IBC Group moves out of China; Pavilions Hotels to accept crypto

Transcript

Welcome to The Daily Forkast, July 6th, 2021. I’m Justin Solomon of Forkast News, covering all things blockchain filling in for Editor-in-Chief Angie Lau.

Coming up, IBC Group to end Bitcoin and Ethereum mining in China, Thailand’s The Pavilion’s Hotel and Resorts Group to accept crypto, and have you got what it takes to become a crypto native? Now, let’s get you up to speed from Asia to the world.

In China, the crackdown on crypto mining continues to make waves. Since China’s state council declared its intention to manage financial risks by clamping down on crypto mining and trading in the country in May of this year, many big players have made the decision to relocate.

The latest to make a move is IBC group, which recently moved its headquarters to Toronto, Canada. The group, which employs over 1,500 staff, has decided to close down all of its Bitcoin and Ethereum mining operations in China.

In a press release, the company’s chairman and CEO said that while the Chinese crackdown is a temporary inconvenience, diversified locations of mining facilities is great news for the rest of the world.

Its staff will now be moved to a variety of locations, including Canada, the US, the UAE, Iceland and Kazakhstan.

Taking a look at the markets now. Bitcoin is up almost 2%, trading at a little under thirty five thousand US dollars. That as of 4 p.m. Hong Kong time. And in the top 10 for cryptocurrency is a mixed day of trading. The top performers were Uniswap, gaining 10.5%, and Binance going up almost 6%.

As the world begins to open up for travel once again, Thailand-based The Pavilion’s Hotels and Resorts is embracing crypto, now accepting the currency when booking rooms. In a partnership with payment platform Coindirect, customers can choose from over 40 cryptocurrencies in payment for their bookings. The company will also be accepting crypto for those in the market to buy one of their residential villas. Their managing director for Asia says the company wasn’t worried about the relatively high volatility in the crypto markets compared to fiat currencies when making that decision

“For us, we’re also looking at whether we hold cryptocurrencies and we will be making a daily decision on whether we hold those cryptocurrencies and convert them into a fiat currency or not.”

Now, the company, which has properties across Asia, says responses from customers has been good so far and that the next move could be to allow crypto to be used for other services they offer at the resorts. On March, U.S. Luxury hotel chain, the Kessler Collection too said it would accept cryptocurrency, including Bitcoin, Dogecoin and Ethereum.

And finally today, in a Forkast op-ed, Alvin Lee of Singapore-based DeGate DAO takes a deep dive into how blockchain is giving rise to the next stage of human history made up of crypto natives. That someone who’s not just a savvy cryptocurrency investor DeFi obsessive, but someone who sees blockchain as having the potential to change the relationship between individuals and the state.

“If you believe in freedom, if you believe in inclusion, you can kind of select yourself and learn yourself into the crypto nation just like many immigrants who believe in the American dream selected themselves into America by immigration. It’s a similar process, except that now it’s decentralized. You don’t have to be physically in one place to be part of this nation because our country is code.”

Want to know more? Check out our newly refreshed website at Forkast.News. You can find Alvin’s op-ed there and more about what all this means for our collective future.

And that’s The Daily Forkast from our vantage point right here in Asia. For more, visit Forkast.News. I’m Justin Solomon. Until next time.