Chinese government pledges to “eliminate” crypto mining, Jay Chou-supported Phantabear tops OpenSea chart: Blockheads

China lists crypto mining as an industry to retire and eliminate. The Chinese government plans to use blockchain technology in public services. A Jay Chou-supported NFT has topped the transaction volume list on OpenSea. 

Crypto mining to be “retired”

• China’s National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) has listed crypto mining as an industry to retire in an amended industrial catalog (Catalogue for Guiding Industry Restructuring 2019 version). The catalog said sectors that ought to be retired tend to be energy-intensive, polluting, and use outdated technology and equipment. Since March, officials across China have launched a widespread campaign to shut down mining operations. Inner Mongolia was the first region to crack down on miners, while Xinjiang and Qinghai, plus Sichuan, Yunnan, Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Fujian, and Jiangxi provinces soon followed. (NDRC, in Chinese) 

• Crypto mining conflicts with China’s carbon neutrality goal according to a monthly work report issued by the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection (CCDI), China’s top inspection unit for Party officials. The report applauded officials in Zhejiang and Jiangxi for their crackdown on crypto mining operations using public resources as well as related operations in the government-funded development zone. (CCDI, in Chinese)

Blockchain in public service

The Chinese government vowed to explore the use of blockchain technology in public services, alongside other technologies such as big data, cloud computing, artificial intelligence, and the internet of things, in its newly released five-year plan for public services. The plan aims to see “significant improvements” in public services by 2025 and “equal access” to public services by 2035. The National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) led the drafting and worked with 20 other government agencies. (NDRC, in Chinese)

NFT fever

Phantabear, an NFT supported by Jay Chou and Edison Chen, celebrities popular in China and across Asia, has topped OpenSea’s ranking chart on transaction volume since Jan. 9. OpenSea, the NFT-trading platform, also experienced a site outage on the day Phantabear topped due to “a sustained surge in API traffic” that overloaded its systems. The platform vowed to “rearchitect core parts of our architecture” to meet future demand. (OpenSea)