Shenzhen interviewed 8 "currency-related" companies and the official response: Those who were not interviewed do not mean there is no problem

According to the Science and Technology Innovation Board Daily (Chengdu, reporter Chai Gang), on the morning of the 18th, the Shenzhen Internet Finance Regulation Office held a special rectification meeting on illegal virtual currency activities. At the meeting, relevant departments jointly interviewed 8 "currency-related" companies, including a wholly-owned subsidiary of Internet Online (835727.OTC) and BitKan, a trading platform invested by Bitmain.

According to a report by the Shenzhen Special Zone Daily on November 22, as of that time, the Shenzhen Financial Bureau had identified 39 companies involved in illegal "currency-related" activities through Tencent's Lingkun system.

"We conducted an online investigation in the early stage, and then conducted offline investigations through other means. However, the fact that a company has not been interviewed does not mean that it has no problems. The company interviewed today does not mean that it definitely has problems. This situation is still under further verification." A relevant staff member of the Shenzhen Financial Bureau explained to the reporter of "Science and Technology Innovation Board Daily".

Bitmain's investment "Bikan" was listed

On December 16, the Shenzhen Internet Finance Regulation Office issued the "Notice on Convening a Special Rectification Meeting on Illegal Virtual Currency Activities" (hereinafter referred to as the "Meeting Notice"), convening 10 units including the Economic Investigation Bureau of the Shenzhen Public Security Bureau, the Shenzhen Branch of the People's Bank of China, the Shenzhen Banking and Insurance Regulatory Bureau, and the regulation offices of various districts to attend the meeting.

According to the "Meeting Notice", among the eight companies interviewed this time, two were suspected of running virtual currency exchanges, and the other six were suspected of running token financing activities.

A reporter from the Science and Technology Innovation Board Daily learned that Shenzhen Digital Singularity Technology Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "Singularity Technology"), which was identified as suspected of running a virtual currency exchange, operates the Bikan App, which provides legal currency transactions, aggregated currency transactions, community information and other services, and has issued the platform currency KAN.

The Bikan platform launched KAN on June 13 last year. It reached a peak price of $0.0299 on the sixth day after its launch, and then fell all the way. It is currently 90% lower than the opening price on the first day.

"Bitmain issued the coin because it could not return the money to its investors," a person in the coin circle told the reporter. Tianyancha shows that Singularity Technology received a 15 million yuan A round investment from Bitmain in April 2016, and completed a 10 million US dollar B round of financing two years later. The investors included Bitmain, IDG Capital, and Zhongyunhui Capital. However, the company was deregistered in July this year.

Although Bikan denied the rumor, saying that the company mentioned in the "Meeting Notice" is not a current affiliate of Bikan, and that Bikan cancelled its domestic company after 1994, and is currently mainly registered in Japan and Singapore, with operating entities overseas. However, many clues show that Singularity Technology was once the operating entity of Bikan. For example, its Sina Weibo certified entity is Singularity Technology.

Shenzhen Maiguoer Network Technology Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "Maiguoer"), which was also found to be suspected of running a virtual currency exchange, also responded this afternoon that the company's business scope does not involve token issuance, sales, private placement, and trading.

The reporter of "Science and Technology Innovation Board Daily" noticed that the company's Maiguoer App claims to be a new social e-commerce platform based on value social operation, and realizes the value transformation of interpersonal resources through the "sharing + sharing + new retail" model. In July this year, Maiguoer announced a strategic cooperation with the digital currency exchange WBFex. Its issued token VSC will be listed on WBFex and promoted through the latter's official channels.

It is worth mentioning that there are a large number of articles on the Internet saying that Maiguoer uses the guise of "full refund on consumption" and adopts methods such as recruiting people, paying membership fees, and returning points to lure users to join, and is suspected of fundraising fraud and pyramid selling.

Starlink Friends Store under YTO (002183.SZ) also adopts the "share and earn money" and "consumption rebate" models, claiming to be a new community e-commerce platform that subverts Taobao and JD.com. In June this year, Cailianshe published investigative reports "YTO Starlink Friends Store is accused of pseudo-blockchain and disguised ICO under the halo of listed companies and state-owned background" and "Shop owner earns 16,000 yuan a day? YTO Starlink Friends Store is accused of pyramid selling". At present, Starlink Friends Store is still active, and announced in November that the monthly transaction volume on its platform has reached hundreds of millions of yuan. However, Starlink Friends Store announced at the beginning of the year that its token "Star Diamond" will be listed on Huobi Exchange in July this year, but it has not yet been launched.

The price of the currency is close to zero in the "Qubu" mode again

According to public information such as Tianyancha, among the other six companies suspected of token financing identified in the "Meeting Notice", Shenzhen Kaipai.com Technology Co., Ltd. has carried out transactions of celebrity tokens (artist coupons), Shenzhen Xingyun Digital Network Technology Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "Xingyun Technology") has issued "Xingyun Coin", Shenzhen Aipu Software Co., Ltd. operates UPBTC quantitative trading software, Shenzhen Internet Online Information Technology Co., Ltd., a wholly-owned subsidiary of Internet Online (835727.OTC), has developed the AD Blockchain, Shenzhen Wireless Micro-Business Technology Co., Ltd. operates HOB (He Chain), and Shenzhen Huashang Times Network Technology Co., Ltd. has issued BST (Xiang Chain).

Among them, Xingyun Technology is engaged in the research and development of health wearable devices and sports value-added services. After users download the Xingyun Sports App, they can get "Xingyun Coin" token rewards based on the amount of exercise. Xingyun Coin (MCC) is known as the first digital currency based on smart wearable sports mining, and exercise is "mining".

According to the non-small market data, since Xingyun Coin was launched on the exchange at the end of July last year, the current price of the coin has fallen by more than 98% to only 0.004339 yuan, close to zero.

The reporter of the Science and Technology Innovation Board Daily noted that Qubu, which also adopts the "walk to make money" model, was investigated by the Changsha Industry and Commerce Bureau in October this year for suspected online pyramid schemes, illegal fundraising, and financial fraud. On November 18, CCTV's "Focus Interview" pointed out that Qubu is a fake application that borrows the banner of blockchain and has nothing to do with blockchain itself.