Chinese blockchain technology leader Wanxiang Group announced the launch WanCloud on This new product is part of Wanxiang Blockchain Corporation’s subsidiary in Shanghai. WanCloud is an open-source blockchain protocol ecosystem that allows for localization and easy access to enterprise users and the Chinese development community. BlockApps, Factom, and Stellar are the initial blockchain protocols that have been included in the ecosystem. They are supported by WanCloud’s infrastructure of consultants and developers.
Blockchain Ecosystem
Wanxiang’s stated goal was to promote the development of China’s blockchain ecosystem, including startups, developers, and enterprises. WanCloud CTO Haifeng Xi spoke with Bitcoin Magazine to describe WanCloud as “not only a technical platform;” it’s also an open innovation platform. WanCloud is basically a bridge between the [global] blockchain development community in China and WanCloud. We aim to connect the world with the Chinese developer community, Chinese startups, and traditional Chinese businesses.
WanCloud is an ecosystem that allows users to use open-source blockchains in a more convenient way. Unlike traditional Blockchain-as-a-Service (BaaS) providers that have private networks or build on top of one public chain, WanCloud plans to continually introduce the most useful open-source platforms into the WanCloud ecosystem.
Wanxiang Corporation
Tom Tao, vice-president at Wanxiang Blockchain Corporation, and head of WanCloud, stated to Bitcoin Magazine that he wanted to “bring as much fabric as possible into China and to drive interaction, inter-chain collaboration and improve application level innovation for all participating protocols.” David Johnston, chairman and CEO of Factom, spoke to Bitcoin Magazine about why they decided to join WanCloud and how it aligns their respective companies’ goals.
Johnston stated that “WanCloud platform acts as a bridge between advanced tech provided U.S entities and the vast market of potential Chinese users.” He added, “providing them with a more transparent use case set in key areas like data management or auditing where Factom’s core competencies as a platform.”Zeen Zhang, CEO at Factom China, said, “This partnership for Factom China is important because it will make our product reach and serve China’s end users more easily.” WanCloud is truly adding value. It helps us localize our platform for enterprise users as well as the large community of Chinese developers.
McCaleb, fresh from the launch of Lightyear’s global payments platform, spoke to Bitcoin Magazine about WanCloud and Stellar’s benefits.
“It’s an exciting development that makes integration with Stellar much easier and will allow more experimentation. China is clearly a huge market, and almost all of our partners in the world ask us how they can get money in or out.
Chainbase Accelerator’s
WanCloud was launched by Wanxiang. Wanxiang also announced the opening the second cohort of its Chainbase Accelerator for startups in coordination with ICOAGE. ICOAGE is an Initial Crypto-Token Offering Platform based in Shanghai. It is headed by James Gong who is a top blockchain intellectual and consultant in China. He also serves as CEO of ChainB. Chainbase Accelerator projects will be eligible to receive technical support from WanCloud architects.
Yu Cheng, a Chainbase Accelerator partner and chief product officer at WanCloud spoke to Bitcoin Magazine about Chainbase Accelerator. He said that the first cohort consisted of experts from traditional industries who saw blockchain [technology] a way for them to solve problems in their industries. We are looking for businesses that can use the distributed nature blockchain tech to bring in new applications. Cheng coined the term “distributed economic value” in China to describe the new capabilities that blockchain tech allows.
Blockchain Friendly
When the term “Blockchain Friendly”, is used to refer to countries that embrace the digital revolution and are considered to be “Blockchain Friendly”, jurisdictions like Japan, Singapore, and Malta often rank at the top of the list. According to the Global Digital Report, however, sub-Saharan African countries are leading the charge as the most favorable places to own cryptocurrency, according to this week’s release.
South Africa ranked at the top of the list, which is surprising considering that it doesn’t have a strict regulatory framework. The Global Digital Report was created from a 6-month survey that was conducted in 2018. The survey was supported by digital media companies Wearesocial and Hootsuite and included participants between 16 and 64 years old.
While the Global Digital Report survey covered other areas of online commerce, its cryptocurrency findings were primarily based upon the number of internet users who owned cryptocurrencies. The global average is currently at 5.5%, according to the report. South Africa is almost twice as popular as the global average with 10.7% of internet users possessing at least one cryptocurrency. Thailand and Indonesia were close behind South Africa, with 9.9% and 9.5%, respectively.
Blockchain Regulation
South African Government to Launch Blockchain Regulation. The report claims that South Africa has the highest number of internet users who are involved in cryptocurrency investing. However, the findings are not surprising. This is due to the fact that South Africa has yet to establish a regulatory framework for cryptocurrency and blockchain technology. While strict regulation is in place in South Africa’s traditional financial services sector, it is not the same in the world of cryptocurrency assets.
This is why the South African Reserve Bank has been looking at ways to provide domestic users protection. The central bank noted that cryptocurrencies could be kept without a specific legal tender status. This is because it may have an effect of recognizing them as electronic money. The South African Reserve Bank notes that third-party cryptocurrency service providers (exchanges), should have to undergo registration once a regulatory framework is in place.
The central bank notes that:
“The phased approach, beginning with the registration requirement could lead to formal authorization, and designation as a registered/licensed supplier for crypto asset services operating within South Africa at a later level.”
South African has however recently established a call to action for domestic stakeholders to make suggestions regarding cryptocurrency regulation.
Use of Cryptocurrencies
The Use of Cryptocurrencies in Africa Continues To Rise. Although regulation on the African continent is still very much in its infancy, it has not stopped local users from adopting the cryptocurrency space. Peer-to-peer Bitcoin exchange Paxful, for example, noted that in 2018, cryptocurrency trading was the highest percentage of its platform’s users from Africa. Ray Youssef (CEO of Paxful), a U.S-based Bitcoin exchange, noted that African usage increased by 225 percent in 2018, and that monthly transactions average $64.5million.
Other African countries such as Kenya, Ghana and Tanzania also scored high in the Global Digital Report. One reason that African citizens are interested in cryptocurrencies is their potential as an alternative to wealth storage. Bitcoin is a way for people to store wealth without worrying about government uncertainty, as emerging currencies on the African continent are often unstable. Not only that, but cryptocurrencies also allow users to send funds to friends and family in a quick, efficient, and extremely-low-cost way. Contrary to this, traditional financial remittances systems can be expensive, slow, and full of red tape.