CX Daily: Will the Bear Market End the Blockchain Funding Frenzy?

Blockchain /

In Depth: Will the bear market end the blockchain funding frenzy?

Investors have plowed cash into crypto and blockchain companies at an unprecedented pace in 2022, but some say this trend will slow as the bear market diminishes their appetite for speculative investments.

Crypto and blockchain companies raised at least $26.4 billion across 992 deals in the first five months of the year, triple the $8.8 billion recorded in the same period last year, according to data from Dove Metrics, a crypto fundraising database.

Bitcoin tumble sends Thai tech stock from first to last in world

New Oriental /

Analysis: New Oriental’s livestreaming a hit, but hurdles remain to long-term success

Chinese tutoring giant New Oriental’s pivot to livestreaming e-commerce took off in the first half of June thanks to auspicious social media attention, but whether the struggling company can sustain this success will hinge on product selection and quality as well as supply chain management.

Once China’s largest private sector education company, New Oriental Education and Technology Group Inc. has been scrambling to transform itself since Beijing embarked last summer on a draconian clampdown on for-profit private education that has devastated the company’s business.

Health code /

Local officials punished for abusing China’s health code system

Four officials and one big data company executive in Zhengzhou have been punished, local graft busters said Wednesday, after they were found to have abused a Covid control system to prevent people from taking their money out of ailing local banks.

The decision to abuse the system was made by Feng Xianbin, executive deputy secretary of the politics and law commission of the Zhengzhou municipal party committee, and Zhang Linlin, an official with the city’s anti-epidemic authority, according to an official statement from the local discipline inspection authority.

FINANCE & ECONOMY

China’s financial regulators have been clamping down on structured bond issuances.

Bonds /

Xiangtan Construction Investment barred from bond borrowings for two years

China’s interbank bond market regulator punished another company for issuing debt instruments in violation of rules and disrupting market order, the third such penalty in less than two years.

Xiangtan Construction Investment Ltd. Co. was banned from borrowing money in the bond market for two years and was ordered to conduct comprehensive rectification of problems exposed in its violations of regulations, the National Association of Financial Market Institutional Investors (NAFMII) said Tuesday in a statement. NAFMII is a self-regulatory organization for the interbank market backed by China’s central bank.

Quick hits /

Hong Kong Monetary Authority buys local dollar at record pace as peg gets tested

Opinion: Possible tariff rollback won’t alter U.S. strategy to contain China

BUSINESS & TECH

Evergrande has shaken China’s real estate industry and global bond markets ever since its liquidity crisis escalated late last year.

Property /

Evergrande says debt restructuring plan is on schedule for end of July

Debt-ridden property developer China Evergrande Group reaffirmed that a preliminary debt restructuring plan can be expected on schedule by the end of July in the company’s latest effort to allay creditors’ concerns over its ability to repay a mountain of debt.

Saddled with more than $300 billion of liabilities, Evergrande has shaken China’s real estate industry and global bond markets ever since its liquidity crisis escalated late last year when it missed payment on a $260 million dollar-bond guarantee, triggering cross-defaults of its offshore debts.

Chinese developer accepts wheat, garlic for down payments

Insider trading /

Sacked head of Chinese property firm claims conspiracy amid insider trading allegations

The former head of a Chinese real estate developer is fighting back against accusations of insider trading that led to his recent detention by police, claiming he is the target of a conspiracy.

Lu Junsi, ex-chairman of Gree Real Estate Co. Ltd. (GRE), said police in Shangrao, a city in East China’s Jiangxi province, acted illegally during their investigation after he reported six individuals for insider trading, according to letters that were circulated on the internet Sunday.

Freight /

Almost 80% of China’s logistics firms report falling profits in first five months, survey shows

Almost 80% of China’s logistics companies reported that their profits declined in the first five months, according to an industry survey, as weakening demand, rising costs and a cash crunch due to the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic continued to weigh on business.

Road freight volumes of more than 60% of respondents surveyed by the China Federation of Logistics and Purchasing nosedived by 5% to 30% year-on-year between January and May, according to a report published Tuesday by the industry group.

Quick hits /

Apple job listing indicates CarPlay push in China

TikTok wins rights to stream FIFA World Cup

Long Read /

Chinese history offers lessons on sustaining charitable giving

GALLERY

Chinese swimmers triumph in Budapest

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