Bitcoin cross-currency transactions are becoming increasingly popular, stimulated by the expectation of RMB depreciation

According to the market data of Huobi, China's largest Bitcoin trading platform, as of 10:00 a.m. on January 6, the spot trading price of Bitcoin reversed the weak pattern of A-shares and repeatedly crossed the 2,820 yuan line. The BITVC Bitcoin contract trading price remained stable at 2,817 yuan, and the price of Litecoin on Huobi remained stable at 22.70 yuan.

Microsoft announces updates to its Blockchain as a Service (BaaS) project

According to Coindesk, Microsoft recently published a blog post announcing the update of its Blockchain as a Service (BaaS) project. Marley Gray, director of Microsoft's US Financial Services Technology Strategy Department, introduced four new partners of Microsoft's blockchain project in the article, namely: Bitcoin payment processor BitPay; blockchain return platform Manifold Technology; Bitcoin tax service LibraTax; ownership proof blockchain service Emercoin. In addition, Microsoft is also exploring how to add the Interledger protocol developed by Ripple to their blockchain project. Gray further revealed that more blockchain-related companies or projects will be added to the Azure platform in the "coming weeks", and they will officially launch the Azure blockchain project soon.

Although blockchain technology has broad application prospects, to date, no killer applications related to blockchain technology have emerged. Constrained by cost ceilings and basic service facilities, a large number of blockchain start-ups cannot quickly transform ideas into products. The Windows Azure platform can help develop applications that can run on cloud servers, data centers, the Web, and PCs. Cloud computing developers can use the storage, computing power, and network infrastructure services of Microsoft's global data centers, which can also help blockchain technology developers more easily create applications for the web and connected devices, accelerating the incubation process of transformative blockchain applications.

The RMB exchange rate continues to weaken, and the central bank's expectations of liquidity depreciation remain strong

On the capital side, with the Fed's rate hike at the end of 2015, the depreciation trend of the RMB has become clearer. As of 10:00 am on January 6, 2016, the onshore exchange rate of the US dollar against the RMB rose above the 6.55 mark, with a cumulative decline of nearly 745 basis points since the beginning of the year. The offshore RMB exchange rate fell to 6.6775, a new low in nearly 4 and a half years. The central bank announced yesterday that the RMB seven-day reverse repurchase was 130 billion yuan, the largest single-day release in 4 months. The market expects good liquidity before the Spring Festival.

The depreciation trend of the RMB is conducive to increasing the profits of Chinese export enterprises and is also beneficial to cross-currency transactions of Bitcoin. Taking the spot quotation of Huobi.com as an example, the current Bitcoin price in US dollars is 2,780 yuan, and the RMB price is 2,820 yuan, with a price difference of about 40. If you buy Bitcoin on the US dollar market on the 1st of this month and sell it on the 6th according to the changes in the RMB exchange rate in the past two weeks (after deducting the relevant exchange costs and US dollar transaction fees), the overall profit can reach 0.48%. Calculated based on the purchase quota of 50,000 US dollars for Chinese citizens, the profit of holding transactions is 240 US dollars. But for parents whose children are studying abroad, the depreciation of the RMB has caused the cost of remittances to rise sharply. Once the RMB falls to the 7.0 level, each remittance will need to pay 7.14% more than the current cost, while using Bitcoin to pay only 0.0001 BTC for each transaction regardless of the amount. Bitcoin has obvious advantages in cross-border payments.

Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Blockchain Special Economic Zone

Liang Jiaming, director of the research department of the Hundred People Forum, member of the expert committee, and chief economist of Zhigu Research Institute, recently proposed the concept of "blockchain special economic zone" in his column. In his article, he proposed that the trade supply chain system in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area can be upgraded through blockchain technology to enhance the international competitiveness of the ports in the Greater Bay Area. Through blockchain technology, a point-to-point and complete decentralized network can be created, which can not only ensure the traceability and security of relevant information, and record in detail all steps of the process from the departure port to the receiving port of imported and exported goods, but also link all parties in the trade supply chain such as importers and exporters, freight forwarders, agents, banks, inspection and quarantine, and customs through a decentralized network, so that all parties can communicate directly through the network, without having to go through and rely on specific centralized institutions to proceed step by step, saving various time and costs, and realizing the functions, services and technological innovations of various ports in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, so as to enhance the international competitiveness of ports and meet the needs of expanding trade scale and cooperation under the "Belt and Road"; by applying blockchain technology to upgrade cross-border business, create new cross-border payment methods, and promote the development of cross-border business. Cross-border e-commerce, overseas purchasing, overseas investment and mergers and acquisitions in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area are growing rapidly. The current traditional cross-border payment methods have long settlement time, high handling fees, and sometimes cross-border payment frauds, which bring cross-border capital risks. By using blockchain technology to create a point-to-point payment method, eliminating the intermediary links of third-party financial institutions, not only can payment be made around the clock, the account is instantly credited, cash withdrawals are easy, and there is no hidden cost, it also helps reduce cross-border e-commerce capital risks and meet the convenience of cross-border e-commerce payment and settlement services.