China crypto ban to benefit DeFi space.
Gamevil becomes the second-largest shareholder in Korea’s Coinone.
Illicit mining operation discovered at Tehran Stock Exchange.
We’ll have more on that story — and other news shaping the cryptocurrency and blockchain world — in this episode of The Daily Forkast, September 30.
Transcript
Defi is defying China’s clampdown, crypto is kind of like water, you can’t defy the law of physics, water will always find a way.
Welcome to The Daily Forkast September 30, 2021. I’m Angie Lau, Editor-in-Chief of Forkast.News covering all things blockchain.
China’s crypto clampdown has proved disastrous for a variety of players in the industry, but amid the doom and gloom, the DeFi space is set to benefit. Indeed, DeFi tokens saw a sharp rise in the days following the announcement of the ban, but are decentralized exchanges prepared to handle a large influx of capital, we’ll investigate the opportunities and the challenges for the space coming up.
Let’s get you up to speed from Asia to the world.
First up, China’s crypto ban has made it a hard week for a lot of people. But, as they say, every cloud has a silver lining.
With centralized exchanges suspending their services to Chinese users. Investors have been left considering alternate options, and many experts told Forkast.News that means they’re expecting to see a shift in capital flows towards decentralized exchanges.
Not only that, but regulatory headwinds could also prove beneficial for decentralized exchanges or DEX.
Forkast.News Carolyn Wright has more on what this all means for the future of the DeFi sector.
China’s crypto ban was issued not just by the central bank, but by a united front from all legal, public security, and banking authorities. And in a webinar by Consensys, one expert says the ban could act as a catalyst event, triggering additional adoption.
“DeFi is already a very large ecosystem where we see a lot of innovation, but when you see one market kind of strengthening the rules for such a massive population, I think we’ve seen into the pricing of some of the DeFi assets, very clear opinions from the market that there is a migration.”
But the question is, are those exchanges ready to handle the pressure?
“For the past year, we have seen that can be a gap between the trading volume and the scales of users and capital flows in CEX’s compared to DEX’s. And if that is the majority of users or capital flows to DEX’s. What will happen? I’m curious to find out if they can handle these inflow.”
Yang says, dYdX perform particularly well following the ban as it is a leading decentralized protocol, and it only released its platform token recently.
Tony Toro of Polygon Hermez told us that in a similar way to how China’s mining clampdown provided a much-needed decentralization of mining power, this ban could minimize the centralization risks of bitcoin and other major cryptos.
For Forkast.News, I’m Carolyn Wright.
Meanwhile, industry movers and shakers doing some dealmaking in Korea. Gamevil, a South Korean mobile game developer, becomes the second-largest shareholder of Coinone, one of the major four exchanges in the country.
The reason behind the big acquisition will Gamevil plans to advance blockchain gaming and NFTs in Korea. Computer and mobile games are so big in Korea that some professional gamers are as popular as your favorite K-pop stars.
Its booming gaming industry is the world’s fifth-largest, and competition is high among developers. To make the next Starcraft or League of Legends.
Gamevil seems to think blockchain gaming could be next level.
Forkast.News Danny Park has more.
In 2019, total sales of the gaming industry of South Korea were US$13 billion, growing 9% from 2018. There are over 900 game developer companies and 11,000 PC cafes. This is where you can play computer games for around a dollar per hour.
Gamevil is part of that movement, and its mobile phone games are hugely popular in and out of Korea. Now, its subsidiary, Gamevil Plus, has become the second-largest shareholder of crypto exchange Coinone, owning about 38% of Coinone’s total shares.
It is reported that with this investment, Gamevil will actively discuss with Coinone on developing blockchain-based games and an NFT exchange.
Gamevil already has a task force dedicated to developing NFTs based on its content and says utilizing blockchain technology is in line with the fast-changing trends of the gaming market.
Play-to-earn NFT games on the rise in Europe and Southeast Asia, with Axie Infinity a prominent example. However, gaming regulations in Korea Block blockchain-based games from being released right now.
As its rating committee says play-to-earn NFTs encourage speculative behavior, so developers are currently servicing their blockchain games abroad to widespread popularity. Ban or not Korean developers still lead the way.
For Forkast.News, I’m Danny Park.
And finally, today, ever wonder what that weird noise coming from the basement might be?
Well, no need to be scared on this occasion, it wasn’t the bogeyman, but an illicit crypto mining setup.
According to Iranian state media, a surprise inspection led to authorities discovering a number of mining rigs in the basement of the Tehran Stock Exchange Building.
Now, the stock exchange initially denied the existence of a mining operation, claiming the equipment was actually being used for research project.
However, when the news was confirmed, the executive deputy director of the exchange said the company should be held accountable and its CEO subsequently resigned.
Iran began regulating crypto mining in 2018, as you’ll remember, but in an address back in May, the president said 85% of all mining in the country was run by unlicensed miners, draining two gigawatts of power from the grid every day.
Following unplanned blackouts, temporary ban on crypto mining was imposed. However, that was due to wrap up by September 22nd.
So next time you hear that whirr coming from your neighbor’s basement, you never know.
And that’s The Daily Forkast from our vantage point right here in Asia.
For more, visit Forkast.News and don’t forget to subscribe and click like. Want to share? Even better helps us keep doing what we love to do, which is great journalism in the crypto space.
I’m Angie Lau, Editor-in-Chief until the next time.