A court in China ruled that cryptocurrency investments are “not protected by law.” Yunnan authorities barred hydropower plants from supplying power to crypto miners. Lympo will start auctions of a series of sports star NFTs on Aug. 30. China’s eastern city of Suzhou completed a digital yuan trial on autonomous buses.
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The world of blockchain moves fast, and nowhere does it move faster than China. Here’s what you need to know about China’s block-world in the week of Aug. 18 to Aug. 24.
More crypto woes in China
- A high court from China’s northern Shandong province said in a statement that cryptocurrency investments are “not protected by law” after reviewing a recent case. In the case, the plaintiff sued three other people after losing access to RMB 70,000 ($10,805), which he invested in a crypto account. The account was shut down due to Chinese authorities banning payment services for crypto transactions in 2018. (Cointelegraph)
- In China’s southwestern Yunnan province, regulators ordered hydropower stations to stop supplying electricity to crypto miners, Chinese media IT’s Family reported. Power plants within the jurisdiction will need to ask mining factories and big-data factories near them to move before Aug. 24. If failed to comply, factories will face “forcible dismantlement,” and the power station will be delisted from the state grid, according to regulators’ notice. (Cointelegraph)
Sports stars NFTs
Lympo, a subsidiary of game developer and blockchain company Animoca, announced it will start auctioning a series of sports star-related NFTs on Binance NFT Marketplace and Opensea, beginning Aug. 30. Lympo’s parent company Animoca recently received funding from Blue Pool Capital, the manager of a portion of Jack Ma’s family fortune. (China Star Market, in Chinese)
Suzhou trials digital yuan payments on autonomous buses
The eastern Chinese city Suzhou recently completed a trial that allowed the public to pay for trips on autonomous buses with digital yuan, the first of its kind in the country, Chinese media report. The hardware of the payment device is developed by a fintech firm Chengfangyun, while Qcraft, an autonomous vehicle startup, developed the driverless bus. In the trial, residents in the Suzhou Gaotie New Town successfully paid fare with digital yuan. (Caixun, in Chinese).