Today’s Crypto News on Asia — May 31

Alibaba denies relationship with TRON; Zooko’s chat with Bitmain; Ontology applying to ID2020. Let me know if you have any questions

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Top News

- **Chinese media only** Investment analyst Lao Ya Pi on Wechat: Alibaba denies any cooperation or investment relationship with TRON. Justin Sun had no mentoring relationship with Jack Ma. Justin had just attended the Hu Pan University created by Jack Ma. Link to a copy of the article here: http://bit.ly/2LM5qMm [please note, I do not know the validity of this article but it is being widely spread right now in Chinese media]

- Zooko from Zcash had a chat with Bitmain co-founder Jihan Wu and here are Zooko’s notes. http://bit.ly/2LM2MpJ

- **Chinese media only** Li Jun, the founder of Ontology, said at the open class of Blockchain X-Lab of Tsinghua University that Ontology is currently applying to join the ID2020 Alliance. ID2020 is an international public-private alliance that is committed to uniting with governments, technology giants, and non-governmental organizations to take a unified action to provide legal proof of global citizenship through blockchain technology by 2020. Microsoft and Accenture are founding members of the alliance. http://bit.ly/2LNobz1

Coin and Exchange News

- On May 31, the Bottos mainnet launch event was held in Gangnam, Seoul, South Korea, marking the official launch of Bottos mainnet. http://bit.ly/2LLxfnV

- Huobi, a major cryptocurrency exchange originally from China, has told CoinDesk that it’s setting up shop in Brazil. http://bit.ly/2LJUb6S

- 80% of the top cryptocurrency exchanges from 2016 have been replaced, mostly by Asian based exchanges. http://bit.ly/2LNkBVB

Business News

- SG entrepreneur buys Japanese FX, crypto currency exchange for $50m. http://bit.ly/2LJUcrs

- Learning centers, courses, and crypto educational seminars are on the rise in Japan, Thailand, and South Korea. http://bit.ly/2LMXqe0 [should we expect to see this in the US?]

- Japanese mobile gaming firm launches $30m fund for global crypto investments. http://bit.ly/2LKAa08

- China-based cryptocurrency wallet imToken announced Thursday that it has closed a $10 million Series A round fully funded by venture capital firm IDG Capital. http://bit.ly/2LMX1bu

- A popular Chinese mobile stock trading app appears to have removed its cryptocurrency price tracking feature just two weeks after the new service went live — possibly due to regulatory rumblings in the country. http://bit.ly/2LLF8K3

Macro and Regulation Watch

- **Chinese media only** Liu Quan, dean of the Blockchain Institute of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT): Combination of blockchain in the legal field can be combined with electronic authentication (MIIT is the same government institute that published the cryptocurrency rankings)

- Hong Kong Monetary Authority official: There is currently no plan to issue central bank digital currency. http://bit.ly/2LGEvS1

- Russian Central Bank: Digital currencies pose no threat to financial stability. http://bit.ly/2J5qg7m

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