Bitcoin

My Tour of Hong Kong’s Abandoned Crypto Shops Revealed a City Ravaged by an Erratic Industry – DL News

Published

11 months ago

10 May, 2024

My Tour of Hong Kong’s Abandoned Crypto Shops Revealed a City Ravaged by an Erratic Industry – DL News

Visiting Hong Kong’s closed OTC outlets showed the city’s love-hate relationship with crypto.
The hype for Bitcoin and Ether ETFs contrasts with the rise in fraud.
‘We’re here so soon,’ say crypto boosters.

In Hong Kong, the police tape that cordoned off store windows has long since disappeared. Most of the stores are empty, the windows are full of event posters and real estate agent contacts.

They are all that remains of JPEX, a cryptocurrency exchange that vaporized in late 2023 and left more than 2,600 depositors with around $206 million in funds.

Over the past few weeks, I took my camera and went on a walk around Hong Kong to see what had happened to these places. The last time I stuck my head through the window of one of them, there were still a few half-empty cups of tea on the table, the whole boba freezing.

Now these empty spaces are a striking symbol of the random fortunes of an industry that Hong Kongers seem to love and hate at the same time.

A Tale of Two Crypto Cities

Participants in Hong Kong’s crypto scene say their mission is to “onboard the next billion people to web3,” as a popular slogan goes.

Industry boosters are working to sell the city as a thriving hub for blockchain innovation, and to their credit, they wasted no time in approving Bitcoin and Ether ETFs in April.

Hong Kong was the first Asian market to follow the lead of US regulators, who opened the door to popular investment products in January.

The Bored and Hungry cryptocurrency store in Hong Kong’s central district was closed during the JPEX investigation. Photocredit: Callan Quinn/DL News

At the same time, founders, entrepreneurs, and developers regularly flock to the city for a perpetual stream of conferences, conferences, and symposiums. Later this week there is the Bitcoin Asia event with panel discussions on everything from institutional infrastructure to layer 2 venture capital.

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“We’re so early,” crypto enthusiasts say when they compare themselves to the early adopters of the Internet.

Rogue exchange

However, after a few drinks, those same people will admit that they can’t understand how the company in the conference booth next to theirs is producing the revenue it promises to customers.

And the empty storefronts linked to JPEX are a more glaring reminder of the other aspects of the crypto landscape that “professionals” would rather not talk about.

Unable to withdraw

JPEX dominated headlines in Hong Kong for weeks last year. The subject of an ongoing criminal investigation, users were unable to withdraw funds from the exchange.

The Securities and Futures Commission also warned was misrepresenting itself as a virtual asset licensing platform. On April 18, law enforcement officials said they had frozen $29 million linked to the exchange.

The JPEX team abandoned a booth at Token2049 in Singapore in September 2023 and, with the exception of a few short blogs in the weeks that followed, neither the company nor its mysterious managers have been heard from since.

Some of the OTC outlets already have new tenants. One of them, a Coiner store in a mall on Nathan Road, became a furniture store, although it retained the orange Bitcoin decor.

Around the corner, another OTC outlet is now a pharmacy. There are still some pink and black striped panels that show its former life as CryptoPard.

Months after closing, CryptoPard’s pads are still stacked in its storefront. Photocredit: Callan Quinn/DL News

As Hong Kong tries to rebrand itself as a crypto hubis struggling to solve the problem rampant scams and schemes that use cryptography to operate.

In 2023, cryptocurrency-related fraud accounted for more than half of the $764 million in online and offline investment losses, according to authorities.

This is an inconvenient development for entrepreneurs who are touting cryptocurrencies as a new asset class worthy of investment by the super-rich families and institutions that have long dominated Hong Kong.

However, investors have lost millions on JPEX and other rogue exchanges such as Hounax and BitForex.

With law enforcement investigators struggling to even identify the owners of these platforms, recourse for people who, in some cases, have lost their savings, is virtually impossible.

Even offline, crypto is becoming a difficult business.

Hong Kong police are currently searching for four men who kidnapped a 50-year-old crypto retail investor over a financial dispute. She and her husband were attacked, the latter with a stun gun, on the night of May 7, police said.

The Tung Club in Kennedy Town was run by local crypto influencer Henry Choi. Photocredit: Callan Quinn/DL News

Last month, a teenager was lured into a hotel room in Kowloon under the pretense of meeting some fellow crypto traders. The people he met — all ages 16 to 19 — beat him with baseball bats and demanded $23,000 of his business profits, according to South China Morning Post.

Day after day, Hong Kongers are inundated with “wrong number” messages and phishing emails from so-called pig butchers and investment fraud.

‘Philosophical advice’

Meanwhile, the influencers who ran the JPEX-linked OTC stores are still promoting its upcoming launch online.

Former JPEX prosecutor Joseph Lam now offers “philosophical counseling” services on everything from legal advice and romantic relationships to marketing and letter writing services. He said in an Instagram post that more than 200 clients have accepted his services since the beginning of the year.

OTC Tung Club store founder and JPEX promoter Henry Choi still promotes online crypto courses – annual subscription costs 1,100USDT.

Neither Lam nor Choi responded to separate requests for comment made by DL News.

Last month, 70 people were arrested in connection with the JPEX investigation.

No one was charged.

Callan Quinn It is DL News’ correspondent in Hong Kong. Get in touch at callan@dlnews.com.

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Related Topics:bitcoin etf Hong Kong pig slaughter

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Bitcoin

What to watch for in the markets

Published

9 months ago

21 July, 2024

SatoshiTimes Staff

Photo: Andrew Harnik (Getty Images)

After witnessing one of the largest global IT outages on record, affecting the travel, finance and healthcare sectors worldwideThis week is set to see more political drama, events, and earnings reports from tech giants.

