Yunnan mining ban clarified; Korean exchanges start ‘coin thinning’ | The Daily Forkast

Transcript

Welcome to The Daily Forkast, June 15th, 2021. I’m Angie Lau. Let’s get you up to speed, from Asia to the world.

We are following developing stories on the crypto mining crackdown in China’s Yunnan province.

Forkast.News has been able to speak directly with the Energy Administration of Yunnan Province. They tell us a notice has been issued ordering inspections on the use of power for Bitcoin mining. The details of that notice were reported in the China Securities Journal on Saturday. They stated that any miners found to have used unauthorized access to electricity or who evade paying bills would have their supplies cut off immediately.

Now, this comes after we broke the news on Friday that miners had reported hearing of an impending ban. When it asked for more details on crackdown, though, the Energy Administration declined to comment. However, one source who has asked to remain anonymous tells Forkast.News that his mining operations in Yunnan have since had to close down. He tells us that this came after the hydropower station that supplied electricity to his mining facilities received the government notice.

So just how is Bitcoin doing today? Well, it was up a little over 2%, hovering just under US$40,400 as of 4:00 p.m. local Hong Kong time at the end of the Asian trading day.

And in the top 10 for cryptocurrency is in a day of green across the board. The best performers were Polkadot, rising just over 15% and Uniswap up almost 6.5%.

And finally, South Korea’s largest virtual asset exchanges are taking even more action as a result of heat from regulators that began earlier this year in March, demanding that crypto exchanges reapply to conduct business in the country under stricter guidelines by September 24th.

Well, it seems like some are positioning to do just that. Some exchanges have issued warnings now to investors to be cautious over investing their money in certain cryptocurrencies. In fact, exchanges now say delisting some of these smaller altcoin could soon follow.

Both Bithumb and Upbit have begun what is known as ‘coin thinning’, with Upbit rounding up 25 virtual assets and putting them on a list of coins viewed as potential high risks that investors should be wary of up. Upbit says those assets will now be monitored for the next week to review liquidity and trading status. If the risks are not resolved, the process of delisting will begin.

Some are also self-policing here, like Huobi Korea telling Forkast.News that it too will be taking action, saying this: “Huobi Korea will be delisting its Huobi Token in two weeks as a way to cooperate with the financial authorities and the crypto exchange regulations.”

The reason it gave for doing so was that the regulator forbids exchanges from listing self-published tokens on their own platforms.

Meanwhile, Upbit’s move left investors a little confused, sent the value of some crypto currencies plummeting. With Einsteinium, one of the worst affected, it plunged more than 70% in response. Some industry watchers say the warnings have been triggered by plans for the Financial Services Commission to begin consultations with exchanges starting next week. To that end, a spokesperson for Bithumb confirmed with Forkast.News that they have applied to take part in the consultation, saying that they will actively participate throughout the entire process.

So here’s what it all means — a country with one of the most crypto-adoptive retail markets in the world, and many exchanges still viewing it as an attractive market despite the increased cost of potentially doing business in South Korea as a result of those stricter guidelines.

That’s ultimately good news for investors in Korea.

And that’s The Daily Forkast from our vantage point right here in Asia. For more, visit Forkast.News. I’m Forkast Editor-in-Chief Angie Lau. Until the next time.