https://www.scmp.com/rss/500445/feed Matt joined the Post in 2019 after covering technology trends in Shenzhen for more than three years. He previously covered business and technology for publications including The Arizona Republic, Phoenix Business Journal, and Reuters. Matt has a master's degree in business journalism and a bachelor's in economics. en https://assets.i-scmp.com/static/img/icons/scmp-meta-1200x630.png https://www.scmp.com Matt Haldane Matt Haldane In a call to action for greater investment to accelerate the development of blockchain infrastructure, industry group Web3 Harbour and accounting firm PwC Hong Kong released the “Hong Kong Web3 Blueprint” on Monday, capitalising on recent momentum in the city. Highlighting the “transparency, security, and user empowerment” of decentralisation, the blueprint seeks to leverage what it calls “Web3 superpowers” through the development of “five key enablers”: talent, market infrastructure, standards,... https://www.scmp.com/tech/blockchain/article/3315373/hong-kong-web3-group-issues-blueprint-accelerating-blockchain-development?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/tech/blockchain/article/3315373/hong-kong-web3-group-issues-blueprint-accelerating-blockchain-development?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 23 Jun 2025 00:00:14 +0000 Matt Haldane Matt Haldane For years, the story of artificial intelligence (AI) has been cast as a high-stakes contest between the US and China – a technological arms race with global consequences. But to De Kai, a pioneering machine learning scientist and advocate for AI ethics, this framing fundamentally misunderstands the technology. “I would prefer to think about it as the AI climate change challenge,” De Kai said in an interview with the Post at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, where he is a... https://www.scmp.com/tech/tech-trends/article/3313469/ai-scientist-de-kai-offers-new-vision-parenting-ai-avoid-our-own-demise?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/tech/tech-trends/article/3313469/ai-scientist-de-kai-offers-new-vision-parenting-ai-avoid-our-own-demise?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 08 Jun 2025 01:00:13 +0000 Matt Haldane Matt Haldane Peter Diamandis, the entrepreneur behind the XPrize Foundation, has long championed a future of technological promise, building a career on innovation competitions meant to solve grand challenges. But in a recent conversation in Hong Kong, a subtle shift in tone emerged as he addressed the current complexities of global scientific collaboration, clouded by geopolitical tensions and the looming threat of technological decoupling. “One of the things that is important to realise is that human... https://www.scmp.com/tech/tech-war/article/3312526/xprize-founder-peter-diamandis-projects-hope-ai-biotech-amid-us-china-tech-war?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/tech/tech-war/article/3312526/xprize-founder-peter-diamandis-projects-hope-ai-biotech-amid-us-china-tech-war?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 02 Jun 2025 01:00:18 +0000 Matt Haldane Matt Haldane OKX, one of the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchanges by trading volume, is preparing for explosive growth in blockchain adoption in the coming years, according to chief commercial officer Lennix Lai, although plans for the Hong Kong market remain on the back burner. In a report co-produced by OKX and Blockworks Research, the companies outline a bright future for the adoption of blockchain technology across myriad industries, from traditional finance to video gaming. Many of the use cases... https://www.scmp.com/tech/blockchain/article/3312328/okx-envisions-future-running-blockchain-crypto-exchange-shifts-focus-hong-kong?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/tech/blockchain/article/3312328/okx-envisions-future-running-blockchain-crypto-exchange-shifts-focus-hong-kong?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 29 May 2025 14:00:08 +0000 Matt Haldane Matt Haldane In the days after Hong Kong passed a bill to regulate stablecoins on May 21, people in the industry celebrated the government’s forward-looking stance on the cryptocurrency assets, but its stringent requirements – similar to how it regulated other virtual assets – could be a double-edged sword in the near term. “Regular independent audits and strict disclosure obligations further bolster confidence in the sector, although in the short run it may increase operational costs and limit market entry,... https://www.scmp.com/tech/blockchain/article/3312056/crypto-industry-optimistic-about-stablecoins-hong-kong-faces-high-compliance-costs?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/tech/blockchain/article/3312056/crypto-industry-optimistic-about-stablecoins-hong-kong-faces-high-compliance-costs?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 28 May 2025 04:00:07 +0000 Matt Haldane,Zhou Xin Matt Haldane,Zhou Xin Hours after US President Donald Trump hosted a dinner with holders of his cryptocurrency token $TRUMP, the White House has not released a complete list of attendees, which reportedly included major industry players from overseas. But Justin Sun, the top holder of $TRUMP and founder of the blockchain company Tron, has not been shy about his participation. “The gala dinner we had today I think sends a very strong signal,” Sun told the South China Morning Post in a video interview after the dinner.... https://www.scmp.com/tech/blockchain/article/3311609/after-trump-crypto-dinner-justin-sun-celebrates-strong-signal-industry?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/tech/blockchain/article/3311609/after-trump-crypto-dinner-justin-sun-celebrates-strong-signal-industry?