Donald Trump’s ‘Lovefest’ Sets Jamie Dimon Up for Consideration for Treasury Secretary Job

Let’s take a look at what awaits us:

Major companies will release their earnings reports

Major tech companies and others will release their earnings reports this week, paving the way for what the second half of 2024 will look like.

Monday

Verizon will report earnings before the start of operations.

Tuesday

Coca-Cola, Comcast and UPS are all set to report earnings before the market opens.
Tesla will report earnings in the morning, while General Motors will report earnings in the evening.
Alphabet and Visa will report results after the market closes.

Wednesday

AT&T will release its report before the market opens.
Ford and Chipotle will report earnings after the market closes.

Thursday

Earnings reports from AstraZeneca, American Airlines and Southwest Airlines will be released before the market opens.

Trump to speak at Bitcoin conference

Presumptive Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump will speak at the next Bitcoin Conference in Nashville, Tennesseewhich is scheduled for July 25-27. While this is the first time a presidential candidate will attend the conference, it has sparked a debate over whether the crypto-friendly Trump will receive support from the crypto community in the upcoming election.

In addition to Trump, independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. will also discuss crypto during the conference. Crypto advocates such as ARK Investment’s Cathie Wood, MicroStrategy’s Michael Saylor, and whistleblower Edward Snowden are among some prominent names who will be participating in the conference.

Ether ETFs are on the way

New Ether Spot ETFs are set to begin trading on Tuesday, July 23. Much like the spot Bitcoin ETFs, these ETFs will allow investors to buy the second most popular cryptocurrency like stocks. BlackRock, Ark Invest/21Shares, VanEck, Grayscale, Fidelity, Bitwise, Franklin Templeton, and Invesco/Galaxy Digital are all set to offer Ether ETFs. Crypto asset manager Bitwise predict that trading in the Ether ETF will drive the price of Ether higher, potentially surpassing $5,000.

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Bitcoin

Cryptocurrency’s Biggest Winners and Losers in a Second Trump Presidency

Published

9 months ago

21 July, 2024

SatoshiTimes Staff

Cryptocurrency’s Biggest Winners and Losers in a Second Trump Presidency

Bitcoin miners and cryptocurrency companies that have been blocked from going public in the U.S. could ultimately be the biggest winners in the digital asset world under a second Donald Trump presidency. Foreign companies at risk of losing market share could end up being the biggest losers.

That’s the view that’s taking hold among market participants and observers in the wake of the former president’s growing embrace of cryptocurrency as his chances of election grow. survey released Thursday by CBS News showed Trump with the majority — 52 percent — of likely voters in his likely November rematch with President Joe Biden.

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Bitcoin

Bitcoin, Ethereum, Solana and Cryptocurrency Markets Look Ready to ‘Send’ as Stars Align, According to Investor Chris Burniske

Published

9 months ago

21 July, 2024

SatoshiTimes Staff

Bitcoin, Ethereum, Solana and Cryptocurrency Markets Look Ready to ‘Send’ as Stars Align, According to Investor Chris Burniske

Cryptocurrency investor Chris Burniske says Bitcoin (BTC), Ethereum (ETH), Solana (SUN) and the cryptocurrency market in general seem poised for a run.

Former Head of Cryptocurrency at ARK Invest account his 292,200 followers on social media platform X that several catalysts are aligning, suggesting that digital asset markets are on the verge of a bull run.

According to Burniske, a partner at venture capital firm Placeholder, the highly anticipated launch of Ethereum-based exchange-traded funds (ETFs), Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump speaking at an upcoming Bitcoin event, and the current state of the BTC, ETH, and SOL charts all suggest significant optimism for the cryptocurrency markets.

“With ETH ETFs set to go live, Trump speaking at The Bitcoin Conference, and BTC, ETH, and SOL charts looking [they do] (while stocks are weak), it’s hard to imagine a world where we don’t ship next week.”

Reuters recently reported that preliminary approval for ETH ETFs has been granted as the Bitcoin Conference is scheduled to take place from July 25-27.

BTC, ETH, and SOL are trading at $67,333, $3,528, and $174 at the time of writing, respectively.

The venture capitalist too provides an update on his prediction that the total crypto market cap will eventually hit $10 trillion. According to his chart, the path to $10 trillion is currently “23%” complete, as it sits around $2.2 trillion.

Source: Chris BurniskeX

Earlier this month, Burniske he said in an interview with Real Vision CEO Raoul Paul that he has his eye on the Move ecosystem, which was originally built by social media giant Meta and then used to develop layer 1 blockchains Sui (IUE) and Apts (APT).

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Bitcoin

Here’s the next target for BTC before bulls can hold out for $70K

Published

9 months ago

21 July, 2024

SatoshiTimes Staff

Here’s the next target for BTC before bulls can hold out for $70K

Bitcoin’s recovery is going well, and the market is seemingly poised to create a new all-time high in the near term.

Technical analysis

Per NegotiationRage

The daily chart

As the daily chart shows, the price of Bitcoin has been rising since it broke above the 200-day moving average.

The market has also reclaimed the $60K and $65K levels and is moving towards the $68K resistance zone, which could be the last hurdle before creating a new all-time high. With the RSI also indicating that the price has clear bullish momentum, it could be just a matter of time.

Source: TradingView

The 4-hour chart

Looking at the 4-hour chart, it is evident that the price has been rising rapidly since breaking the downtrend line to the upside. The market also broke the $65K resistance level with momentum, turning it into a support.

While almost everything points to a new record high in the coming weeks, there is one worrying sign. The RSI is showing a clear bearish divergence between recent price highs, which could indicate a correction or even a reversal in the near term.

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Cryptocurrency Charts by TradingView.

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