Welcome to The Daily Forkast, August 2nd, 2021. I’m Angie Lau, Editor-in-Chief of
Forkast.News. Coming up, China’s central bank to maintain
pressure on the crypto market. China clarifies legal validity of blockchain
evidence; And J-pop’s “Cryptocurrency Girls” offer
NFT advice to consumers. Let’s get you up to speed from Asia to the
world. While China is not letting up on crypto, China’s
central bank has unveiled its plans for the second half of the year, with pressure on
cryptocurrency trading set to continue. The plan, published by the People’s Bank
of China, or PBOC, following its work conference, lays out eight key tasks and crypto is featured
prominently in one of them. Task seven on the list states that the bank
will maintain pressure on virtual currency trading hype, noting that there has already
been a severe crackdown on illegal activities. Orient Capital Research, which analyzes China’s
macro economy, particularly shadow banking, told us at Forkast.News that that means the
private sector will likely be pushed to one side. While the PBOC develops a better understanding
of digital currencies. “They’re not going to have much of a role
until maybe a year from now, when the dust settles. It is possible that the Central Bank
will then say, OK, look, we now have the plumbing in place. We know how to control it, we’ll
allow some private sector companies to enter into this as retail parts of the plumbing
as long as they know how to toe the line.” Meanwhile, the bank says pilots of the digital
yuan will be expanded. Collier says that he expects to see the PBOC outsourcing some digital
currency operations to state-owned banks as they not only have the capacity but are under
the control of the government. Other tasks on the list include improving
the green financial system and promoting internationalization of the renminbi.
Staying in China, the highest court in the land, has clarified the legal validity of
blockchain evidence. The Supreme People’s Court shared its “People
Court Online Litigation Rules”, which came into effect on Sunday; and for the first time,
the court outlined the scope of validity of blockchain evidence.
Blockchain evidence is mentioned in three of the articles in the new rules. One clarifies
the presumption that data has not been tampered with once it is stored on the blockchain,
while the other to clarify authenticity verification rules for blockchain evidence.
China’s Supreme People’s Court had already recognized that blockchain evidence was valid
in a regulation issued in 2018, but that gave no clear details of just what was acceptable
at that point. Blockchain in law is on the rise, according
to an article published by Allbright Law as of March 2021, 65 cases use blockchain evidence
in China. And on the first trading day of the week in
Asia, after reaching its highest price since May, over the weekend, Bitcoin has fallen
just over 3.5%, sitting at a little over US$ 40,000, as of 4 p.m. Hong Kong time today.
The fall followed uncertainty over whether crypto will be taxed more broadly in the US.
An updated version of an infrastructure bill suggested that new reporting requirements
could broaden the range of crypto transactions subject to tax.
That mood filtered through to the top ten for Crypto currencies on a mixed day. DogeCoin
down just over 4.5% and Cardano down just over 2%.
And finally, some sage advice over the risks involved in buying NFT from a most unlikely
source, pop stars. Japan’s “Cryptocurrency Girls” pop band
made headlines in 2018, singing zany songs about virtual currencies while wearing outfits
adorned very appropriately for their look with various tokens, symbols and insisting
on getting paid by their talent agency and crypto assets rather than fiat currency.
After going a little bit quiet since they’re back to explain what NFTs are, as well as
offering a warning to potential purchasers that comes in the form of their latest song,
“NFT the World”. Of course, now they’ve explained everything,
you’re all set to make your own decision on whether to buy one of the band’s NFTs,
due to be released this month. And that’s The Daily Forkast from our vantage
point right here in Asia. For more, visit Forkast.News. I’m Editor-in-Chief Angie
Lau. Until the next time.