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 23 May 2025 13:00:32 +0000 Matt Haldane Matt Haldane The Hong Kong Web3 Festival opened on Monday against a backdrop of plunging global markets and a sharp downturn in cryptocurrency prices, while local officials and industry leaders expressed optimism about the industry’s future given the recent policy pivot in the US. The event, hosted by crypto exchange operator HashKey Group and blockchain research organisation Wanxiang Blockchain Labs, comes as newly imposed US tariffs have roiled stock and crypto markets. Bitcoin, the industry bellwether,... https://www.scmp.com/tech/blockchain/article/3305542/hong-kong-remains-upbeat-web3-amid-crypto-market-turmoil-us-tariffs?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/tech/blockchain/article/3305542/hong-kong-remains-upbeat-web3-amid-crypto-market-turmoil-us-tariffs?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 07 Apr 2025 12:30:16 +0000 Matt Haldane Matt Haldane A decade after launching the Ethereum blockchain, co-founder Gavin Wood is keeping his vision for a Web3 beyond cryptocurrency and a truly decentralised internet alive through Polkadot. At the Polkadot Jam Tour, during which Wood met Polkadot blockchain developers around the world and spoke of his vision for updates to the protocol, the Web3 architect held a presentation in Hong Kong just ahead of Consensus, the crypto conference that organiser CoinDesk held in the city for the first time this... https://www.scmp.com/tech/blockchain/article/3301576/ethereum-co-founder-gavin-wood-says-web3-track-finance-firms-move?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/tech/blockchain/article/3301576/ethereum-co-founder-gavin-wood-says-web3-track-finance-firms-move?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 09 Mar 2025 04:30:08 +0000 Matt Haldane Matt Haldane The growing strength of stablecoins as a bridge between Web3 and traditional finance could give an edge to markets like Hong Kong, which has its currency pegged to the US dollar (USD), but the Asian financial hub still faces challenges in attracting major blockchain businesses. The Hong Kong dollar’s peg to the US currency is seen as a unique advantage for the city, as the majority of stablecoin trading activity happens through cryptocurrencies backed by the US dollar. This can help smooth out... https://www.scmp.com/tech/blockchain/article/3301577/stablecoins-grow-hong-kongs-us-dollar-peg-seen-advantage-despite-web3-challenges?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/tech/blockchain/article/3301577/stablecoins-grow-hong-kongs-us-dollar-peg-seen-advantage-despite-web3-challenges?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 09 Mar 2025 01:00:15 +0000 Xinmei Shen,Matt Haldane Xinmei Shen,Matt Haldane Hong Kong is gearing up to compete for “global liquidity” in the virtual asset industry, the city’s regulators said on Wednesday at Consensus, one of the world’s biggest cryptocurrency conferences, as the Asian financial centre sees some success attracting international business. “We have to think how are we going to provide a regulatory framework for growth which allows for responsible innovation … and tapping into global liquidity,” SFC Chief Executive Julia Leung said during a panel... https://www.scmp.com/tech/blockchain/article/3299322/consensus-hong-kong-regulators-seek-global-liquidity-crypto-roll-out-road-map?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/tech/blockchain/article/3299322/consensus-hong-kong-regulators-seek-global-liquidity-crypto-roll-out-road-map?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 19 Feb 2025 11:00:17 +0000 Matt Haldane Matt Haldane The arrival of one of the biggest Web3 industry events in Hong Kong is testing the city’s resolve in becoming a virtual asset hub, while the organisers look to expand their footprint in Asia. Consensus Hong Kong, a three-day cryptocurrency- and blockchain-focused event that kicks off on Tuesday, is leaning heavily into the city’s reputation as a traditional financial hub. “Naturally, we know our strength, and that is capital markets,” said King Leung, global head of financial services, fintech... https://www.scmp.com/tech/blockchain/article/3298876/consensus-building-crypto-conference-arrives-hong-kong-test-city-and-coindesk?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/tech/blockchain/article/3298876/consensus-building-crypto-conference-arrives-hong-kong-test-city-and-coindesk?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 16 Feb 2025 23:00:12 +0000 Matt Haldane,Holly Chik Matt Haldane,Holly Chik Days after allegations of a cyberattack against the hot Chinese artificial intelligence (AI) start-up DeepSeek, the company continues to face service issues, while the broader industry and national governments debate whether to shun or embrace the company’s cost-effective technology. Some users on X, formerly Twitter, continued to report issues in accessing DeepSeek’s self-hosted AI service on Friday, hours after the company said it had rolled out a fix for a massive distributed denial of... https://www.scmp.com/tech/tech-war/article/3296975/deepseek-outage-adds-growing-pains-amid-political-scrutiny-some-see-opportunity?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/tech/tech-war/article/3296975/deepseek-outage-adds-growing-pains-amid-political-scrutiny-some-see-opportunity?