission has consistently reported fewer than 200 new daily domestic cases of COVID-19 since March 2020, but some reports have suggested the government is responsible for a misinformation campaign concerning the pandemic.

Shanghai Man: Crypto media closes, bad news just repeats, mining laws are beneficial?

July 16, 2021 Coin Telegraph

Bishijie

With government officials trying to clean up the image of China prior to the start of the Winter Games, miners are leaving in droves and media group Bishijie has been forced to close down

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

It has now been two months since the crypto crackdown and subsequent enforcement began. Most new stories are now just the trickling down of earlier national policies being enforced at a provincial level. The latest example was from the Anhui provincial government, as it announced a set of measures to reduce energy consumption, with cryptocurrency mining listed among the culprits. Anhui is a small province east of Shanghai, more known for its scenic rural landscape and agriculture than its contributions to the economic development of China. It’s likely other provinces, particularly ones that rely on coal for energy, will have similar announcements over the summer as the central government pushes for a carbon-neutral future.

On July 13, Chinese mining pool giant Bit Mining announced it had raised $50 million for expansion outside of China. The company is listed on Nasdaq and operates BTC.com, which is currently a top 5 pool for Bitcoin, Bitcoin Cash, and Litecoin. This is another sign that Chinese mining companies aren’t giving up in light of the restrictions at home, instead choosing to relocate the data centers and mining machines abroad.

The disappearing industry left a trail of impressive photographs, including some published by Financial media Caixin. One image that grabbed the attention of social media depicted a woman who appeared to be an ethnic minority holding a bundle of mining equipment and power cables like a flower bouquet.

Going for gold?

Former Bitmain CEO Jihan Wu believes that the mining regulations will benefit the industry over the long-term, citing an improved public image and eradication of bad actors. It’s certainly a nice thought, but at the moment, China seems more intent on eliminating all actors, not just the bad ones.

With the upcoming Winter Olympics in February of 2022 looming, Beijing will have the perfect opportunity to show off clear blue skies and clean-energy industries. On top of that, China can showcase its state-of-the-art central bank digital currency, without the confusion stemming from more speculative digital assets that might appear to have similarities on the surface. Those with first hand memories of the 2008 Summer Olympics may also remember the strict regulation against technology and social unrest prior to that landmark event.

Lowest volumes in years

The impact is being felt by leading exchanges in China. Huobi’s BTC/USDT pair saw only 109K BTC transacted in the past week, the lowest weekly volume dating back to October of 2018. Global exchanges were also affected by slumping volumes, but not to the degree as these predominately Chinese exchanges. In today’s regulatory climate, there’s no doubt that exchanges proactive in decentralizing operations and risk are better poised to minimize damage from unfavorable policies.

Working together for compliance?

On July 13, the Nanjing Public Security Research Institute announced it was working with OKLink to combat money laundering. OKLink is a blockchain technology firm that has ties to OK Group, a company that used to manage leading exchange OKex. With exchange leadership under incredible scrutiny in 2021, there is no surprise in seeing attempts to placate regulators.

Abandoning ship

On July 15, cryptocurrency media company Bishijie announced it was shutting down after violating national laws against cryptocurrency. Bishije, which translates to Coin World, had enjoyed a lot of popularity in 2018, prior to the depths of the last bear market cycle. This recent bull cycle never saw it fully recover it’s previous position however, making this only a minor loss for the current cryptocurrency space. It remains to be seen whether other media platforms based in the mainland can survive this trying period of time.

Olympics

Going for gold?

Lowest volumes in years

Working together for compliance?

Abandoning ship

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