Three Hot Takes: E-CNY, TOORICH City, and Miners

Will I see you in Paris?

As I’m en route to Paris to attend ETHCC, this week’s da bing is shorter, and only features three quick/hot takes from Yours Truly Chinese Pancake.

I’d love to meet up if you are in Paris, too. DM me :)  

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Meme of the week 

crypto market reality: not allowed to leave until you lose your pants

1. From DCEP to e-CNY 

What happened:

People's Bank of China (PBoC) released a White Paper on its “latest” thinking on DCEP, its Central Bank Digital Currency.

Da Bing’s Take:

Nothing is new in this white paper, other than the name DCEP has been changed to e-CNY, which might be done out of convenience since no one really knows what DCEP stands for, anyway.

“Programmability” is another highlight of the white paper. The mention of “Smart Contract” has excited many, rightly so.

But reality is less rosy. Neither is smart contract capability a new concept in PBoC’s thinking, nor is PBoC’s “programmability” the real deal. As the paper mentioned, “E-CNY obtains programmability from deploying smart contracts that don’t impair its monetary functions.”

In other words, no one can freely program anything on e-CNY because it’s nothing but a tool to serve and deploy monetary policy, by the government.

If nothing is new, why issue the paper at all? A few guesses from da bing: 

• Gov employees have to show that they are not slacking off (110% possible)

• China has to periodically showcase that they are still leading CBDC research and implementation

• Some more open-minded gov officials might be trying to sneak in Smart Contract in the white paper, hoping to lay foundation before e-CNY becomes just...ledgers

• Strong emphasis on e-CNY’s tie to real economy

SAUCE: a good white paper that differentiates different types of CBDCs

NFT on NEAR during Taobao’s Creator Festival

While the DeFi Market is just “meh-ing” its way through the summer, NFT continues to catch a bit of wind in China.

Following Alipay’s NFT play last month, Alibaba’s Taobao is also jumping on the NFT band wagon and promoting NFTs during its annual Creator’s Festival.

This time, the NFTs are less about China’s historical cultural heritage, but targeting societal issue: affordable housing.

The artist 黄河山 (Yellow River Mountain) created an NFT city “TOORICH CITY.” Inspired by an internet character “秃力富 (Bold Rich)” who is an internet character known for his real estate investment, illiteracy, and big dreams to provide affordable housing to all, the artist wants to build a city where “one would never get bold from worry about buying properties.”

The NFT became popular because, oh well, countless Chinese are seeing their hair thinning as China’s real estate climbs to new high. Maybe getting solace from NFT is the only way to confront reality.

The best NFTs are always the ones that reveal the ugliest truth.

Miners Continue to Decentralize 

Evidence: 

• Government continues to crack down mining, even in provinces not known for mining at all. Pressure is only getting stronger for miners to move abroad

• BIT Digital halted its China operation and moving all its machines from China to the States

• An anonymous Filecoin miners told da bing that they’ve also start moving operations outside of China - looking for South East Asia and North America

That’s a wrap. Thank you for reading.