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 31 Jan 2025 13:00:13 +0000 Matt Haldane Matt Haldane Since Chinese artificial intelligence (AI) start-up DeepSeek rattled Silicon Valley and Wall Street with its cost-effective models, the company has been accused of data theft through a practice that is common across the industry. OpenAI said it has evidence that DeepSeek used “distillation” of its GPT models to train the open-source V3 and R1 models at a fraction of the cost of what Western tech giants are spending on their own models, the Financial Times reported on Wednesday. OpenAI and... https://www.scmp.com/tech/big-tech/article/3296827/deepseeks-ai-distillation-theft-openai-seeks-answers-over-chinas-breakthrough?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/tech/big-tech/article/3296827/deepseeks-ai-distillation-theft-openai-seeks-answers-over-chinas-breakthrough?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 30 Jan 2025 12:00:11 +0000 Matt Haldane,Xinmei Shen Matt Haldane,Xinmei Shen In August 2012, a young Chinese entrepreneur posted to the online forum BitcoinTalk that he was selling shares in a company that would make hardware with chips dedicated to mining bitcoin and pay out dividends based on its earnings. Jiang Xinyu, known as Friedcat on the forum, was one of the first people in the world to promote such an idea through his company ASICMiner, which used the acronym for application-specific integrated circuits. Eventually, there were accusations of fraud when people... https://www.scmp.com/tech/blockchain/article/3288731/bitcoin-was-once-dominated-china-trump-bump-shifting-momentum-us?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/tech/blockchain/article/3288731/bitcoin-was-once-dominated-china-trump-bump-shifting-momentum-us?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 30 Nov 2024 02:00:14 +0000 Matt Haldane Matt Haldane At SmartCon 2024, one of the major Web3 conferences the Hong Kong government courted to the city this year, companies made their pitch for integrating blockchain into the global financial plumbing amid rising geopolitical risks. Event organiser Chainlink, a blockchain infrastructure firm, said 2,000 people attended the two-day conference that kicked off at Kerry Hotel in Hung Hom on Wednesday. SmartCon is larger this year than in the past, according to the company. Joseph Chan Ho-lim, under... https://www.scmp.com/tech/blockchain/article/3284683/chainlink-makes-case-blockchain-driven-finance-its-first-hong-kong-event?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/tech/blockchain/article/3284683/chainlink-makes-case-blockchain-driven-finance-its-first-hong-kong-event?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 01 Nov 2024 00:00:18 +0000 Matt Haldane Matt Haldane Jeremy Allaire, CEO of the USDC stablecoin issuer Circle, said Hong Kong is becoming an increasingly important market for settlements as stablecoins become a critical part of that infrastructure. “In emerging and developing markets … there are importers who are importing out of Asia, and a lot of the trade flow is settled through Hong Kong,” Allaire said in an interview with the Post on the second day of Hong Kong FinTech Week 2024 on Tuesday. “We’re seeing this demand on both sides … The firms... https://www.scmp.com/tech/blockchain/article/3284350/circle-ceo-envisions-stablecoins-playing-greater-role-hong-kong-trade-settlements?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/tech/blockchain/article/3284350/circle-ceo-envisions-stablecoins-playing-greater-role-hong-kong-trade-settlements?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 29 Oct 2024 23:00:07 +0000 Matt Haldane Matt Haldane Tokenisation could drive real-time cross-border payments, Ant Group CEO Eric Jing Xiandong told an audience at Hong Kong FinTech Week on Monday, a topic he elaborated on while extolling the progress that Alipay has made in the city. “With tokenised deposits, that’s a really, really, really huge value for cross-border payments,” Jing said in a panel discussion with Howard Lee, deputy chief executive of the Hong Kong Monetary Authority. “If we can really solve … cross-bank, cross-currency... https://www.scmp.com/tech/blockchain/article/3284194/ant-ceo-eric-jing-touts-tokenisation-benefits-cross-border-transactions-fintech-week?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/tech/blockchain/article/3284194/ant-ceo-eric-jing-touts-tokenisation-benefits-cross-border-transactions-fintech-week?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 28 Oct 2024 12:00:07 +0000 Global Impact is a weekly curated newsletter featuring a news topic originating in China with a significant macro impact for our newsreaders around the world. Sign up now! China may “never break through” US sanctions on advanced semiconductor production. This sobering message from one Beijing-based think tank analyst to the Post in a recent interview is a reminder of the huge hurdles that remain on China’s path towards technological self-sufficiency. Yet, recent advances in Chinese chipmaking... https://www.scmp.com/economy/article/3284094/us-china-tech-takes-turn-tsmc-chips-found-huaweis-ai-processors?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/economy/article/3284094/us-china-tech-takes-turn-tsmc-chips-found-huaweis-ai-processors?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 28 Oct 2024 06:00:11 +0000 Matt Haldane Matt Haldane Alibaba Group Holding on Monday launched its 2025 annual start-up pitch competition, where a slate of speakers including government officials had a pitch of their own: set up shop in Hong Kong if you want to sell to Asia. At the Jumpstarter Ignition Gala, organised by Alibaba Entrepreneurs Fund (AEF) and HSBC, officials and industry insiders made their case for Hong Kong’s business environment as the city tries to court more talent in the face of US-China geopolitical tensions. Artificial... https://www.scmp.com/tech/big-tech/article/3283266/alibaba-start-competition-hong-kong-officials-tout-city-ideal-launch-pad?