Hello, welcome to RelayNode China! China’s blockchain ecosystem is growing rapidly. We are aiming to share what local people are discussing and curious about and provide a weekly curated list of interesting content and upcoming (virtual) events. During this special period of time, please stay safe, healthy and informed :)
Previously we talked about China speeding up its new infrastructure plan. Tencent recently says it will invest ~$70 billion in the next 5 years for the further layout of new infrastructure, which include cloud computing, AI, blockchain, servers, large data centers, supercomputing centers, IoT operating systems, 5G networks, audio and video communications, network security, quantum computing, etc.
The Chinese internet giant has been investing in the new infrastructure layouts for years. For cloud computing, the total number of network servers exceeded 1 million and the peak bandwidth exceeded 100 T; it has more than 6500 global AI patents and has filed the most blockchain patents last year.
Tencent has brought together the country’s largest internet community with a full-line of messaging, gaming and financial products - QQ, WeChat, QQ Games. Wechat has an average of 1.17 billion monthly active users in Q1 2020, according to data from Business of Apps.
Recently, Tencent launched a blockchain accelerator, aiming to “realize all-round acceleration from strategic planning to application landing, jointly promote independent innovation of blockchain technology, help technology application landing industry scenarios, and jointly build an industrial prosperity ecology.” Development areas of interest include smart contract security, trusted identity and computing solutions, multi-party governance mechanisms and consensus algorithms.
The Criteria & How to apply for Tencent Blockchain Accelerator
If you were a blockchain startup with certain technological advantages, with no less than (including) one round of financing completed. You need to prepare a business plan and a recommendation letter by at least one Chinese entrepreneur / Chinese investment institution partner. (Email me if you need a recommendation letter).
Shortlisted projects will be notified at the end of June and invited to an onsite interview in Shenzhen. The cost for each attendee for the program will be 100,000 RMB (appr. $14,110). But if selected, you can apply for a total of 100,000 RMB coupon for Tencent Cloud and get a free one-year access to Tencent enterprise-level blockchain service platform TBaaS.
You can apply here (deadline is June 6th).
What’s new
The biggest drama for the past week is a bunch of Chinese token funds accused BlockVC of using Binance IEO project Troy to harvest chives, making them lose millions.
Chinese investors are afraid that they won’t be able to receive tokens of big projects if those (Filecoin, Dfinity, Polkadot etc.) keep delaying mainnet launch. An investor told Blockbeats that he invested 1,288ETH in Polkadot presale in 2017 via a reseller whom later disappeared. A Reseller pooled fund from individuals to participate in ICO presales.
Something to read
Defi always looks for additional liquidity - what could be a better option than an ERC-20 token backed 1:1 with real BTC? The first wrapped BTC emerged in early 2019 (Wrapped Bitcoin). Currently wrapped BTC market cap grew by 192% in 2020, 24% solely within May. Check out wrapped BTC drives the Defi volume by DappRadar for more data.
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