Asia Express – Cointelegraph Magazine

China protects NFTs

Surprisingly, the Chinese government has guaranteed legal protection for NFTs.

In response to a series of often conflicting judicial opinions regarding the status of cryptocurrencies in the country, the Chinese government has officially issued release Legal commentary on the handling of non-fungible token (NFT) theft cases and their status as legally protected virtual property.

According to news released by China’s state-owned Southwest University of Political Science and Law (SUPL) on November 9, unlike ordinary online images, digital collectibles such as NFTs are non-tamperable and unique, and are in line with the characteristics of online virtual property. code and detailed transaction information.

“This highlights the scarcity of digital collections because they have both use value and exchange value,” the legal scholar wrote. “According to Article 127 of the Civil Code, from a civil law perspective, the Internet Virtual property is regarded as “an object of rights that is different from property rights, creditor’s rights, intellectual property rights, etc., and is protected by civil law.”

In addition, jurists point out that theft of NFTs is subject to applicable criminal penalties, which can be assessed in conjunction with related criminal acts committed during the theft (such as hacking into computer systems or data theft).

“Digital collections have technical characteristics that cannot be copied, indicating that the holder has exclusive control. If the digital collection is stolen by others, the holder will lose exclusive control,” said a legal expert from SUPL.

“Although my country has not yet opened the NFT secondary circulation market, consumers can rely on the trading platform to complete operations such as purchase, collection, transfer, and destruction, and realize exclusive rights of possession, use, and disposal.”

China has seen an increase in civil disputes involving cryptocurrencies this year, with some courts ruling that virtual assets are legally protected and others not. Last month, China’s state-run newspaper China Daily announced a 2.813 million yuan ($390,000) grant to a third-party contractor to design an NFT platform. In May this year, China’s prosecutorial authorities announced that they would severely crack down on “pseudo-innovation” in the NFT market.

Bitget will invest in India

Cryptocurrency exchange Bitget will invest $10 million over five years in startups, mainly in India.

According to reports on November 7announcementDuring the BUIDL for Web3 Multi-Chain Summit in India, new startups will have the opportunity to pitch to venture capitalists such as Bitget and Sequoia Capital, Lightspeed Ventures and Draper Labs.

“Bitget aims to identify valuable and promising projects in the cryptocurrency space and provide them with comprehensive support to accelerate innovation in emerging technologies,” the exchange said. To qualify, projects must have a minimum viable product and have Multi-layered security features with audit transparency.

Gracy Chen, managing director of Bitget, said India is “Asia’s most popular place to invest,” citing its continued progress in blockchain and overall entrepreneurship. The exchange’s previous investments in Indian Web3 startups include AI-based script generator Grease Pencil, AI resume generator HAIr and AI dermatology app Derma360.

Blueport Space launches US$15 million Bitcoin fund

Linekong Interactive, a Chinese technology company listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange (HKEX), will launch a $15 million fund dedicated to revitalizing the Bitcoin (BTC) ecosystem.

according toFor founder Wang Feng, the new fund, dubbed “BTC Next,” will accelerate new projects developing asset issuance, exchanges, virtual machines, NFTs and GameFi protocols on the Bitcoin blockchain.

“BTC NEXT will participate in the research and investment of Bitcoin network ecological assets as soon as possible, regularly publish crypto investment portfolios, and update the list of Bitcoin ecological crypto assets participating in investment,” Wang wrote.

The Bitcoin ecosystem has expanded greatly this year with the invention of ordinal numbers and inscriptions, two novel data storage methods that together allow users to mint unique digital assets on the Bitcoin blockchain. Since the launch of the Ethereum ERC-20 standard, the market value of Bitcoin tokens minted in the BRC-20 standard has exceeded $1.4 billion.

Linekong Online was established in Beijing in 2007, focusing on video games and movies. In 2018, Wang Feng resigned as CEO of Linekong Online to focus on blockchain and created multiple projects in the fields of non-fungible tokens, decentralized finance and Bitcoin mining. Invited by the company’s board of directors, he will return to Linekong as CEO in 2022 to better integrate Linekong products with Web3.

SEBA Bank gets approval in Hong Kong

Swiss fintech SEBA Bank has obtained a license from the Securities and Futures Commission of Hong Kong.

The license allows SEBA Bank to carry out regulated activities in Hong Kong, distribute virtual asset-backed securities, provide advice on crypto assets and manage crypto investment accounts on behalf of clients. It also allows SEBA Bank to distribute, manage and advise on traditional securities such as stocks.

“Hong Kong has been at the center of the crypto economy since the birth of Bitcoin and we are pleased to add our fully SFC-approved Hong Kong license to our existing licenses in Switzerland (FINMA) and Abu Dhabi (FSRA)” SEBA Bank Chief Executive CEO Franz Bergmueller commented. At the same time, Amy Yu, CEO of the company’s Asia Pacific region, praised the China Securities Regulatory Commission for creating a “convenient” environment during the licensing process.

Cointelegraph previously reported that SEBA Bank launched an institutional Ethereum staking service in September. In early 2022, the company raised $119 million in Series C funding.

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Zhiyuan Sun

Sun Zhiyuan is a reporter at Cointelegraph, focusing on technology-related news. He has many years of experience writing for major financial media including The Motley Fool, Nasdaq.com and Seeking Alpha.