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/tech/big-tech/article/3283266/alibaba-start-competition-hong-kong-officials-tout-city-ideal-launch-pad?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 21 Oct 2024 12:00:12 +0000 Matt Haldane Matt Haldane Chinese artificial intelligence (AI) company SenseTime celebrated its 10th anniversary on Thursday at its first annual Global AI Summit since the death of co-founder Tang Xiao’ou, with CEO Xu Li highlighting the firm’s chip-agnostic approach as an advantage in the coming years amid an influx of new industry challengers. “We actually adapt our AI algorithms to more than 50 chipsets, so that’s why our [infrastructure] has a strong [operating system] layer, which is transparent to our users,” Xu... https://www.scmp.com/tech/big-tech/article/3282795/sensetime-10-years-still-has-advantages-chinese-ai-challenges-mount-ceo-says?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/tech/big-tech/article/3282795/sensetime-10-years-still-has-advantages-chinese-ai-challenges-mount-ceo-says?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 17 Oct 2024 13:00:12 +0000 Matt Haldane Matt Haldane A week before Meta Platforms unveiled a new live translation feature for its latest Ray-Ban smart glasses, I was having some Sichuan theatre translated live in front of my eyes courtesy of a pair of smart glasses made in Shenzhen. Unlike the Ray-Ban frames, the Even Realities G1 glasses use micro-LED projectors and a special layer embedded in the lenses to convey information rather than speakers. It is something I have long wanted in a pair of sleek glasses that I would feel comfortable wearing... https://www.scmp.com/tech/tech-trends/article/3280965/chinese-smart-glasses-maker-even-realities-puts-displays-first-alternative-vision-meta?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/tech/tech-trends/article/3280965/chinese-smart-glasses-maker-even-realities-puts-displays-first-alternative-vision-meta?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 04 Oct 2024 00:00:19 +0000 Matt Haldane Matt Haldane Artificial intelligence is expected to outshine Web3 at this year’s FinTech Week, which kicks off at the end of the month, as organisers InvestHK and Finoverse tease a slate of mainland Chinese exhibitors looking to ride the generative AI wave. “[There is] a huge increase in mainland Chinese companies’ representation at this year’s event … [and a] big, big focus on AI and advanced technologies,” said Anthony Sar, founder and CEO of Finoverse. “AI, especially driven a lot by China tech, is one of... https://www.scmp.com/tech/blockchain/article/3280680/ai-replaces-web3-hot-key-word-hong-kongs-fintech-week?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/tech/blockchain/article/3280680/ai-replaces-web3-hot-key-word-hong-kongs-fintech-week?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 02 Oct 2024 00:00:22 +0000 Matt Haldane Matt Haldane Global Impact is a weekly curated newsletter featuring a news topic originating in China with a significant macro impact for our newsreaders around the world. Sign up now! Ahead of the August 20 global release of the video game Black Myth: Wukong, anticipation caused so much excitement in China that sales of Sony’s PlayStation 5 skyrocketed over the preceding seven days, leading to long wait times at bricks-and-mortar shops. The Wukong mania that swept the nation shows how far the domestic video... https://www.scmp.com/economy/china-economy/article/3278643/chinas-video-game-achievement-may-be-anomaly-years-come-despite-black-myth-wukong?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/economy/china-economy/article/3278643/chinas-video-game-achievement-may-be-anomaly-years-come-despite-black-myth-wukong?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 16 Sep 2024 06:00:14 +0000 Matt Haldane Matt Haldane Global Switch, a data centre operator controlled by China’s state-backed Jiangsu Sha Steel Group, said demand from mainland artificial intelligence firms in Hong Kong is driving a need for new direct-to-chip cooling solutions it has started providing in the city. “We’ve seen a huge increase in demand for higher and higher density racks,” said Ben Ryder, solutions engineering director at Global Switch. “In the last two years, we’ve seen requirements for 20 kilowatts [per rack] initially, 40 to... https://www.scmp.com/tech/tech-trends/article/3278538/chinese-ai-and-gpu-demand-heats-hong-kong-data-centre-turns-liquid-cooling?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/tech/tech-trends/article/3278538/chinese-ai-and-gpu-demand-heats-hong-kong-data-centre-turns-liquid-cooling?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 16 Sep 2024 00:00:19 +0000 Matt Haldane Matt Haldane Lazada’s key advantage in Southeast Asia amid rising competition from new entrants such as PDD Holdings’ Temu and ByteDance’s TikTok lies in technology such as artificial intelligence (AI) and logistics, Lazada Thailand CEO Varitha Kiatpinyochai said on Friday. “With Lazada being part of the Alibaba Group, we can really leverage the best-in-class technology and ecosystem of the group,” Kiatpinyochai, who took over Lazada Thailand this year, said in an interview on the sidelines of the Hong... https://www.scmp.com/tech/big-tech/article/3278469/lazadas-youngest-executive-sees-ai-logistics-biggest-strengths-against-rivals-temu?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/tech/big-tech/article/3278469/lazadas-youngest-executive-sees-ai-logistics-biggest-strengths-against-rivals-temu?