The CoinGeek Pulse Episode 71: Shanghai Metaverse plan, Bitcoin mining in SE Asia, Bitcoin Genesis Day celebrates 13 years

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We kick off this year’s first episode of the CoinGeek Pulse with the latest buzzword—metaverse.

Metaverse is deemed to be the next internet revolution, and economic giant China is closely paying attention. Shanghai, China’s largest city, might be the first among other cities in the country and possibly in the globe to make an official move to include the metaverse in its economic plans. 

Shanghai Municipal Commission of Economy and Informatization recently released a five-year development plan for its digital information industry. The plan encourages the use of the metaverse in various areas, including businesses and public services. 

The local government of Shanghai is the first in China to include the metaverse following the implementation of Beijing’s five-year plan released in March 2021. China has been leading the number of metaverse trademark applications with over 1,300 companies, including Tencent, Huawei, and Alibaba.

In other news, China’s digital currency crackdown sets off a block reward mining boom in Southeast Asian country Thailand.

In September 2021, China banned all digital currency trading and mining amid “breeding illegal and criminal activities” concerns. This created an opportunity for Thai entrepreneurs, who bought Bitcoin mining rigs from smaller miners in Shenzhen. This led to the increasing number of entrepreneurs mining Bitcoin in Thailand. According to a media report, there are now around 100,000 miners operating in the country. 

Meanwhile, Malaysian police seized over 1,700 block reward mining machines in Manjung district in a power theft crackdown. About 30 of the 75 premises inspected were allegedly stealing electricity to conduct illegal mining operations. Owners of the premises have yet to be determined as of this writing.

This week marks the 13th year since the Bitcoin Genesis Block first appeared on the blockchain. On January 3, 2009, at 6:15 PM UTC, Bitcoin’s Block #0 appeared with a message containing a newspaper headline: “Chancellor on brink of second bailout for banks.”

The Genesis Block is an anchor for the entire blockchain. Using the newspaper headline was Satoshi Nakamoto’s way of proving he did not pre-mine Bitcoins.

Coincidentally, the BSV network hit over 4 million daily transactions this week. This is around 54% of Bitinfocharts’ daily transaction pie. BSV’s transactions were ahead of all other blockchains combined including ETH with 18%, BTC at 2.9%, and BCH at 0.9%. 

All I wanted for #NewYear . . . was over 4 million transactions on the #BSV network over a 24 hour period

Another nice milestone but just another step on the path to fulfill #Bitcoin Satoshi Vision

Source: https://t.co/Hxbg9O4ooE pic.twitter.com/priYsK8YoR

— Jimmy Nguyen (@iamJimmyWIN) January 2, 2022

Happening also this week in Las Vegas is the CES 2022, the most influential tech event in the world. The event features the BSV Blockchain exhibition led by Bitcoin Association, Ayre Ventures, Transmira, Build by Gamers, Smart Ledger, VXPass, and Haste. 

While you’re at it, check out the special episode of the CoinGeek Weekly Livestream, where CoinGeek’s Chief Bitcoin Historian Kurt Wuckert Jr. recapped some of CoinGeek Weekly Livestream’s best moments of the show from 2021.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8ggOmnsAWJ4