Chinese tech firms explore web3 partnerships with blockchain

by Arthur · March 3, 2023

Chinese tech firms such as Tencent (TCEHY) and Huawei are exploring web3 partnerships with blockchain innovators such as Polygon (MATIC-USD).

This week’s The Crypto Mile Weekly Update dissects the current state of health of the cryptocurrency market.

In recent weeks, the crypto market has been driven by a wave of newfound enthusiasm for blockchain innovation and digital assets in China, as Beijing shows signs of softening its stance on this emerging sector.

Read more: Crypto prices rise due to China interest rate hike halt

The episode also takes a look at the recent disappearance of a cryptocurrency project that was once involved in all-party parliamentary groups at the UK’s House of Lords.

Then we check in on new web3 partnerships between Chinese tech firms and blockchain networks, such as Polygon.

Table of Contents

Weekly crypto market health check

According to data from Coingecko, the global cryptocurrency market capitalization rose at the beginning of the week to $1.14 billion, but by the end of the week had fallen in value to $1.08 billion.

On Friday, bitcoin (BTC-USD) sank to a two-week low after shares in crypto-friendly bank Silvergate Capital crashed by over 50% following its announcement to review books with its auditors.

The bank, which has delayed filing its annual report, said this week it was uncertain about its “ability to comply with the increased regulatory scrutiny of banking institutions that provide products and services to the digital asset industry”.

In response, bitcoin’s market capitalization has fallen by more than $20 billion in the past 24 hours, to now stand at $431.9 billion, according to Coingecko data. Interest in bitcoin futures was down 8.8% this morning, according to Coinglass.

Bitcoin has managed to manage above $22,000, now at $22,352, at the time of writing, down 6.7% in the last week.

Read more: What is conflux? The crypto linked to China’s blockchain ambitions

The world’s largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization has failed to reach its recent high of $25,000 on February 21.

The price of ethereum (ETH-USD) has fallen since February 16, now at $1565, down 5% in the past week.

Weekly UK crypto news

In UK crypto news, a web3 investment firm with links to two all-party parliamentary groups appears to have suddenly disappeared.

There is a story in the web3 space of rug-pull, where crypto protocols disappear and take investor funds with them, with zero accountability and zero legal recourse.

Read more: Crypto live prices

According to reports in the Guardian, Phoenix Community Capital, a cryptocurrency investment scheme once valued at £665 million, appears to have disappeared.

The Guardian article claims that the company’s website is offline and that the investment portfolios held on the platform have now become inaccessible to an estimated 8,000 investors.

Co-founder Luke Sullivan was a panelist at a conference entitled The Metaverse and Smart Cities hosted by House of Lords peers in June 2022.

According to reports, the firm’s assets have been sold to a new company which has told investors it has no obligation to them but will still try to give them some return.

Weekly web3 summary

Although China has blocked citizens from buying bitcoin and crypto, citizens are encouraged to spend money, and the increased economic activity is positively affecting a number of China-based web3 and blockchain projects.

There is a perceived softening towards crypto and web3 in Beijing and Hong Kong, with a China-based crypto firm, Conflux (CFX-USD), seeing gains of over 500% in the past week. The enterprise blockchain token has skyrocketed by 1300% since the beginning of 2023.

Conflux announced last week that it is partnering with China Telecom to build blockchain-based SIM cards for mobile phones.

Beijing has recently established a blockchain research department called the National Blockchain Technology Innovation Centre.

The center will reportedly focus on developing software and hardware for blockchain-based use cases that benefit the country’s economy.

Huawei Cloud has entered into partnerships with several blockchain companies with the launch of Huwei’s metaverse and Web3 Alliance project.

The project aims to encourage mass adoption of web3-based innovations in the East Asia region and beyond.

Polygon is one of the web3 companies that will work with Huawei Cloud.

However, the layer-two scaling solution that runs alongside the Ethereum blockchain has seen its price slide since the crash in Silvergate ( SI ) shares began amid a rush of selling throughout the US trading day on Thursday.

Polygon fell 3.5% in the last 24 hours, down to $1.17 per token.

In China, Huawei and Tencent are rapidly expanding their AI and 6G research and development arms in a bid to innovate faster than Western competitors.

At last week’s Huawei Cloud Asia-Pacific Partner Leadership Summit in Bali, the company announced it would roll out a 6G network by 2030, despite hiccups in the firm’s global 5G rollout.

Be sure to tune in to next week’s episode of The Crypto Mile where we discuss the latest AI developments coming out of China.