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 14 Sep 2024 01:00:16 +0000 Matt Haldane Matt Haldane Hong Kong-based virtual bank Mox has launched a cryptocurrency exchange-traded fund (ETF) service for customers, as it ramps up service offerings months after launching its Mox Invest platform amid Hong Kong’s push to transform the city into a virtual asset hub. The Standard Chartered subsidiary started the service on Monday, becoming the first virtual bank to offer trading directly on its platform of the spot bitcoin and ether ETFs that launched in Hong Kong earlier this year, as the company... https://www.scmp.com/tech/tech-trends/article/3273430/hong-kong-virtual-bank-mox-starts-bitcoin-ether-etf-trading-plans-direct-crypto-trading?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/tech/tech-trends/article/3273430/hong-kong-virtual-bank-mox-starts-bitcoin-ether-etf-trading-plans-direct-crypto-trading?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 07 Aug 2024 03:00:11 +0000 Matt Haldane Matt Haldane An entrepreneur once known for his work on mini displays for the US military is making a late-career push to take on Meta Platforms and Ray-Ban from Hong Kong with smart glasses that incorporate artificial intelligence (AI). The Solos AirGo V will immediately evoke a sense of deja vu for industry watchers more familiar with the frames that Ray-Ban collaborated on with the owner of Facebook. But John Fan Chin-chiang believes that he has an edge with his Hong Kong-based company, Solos Technology,... https://www.scmp.com/tech/tech-trends/article/3271125/military-displays-ai-smart-glasses-hong-kong-raised-entrepreneur-sets-sights-future?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/tech/tech-trends/article/3271125/military-displays-ai-smart-glasses-hong-kong-raised-entrepreneur-sets-sights-future?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 20 Jul 2024 02:00:19 +0000 Global Impact is a weekly curated newsletter featuring a news topic originating in China with a significant macro impact for our newsreaders around the world. Sign up now! If ever there was doubt about just how much artificial intelligence (AI) has captured the imagination of investors and the public at large, simply look at the rock-star treatment of Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang at Computex in Taipei at the start of June. There he unveiled plans for an annual release cycle of chips that would power... https://www.scmp.com/economy/global-economy/article/3266096/china-risks-falling-behind-ai-race-can-cutthroat-price-war-balance-scales?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/economy/global-economy/article/3266096/china-risks-falling-behind-ai-race-can-cutthroat-price-war-balance-scales?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 11 Jun 2024 06:00:12 +0000 Matt Haldane,Ben Jiang Matt Haldane,Ben Jiang The Hong Kong Securities and Futures Commission has granted initial approval to 11 cryptocurrency exchanges to continue operating in the city, in the first step towards granting the first virtual asset trading platform (VATP) licences since 2022. Crypto.com, which was founded in Hong Kong and now operates out of Singapore, is the largest of the exchanges “deemed to be licensed”. The city currently has just two exchanges approved to serve retail customers, with HashKey being the last to get a... https://www.scmp.com/tech/blockchain/article/3265219/11-crypto-exchanges-hong-kong-deemed-be-licensed-paving-way-first-approvals-2022?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/tech/blockchain/article/3265219/11-crypto-exchanges-hong-kong-deemed-be-licensed-paving-way-first-approvals-2022?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 03 Jun 2024 11:38:47 +0000 Matt Haldane Matt Haldane Cryptocurrency investor Brock Pierce, who co-founded the stablecoin Tether in Hong Kong a decade ago, has teased that he is looking at returning to work in the city for a third time as the government works to entice the crypto industry back. Pierce, who is also chairman of the Bitcoin Foundation, was coy about what his new venture would be doing or whether Hong Kong would be its permanent base of operations. He said the city was part of a “continued conversation”. “Big things may come from... https://www.scmp.com/tech/blockchain/article/3264679/tether-co-founder-brock-pierce-teases-possible-return-hong-kong-says-china-will-open?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/tech/blockchain/article/3264679/tether-co-founder-brock-pierce-teases-possible-return-hong-kong-says-china-will-open?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 02 Jun 2024 02:00:11 +0000 The artificial intelligence (AI) industry is “going through a kind of a bubble right now” and could soon hit a ceiling when it comes to productivity gains, according to Nobel laureate and former chief economist at the World Bank Paul Romer. “The growth of digital technology hasn’t in the past ushered us into this new era of much more rapid productivity growth, and I doubt that it’s going to do it now,” Romer told the South China Morning Post on the sidelines of the UBS Asian Investment... https://www.scmp.com/tech/policy/article/3264731/nobel-laureate-paul-romer-sees-diminishing-returns-ai-fdi-still-killer-app-emerging-economies?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/tech/policy/article/3264731/nobel-laureate-paul-romer-sees-diminishing-returns-ai-fdi-still-killer-app-emerging-economies?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 31 May 2024 02:00:16 +0000 Sneha Revanur is a 19-year-old incoming junior at Stanford University, but she is already making waves in Washington as an activist on the ethical use of artificial intelligence (AI). Her organisation Encode Justice has put out a new list of goals ahead of this week’s AI Seoul Summit. Encode Justice last week released its AI 2030 plan, a list of five broad calls to action and 22 specific goals that the students behind the group hope to see addressed in concrete ways by 2030. The goals include... https://www.scmp.com/tech/policy/article/3263482/student-ai-activists-encode-justice-release-22-goals-2030-ahead-global-summit-seoul?