Taiwan competitors aim to capitalize on Bitcoin ban in China

December 29, 2013 Leave a comment

Taiwan competitors aim to capitalize on Bitcoin ban in China
Sunday, December 29, 2013
By Ted Chen , The China Post

TAIPEI, Taiwan — Following the announcement by the Chinese central bank that Bitcoin would not be permitted as legal tender, a Taiwanese company has stepped up efforts to capitalize on the vast mainland market’s potential electronic commerce revenues denominated in the fledgling digital currency.The People’s Bank of China stated that it does not recognize Bitcoin as a currency, and that no legal status as tender will be granted to the digital currency. Consequently, no financial institutions or payment processing services may conduct transactions denominated in Bitcoin, in addition to any trading and supplying of the digital currency. Insurance policies that cover Bitcoin as assets are also banned, according to reports.

In light of the digital currency’s fate in the mainland market, Wayi International Digital Entertainment (華義國際) stated its Wmall electronic commerce portal will fully support Bitcoin-denominated transactions beginning next year. According to the company, suppression of the digital currency in China will disperse shoppers toward Taiwan.

According to Wayi, the Bitcoin ban in China will be beneficial to the digital currency’s development internationally, as the ban will significantly curb speculative forces originating from the mainland, contributing to much of the wild volatility it has seen recently. A more stable Bitcoin will better ensure the interests of its users, said the company.

Wayi is also anticipating the multitudes of consumers holding Bitcoin in China, saying that they are expected to flock to its Wmall, based on proximity and the lack of language barrier in comparison to more international platforms. It is highly unlikely that shoppers holding the currency will not seek alternative outlets, remarked Wayi while hinting at an impending windfall of new activity from China-based Bitcoin-using consumers.

Filed under Macro Trends

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Kee Koon Boon (“KB”) is the co-founder and director of HERO Investment Management which provides specialized fund management and investment advisory services to the ARCHEA Asia HERO Innovators Fund (www.heroinnovator.com), the only Asian SMID-cap tech-focused fund in the industry. KB is an internationally featured investor rooted in the principles of value investing for over a decade as a fund manager and analyst in the Asian capital markets who started his career at a boutique hedge fund in Singapore where he was with the firm since 2002 and was also part of the core investment committee in significantly outperforming the index in the 10-year-plus-old flagship Asian fund. He was also the portfolio manager for Asia-Pacific equities at Korea’s largest mutual fund company. Prior to setting up the H.E.R.O. Innovators Fund, KB was the Chief Investment Officer & CEO of a Singapore Registered Fund Management Company (RFMC) where he is responsible for listed Asian equity investments. KB had taught accounting at the Singapore Management University (SMU) as a faculty member and also pioneered the 15-week course on Accounting Fraud in Asia as an official module at SMU. KB remains grateful and honored to be invited by Singapore’s financial regulator Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) to present to their top management team about implementing a world’s first fact-based forward-looking fraud detection framework to bring about benefits for the capital markets in Singapore and for the public and investment community. KB also served the community in sharing his insights in writing articles about value investing and corporate governance in the media that include Business Times, Straits Times, Jakarta Post, Manual of Ideas, Investopedia, TedXWallStreet. He had also presented in top investment, banking and finance conferences in America, Italy, Sydney, Cape Town, HK, China. He has trained CEOs, entrepreneurs, CFOs, management executives in business strategy & business model innovation in Singapore, HK and China.

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