Hong Kong's Crypto Hub Ambitions! (+ Chinese banks open up to Crypto companies & some other news)

What happened this week in the crypto space??

GM! This is Mateusz Kara.

And you've just found the best place in the crypto space to know more about the blockchain industry. I'm also giving you updates on my biz.

In Today's edition:

1/ Hong Kong is becoming a cryptocurrency hub

2/ Chinese banks open up to cryptocurrency companies

3/ French banks under watch by authorities

4/ Blockchain will help music fans buy tickets for concerts

Sounds interesting? I think so.?

Let's dive deeper into the crypto rabbit hole:

1/ Hong Kong is becoming a cryptocurrency hub

China could drive another bull run in cryptocurrencies, and Hong Kong's policy of opening up to cryptocurrency companies could be helpful in this regard. We now know that ProDigital Future, an investment fund that will begin investing in Web3 projects, is being established in the region. The fund has already raised $30 million and is expected to have a total of $100 million by the end of 2023.

The fund is led by Ben Ng, a partner at SAIF Partners based in Hong Kong, and Curt Shi, a longtime investor in new technologies.

2/ Chinese banks open up to cryptocurrency companies

But that's not the only good news coming out of China. As we previously suggested, Hong Kong is becoming a cryptocurrency hub for the country. Chinese banks, including the Bank of Communications, Bank of China, and Shanghai Pudong Development Bank, are open to working with cryptocurrency companies. They want to service blockchain companies that register in Hong Kong.

Why the change in China? A director at a major Chinese bank in Hong Kong, who spoke with Bloomberg (but whose name was not disclosed), said that the country's authorities want to take another look at the blockchain market.

Behind the scenes, there is economic competition between the US and China. Beijing may see potential in cryptocurrencies as a way to gain an advantage over Americans in certain areas.

3/ French banks under watch by authorities

Speaking of banking problems, it's impossible not to mention the recent issues of French institutions. This week, 150 investigators entered the headquarters of French banks, including Societe Generale SA, BNP Paribas SA., HSBC Holdings, Natixis SA, and Exane BNP. The issue is related to tax avoidance and money laundering in the context of dividend payments.

The focus is on the practice of "dividend arbitrage strategy known as cum-cum." Shareholders temporarily transferred their shares to foreign investors. As a result, they avoided paying taxes on dividends. The mentioned foreign investors held the shares during the period when dividends were paid. Thanks to their place of residence, these dividends were not taxed. Soon after, they sold "their" securities to the original owners. Both parties shared the saved tax amount.

Cryptocurrencies are sometimes referred to by some politicians and officials as tools of criminals. It turns out, however, that banks can be used for money laundering and tax avoidance.

4/ Blockchain will help music fans buy tickets for concerts

Something from the entertainment sector. It turns out that Ticketmaster will streamline the ticket trading system for concerts using blockchain.

Anyone who has ever bought tickets for cultural events knows that this process is complicated by bots allowing you to purchase several tickets at once. As a result, fans of a particular artist often can't buy a ticket for the desired concert.

However, Ticketmaster is now introducing the "NFT-gating" service. NFT will guarantee fans priority in the ticket purchasing process and eliminate bots from it.

The service was piloted in collaboration with the rock band Avenged Sevenfold. Owners of 10,000 NFTs from the group were given early access to the ticket-purchasing system for concerts in New York and Los Angeles. In a short time, 1000 such NFT tickets were sold.

ARI10 COMPANY UPDATE ??

Two conferences & two meetings behind us. We're also hiring a lawyer!

This year's edition of Invest Cuffs was truly inspiring! ??

It was a fantastic opportunity to connect with industry leaders, discuss potential collaborations, and talk to prospective clients. ??

Kudos to the organizers for putting together such an incredible event! With 10,000 visitors, it was even bigger and better than last year!

Marcin Wenus ?Izabela Kozakiewicz ?Arkadiusz Jó?wiak ?Joanna Wenus ??

I'm thrilled to share that two of my companies were nominated for prestigious awards:?Ari10 ?as the Blockchain Company of 2022 ??, and?Kancelaria Prawna Gra? i Wspólnicy ?as the Law Firm of 2022! ??

The "Meta?wiaty" conference was held on March 28th in Cracow! ??

The theme was the dynamic impact of new technologies on our lives. Enthusiasts and skeptics, all of them come to "Meta?wiaty" and present various perspectives on the?Metaverse, NFT, Web3, AI, and quantum technologies. ?

In turn, Ari10 was one of the partners of this conference. It’s mostly thanks to our co-founder and Cryptoterminal product owner?John (Janusz) Zielinski (?itcoin) , who will also be there but as a speaker.

Janusz's lecture was focused on "Otherside, what do we know about the 4-billion-dollar metaverse company?"

We admire the commitment of the organizers in the realization of such a great event, R. Pr.?Roman Bieda ,?Zbigniew Okoń , and?Mi?osz Horodyski, EMBA . ??

We participate in a meeting organized by the FinTech Poland association.???

The main focus was the presentation of the 2nd edition of the "How to do Fintech in Poland" report.

The meeting was attended by experts from the finance and banking sectors, which added their valuable insights to the discussion. ??

We would like to thank the organizers for the opportunity to participate and also Paulina Samborska for representing us there. ??

We look forward to the next meetings!

Live meeting with Blockchain City! ??

The meeting was held on March 28, and the theme was about did Blockchain need Cryptocurrencies.?

It was also a great opportunity to not only better understand the essence of Crypto but also its use case in many innovative solutions. ??

Our product manager,?Jacek Kubiak , talked more about it with the live host??? Sebastian Grabowski , founder of Blockchain City.

Be sure to watch: https://www.youtube.com/live/qxviZURiOQc?feature=share

We're hiring a lawyer! ??

Ari10 is a dynamic and fast-growing company, and as a leader in this part of Europe, we're dedicated to providing the best products and payment solutions for the Web3?industry.?

Regulatory compliance is a priority for us, so we're looking for a top-notch lawyer responsible for a wide range of legal matters, who shares our vision and wants to be part of this incredible environment.

Full responsibilities and our requirements, you will find in the job offer.

???https://lnkd.in/d32zbbTt

We look forward to hearing from you, and we hope to see you on the Ari10 team!

And that’s all for today. Thanks for your time, investors & Crypto Geckos! ?? ????

Please rate this newsletter with a reaction

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Thanks for your feedback and see you next week!?

Mateusz Kara