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/tech/policy/article/3263482/student-ai-activists-encode-justice-release-22-goals-2030-ahead-global-summit-seoul?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 21 May 2024 13:00:33 +0000 Matt Haldane Matt Haldane Last week, the Hong Kong Securities and Futures Commission (SFC) warned of a scam using deepfakes of Elon Musk touting a cryptocurrency trading platform called “Quantum AI”. The scam is old, but it highlights an alarming rise in the use of artificial intelligence (AI) to commit fraud – and Asia has proven particularly susceptible. In its public warning on May 8, the SFC said that Quantum AI makes claims of being able to earn “too-good-to-be-true” returns and the regulator made a request to the... https://www.scmp.com/tech/tech-trends/article/3262919/elon-musk-deepfake-crypto-scam-highlights-risks-hong-kong-ai-related-fraud-rises?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/tech/tech-trends/article/3262919/elon-musk-deepfake-crypto-scam-highlights-risks-hong-kong-ai-related-fraud-rises?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 16 May 2024 23:00:10 +0000 Xinmei Shen,Matt Haldane Xinmei Shen,Matt Haldane The Bitcoin Asia conference in Hong Kong this year drew a strong crowd from mainland China, according to organisers, but it is a different, smaller mix of people than the Bitcoin Conference is used to seeing in the US. The conference, held on Thursday and Friday, had about 5,500 attendees confirmed ahead of the show, not accounting for door registrations, said David Bailey, co-founder and CEO of BTC Inc, which runs the Bitcoin Conference and owns Bitcoin Magazine. Without having data at hand,... https://www.scmp.com/tech/blockchain/article/3262235/bitcoin-asia-hong-kong-attracts-major-interest-mainland-attendees-look-top-market-where-crypto?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/tech/blockchain/article/3262235/bitcoin-asia-hong-kong-attracts-major-interest-mainland-attendees-look-top-market-where-crypto?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 11 May 2024 23:00:20 +0000 Matt Haldane Matt Haldane Blockchain technologies emerged as an important trend at an Asia fintech conference this week, along with artificial intelligence (AI). Out of the 139 talks and panels at the first Money20/20 in Bangkok – and the first in Asia since a show in Singapore in 2019 – 22 were directly related to blockchain, digital assets and central bank digital currencies (CBDCs), according to the event organisers. AI was still the most talked about tech topic, with 25 sessions in the fintech category directly... https://www.scmp.com/tech/blockchain/article/3260528/blockchain-still-hot-topic-money20/20-asia-along-ai-even-interest-wanes-other-markets?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/tech/blockchain/article/3260528/blockchain-still-hot-topic-money20/20-asia-along-ai-even-interest-wanes-other-markets?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 28 Apr 2024 00:00:15 +0000 Charles Li Xiaojia, former head of Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing, pitched his new venture that finances small businesses and takes a cut of daily revenue at the Money20/20 Asia conference in Bangkok, as the company pushes the model outside China. Micro Connect could be ready to launch the model in Southeast Asia as early as the fourth quarter, Li said on the sidelines of the three-day conference on Wednesday. “I would say at the earliest, our serious push to Southeast Asia is going to be in... https://www.scmp.com/tech/tech-trends/article/3260224/charles-lis-micro-connect-pushes-unique-financing-model-southeast-asia?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/tech/tech-trends/article/3260224/charles-lis-micro-connect-pushes-unique-financing-model-southeast-asia?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 24 Apr 2024 13:30:18 +0000 Matt Haldane Matt Haldane HashKey Group, operator of one of only two licensed cryptocurrency exchanges in Hong Kong, is teaming up with the operator of the blockchain created by Telegram Messenger to give users an on- and off-ramp by exchanging their so-called Toncoins for cash. The agreement applies to users in the Asia-Pacific region and will see the two organizations work on “new ecosystem projects by providing mentorship, networking opportunities, and other incubation activities”, TON Foundation said in an... https://www.scmp.com/tech/blockchain/article/3258804/telegrams-blockchain-teams-hashkey-asia-ramp-services-exchange-toncoin-cryptocurrency-cash?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/tech/blockchain/article/3258804/telegrams-blockchain-teams-hashkey-asia-ramp-services-exchange-toncoin-cryptocurrency-cash?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 12 Apr 2024 13:00:37 +0000 Xinmei Shen,Matt Haldane Xinmei Shen,Matt Haldane Attendance is down, but enthusiasm is up at Hong Kong’s Web3 Festival this year amid sky-high bitcoin prices that have helped draw in an even greater proportion of overseas participants compared with last year. The vast majority of participants – an estimated 80 per cent – came from outside Hong Kong, said Deputy Financial Secretary Michael Wong Wai-lun on Saturday in his opening remarks. The 2024 conference has seen more exhibitors from Europe and the US specifically, according to Lu Weiding,... https://www.scmp.com/tech/blockchain/article/3258108/web3-festival-attracts-smaller-crowd-greater-enthusiasm-hong-kong-after-record-bitcoin-price?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/tech/blockchain/article/3258108/web3-festival-attracts-smaller-crowd-greater-enthusiasm-hong-kong-after-record-bitcoin-price?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 07 Apr 2024 02:01:08 +0000 Matt Haldane,Xinmei Shen Matt Haldane,Xinmei Shen The CEO of Tether, the world’s largest stablecoin, is developing a new peer-to-peer technology that he hopes will further wrest financial control from big institutions, and the cryptocurrency giant he heads is pouring millions of dollars into it. Tether intends to invest tens of millions of dollars into a new peer-to-peer chat and video conferencing app called Keet to make it “one of three most known communication applications in the world”, Paolo Ardoino, CEO of Tether and co-founder of Keet... https://www.scmp.com/tech/blockchain/article/3257878/stablecoin-giant-tether-backing-unstoppable-chat-app-crypto-take-big-tech?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/tech/blockchain/article/3257878/stablecoin-giant-tether-backing-unstoppable-chat-app-crypto-take-big-tech?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 04 Apr 2024 23:00:20 +0000 Matt Haldane Matt Haldane The Binance-affiliated cryptocurrency exchange HKVAEX is shutting down its operations in Hong Kong after withdrawing its application for a licence in the city, ending a bid that lasted just three months. In the company’s official group chat on the messaging platform Telegram, HKVAEX head of operations Walton Chan announced the closure and said users should withdraw their assets by April 30. The website will shut down on May 1, the company said its official announcement, and trading services will... https://www.scmp.com/tech/blockchain/article/3257595/binance-hong-kong-affiliate-hkvaex-shuts-down-operations-after-withdrawing-crypto-licence?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/tech/blockchain/article/3257595/binance-hong-kong-affiliate-hkvaex-shuts-down-operations-after-withdrawing-crypto-licence?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 02 Apr 2024 11:00:16 +0000 A huge spike in online piracy of Netflix’s 3 Body Problem on the day of its release in China, where the streaming service and its original shows are not officially available, reflects an intense interest in the country to see how the US streamer is handling the best known piece of Chinese science fiction globally, similar to a piracy surge after the release of Disney’s live-action Mulan in 2020. The number of downloads of BitTorrent files, a type of peer-to-peer file sharing, associated with the... https://www.scmp.com/tech/tech-trends/article/3256602/3-body-problem-piracy-spikes-china-reflecting-intense-interest-hollywood-films-struggle?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/tech/tech-trends/article/3256602/3-body-problem-piracy-spikes-china-reflecting-intense-interest-hollywood-films-struggle?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 25 Mar 2024 07:30:22 +0000 Global Impact is a weekly curated newsletter featuring a news topic originating in China with a significant macro impact for our newsreaders around the world. Sign up now! Here we go again. Just as soon as US-based OpenAI’s Sora arrived on the scene, a new crisis of confidence struck China’s artificial intelligence (AI) community, which saw the kind of soul-searching in C-suites and among academics reminiscent of the release of ChatGPT. But this time, instead of a quirky chatbot, Sora turns text... https://www.scmp.com/economy/global-economy/article/3256557/global-impact-cut-high-end-chips-how-much-us-tech-war-hurting-chinas-ai-ambitions-sora-highlights?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/economy/global-economy/article/3256557/global-impact-cut-high-end-chips-how-much-us-tech-war-hurting-chinas-ai-ambitions-sora-highlights?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 25 Mar 2024 06:00:28 +0000 Matt Haldane Matt Haldane Animoca Brands is looking to enter the ground floor of Web3 development in Saudi Arabia after recently signing a memorandum of understanding with the country’s primary scientific research centre, said company co-founder and chairman Yat Siu in an interview. The Hong Kong-based blockchain gaming unicorn recently expanded its cooperation in Saudi Arabia with a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with King Abdulaziz City for Science and Technology (KACST), which it signed during the Leap conference... https://www.scmp.com/tech/blockchain/article/3256371/hong-kongs-animoca-brands-gets-saudi-arabias-web3-ground-floor-early-investment-partnerships?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/tech/blockchain/article/3256371/hong-kongs-animoca-brands-gets-saudi-arabias-web3-ground-floor-early-investment-partnerships?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 23 Mar 2024 00:00:23 +0000 Matt Haldane Matt Haldane Hong Kong’s de facto central bank has announced the launch of a stablecoin “sandbox”, allowing companies to trial cryptocurrency tokens pegged to fiat currency in the city, the Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) announced on Tuesday. The launch fulfils a promise the HKMA made in December with the release of its stablecoin consultation paper, which outlined the rules for issuing and selling such tokens to retail investors. It also comes quickly on the heels of the launch of its central bank... https://www.scmp.com/tech/policy/article/3255129/stablecoin-sandbox-launches-hong-kong-companies-make-plans-cryptocurrencies-pegged-local-currency?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/tech/policy/article/3255129/stablecoin-sandbox-launches-hong-kong-companies-make-plans-cryptocurrencies-pegged-local-currency?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 13 Mar 2024 00:00:20 +0000 This week’s third annual Leap technology conference in Riyadh, which ran from Monday through Thursday, was seen by Hong Kong start-ups and investors as an opportunity to make inroads in Saudi Arabia as it invests heavily to take on the United Arab Emirates (UAE) as the dominant regional market. The government-backed conference has been able to attract attention from companies large and small because Saudi Arabia is seen as the next big growth market in the region compared with the more mature... https://www.scmp.com/tech/tech-trends/article/3254762/leap-2024-hong-kong-start-ups-and-investors-lay-groundwork-tap-future-saudi-arabia-growth?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/tech/tech-trends/article/3254762/leap-2024-hong-kong-start-ups-and-investors-lay-groundwork-tap-future-saudi-arabia-growth?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 09 Mar 2024 00:30:10 +0000 Hong Kong Science and Technology Parks (HKSTP) and Cyberport each signed memorandums of understanding with Saudi Arabia’s King Abdulaziz City for Science and Technology in Riyadh on Monday, a year after Chief Executive John Lee Ka-chiu attended the Leap technology conference to foster closer ties between the two markets. The third annual Leap event is the first to feature a Hong Kong pavilion, where HKSTP and Cyberport had eight and seven companies exhibiting, respectively. Biotech and other... https://www.scmp.com/tech/policy/article/3254205/hong-kong-start-hubs-expand-citys-collaboration-saudi-arabia-forge-closer-ties-year-after-john-lee?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/tech/policy/article/3254205/hong-kong-start-hubs-expand-citys-collaboration-saudi-arabia-forge-closer-ties-year-after-john-lee?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 05 Mar 2024 09:00:16 +0000 Matt Haldane Matt Haldane A last-minute race to get in applications for virtual asset trading platform (VATP) licences ahead of the February 29 deadline this week saw the number rise to 24 by Friday, according to the latest tally on the Securities and Futures Commission (SFC) website, attracting far less interest than a similar scheme in Singapore a few years ago. At least five crypto firms submitted their applications in the last 10 days to meet the critical deadline that would determine whether they could continue to... https://www.scmp.com/tech/policy/article/3253817/hong-kongs-crypto-licensing-scheme-attracts-less-interest-singapore-24-applicants-day-after-deadline?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/tech/policy/article/3253817/hong-kongs-crypto-licensing-scheme-attracts-less-interest-singapore-24-applicants-day-after-deadline?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 01 Mar 2024 10:00:28 +0000 Hong Kong officials have touted the city’s continued strength as a bridge to China and ability to adapt to the artificial intelligence (AI) era to a room full of tech executives and entrepreneurs. At the Economist Impact’s first “Technology for Change Asia” conference in Hong Kong on Tuesday, Secretary for Innovation, Technology and Industry Sun Dong highlighted the importance of AI and data science for Hong Kong as one of China’s key strategic industries. However, Sun also noted the challenges... https://www.scmp.com/tech/policy/article/3253403/hong-kong-officials-tout-citys-ai-credentials-and-mainland-connector-role-woo-executives-tech-event?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/tech/policy/article/3253403/hong-kong-officials-tout-citys-ai-credentials-and-mainland-connector-role-woo-executives-tech-event?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 27 Feb 2024 12:30:16 +0000 Singapore-based smart lenses start-up Brilliant Labs has become the latest company to introduce a pair of smart glasses, as a slew of tech companies, including several in China, try to make wearing glasses “cool”. The company’s new Frame smart glasses, announced on Friday, are imbued with a custom artificial intelligence (AI)-powered assistant called Noa, which corrals many large language models (LLMs) to find one that is the best fit for a given query. By putting this tech into slim frames that... https://www.scmp.com/tech/tech-trends/article/3251424/generative-ai-could-be-smart-glasses-killer-app-and-hong-kong-founded-brilliant-labs-betting-big?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/tech/tech-trends/article/3251424/generative-ai-could-be-smart-glasses-killer-app-and-hong-kong-founded-brilliant-labs-betting-big?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 10 Feb 2024 23:00:21 +0000 Matt Haldane Matt Haldane Hong Kong’s de facto central bank has outlined its plans for making the city’s banking institutions among the first to fall in line with international standards for reserve requirements for cryptoassets first proposed in December 2022. The Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) issued a consultation paper on Monday explaining how the banking regulator plans to implement standards established more than a year ago by the international Basel Committee on Banking Supervision (BCBS) for governing banks’... https://www.scmp.com/tech/policy/article/3251420/hong-kong-among-first-propose-crypto-reserve-requirements-banks-aligned-new-international-standards?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/tech/policy/article/3251420/hong-kong-among-first-propose-crypto-reserve-requirements-banks-aligned-new-international-standards?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 08 Feb 2024 10:30:15 +0000