Through the e-commerce app Meituan, China has enabled smart-contract functionality for its central bank’s digital currency (CBDC), the digital yuan. Among the major nations, China has been at the forefront of CBDC development, having begun to experiment with the currency as early as 2020. Although the money has been utilised in small-scale transactions and to purchase stocks, widespread retail testing of smart contracts has not yet been done. Meituan’s smart contracts enable the distribution of a daily prize of 8,888 RMB ($1,312), according to the local cryptocurrency news site 8btc and other well-known Chinese internet news sources. According to a statement by the People’s Bank of China earlier in January, the digital yuan will make up 0.13 percent of all Chinese renminbi yuan in circulation by the end of 2022.
The repayment of a $900 million debt Gemini made to Genesis has caused Gemini CEO Cameron Winklevoss to threaten Digital Currency Group (DCG) CEO Barry Silbert with legal action. The parent company of Gemini, Genesis Global Capital, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy on Thursday night as a result of a series of inadequate loans to failed cryptocurrency businesses like Three Arrows Capital and FTX. In a statement, Winklevoss stated, “We have been ready to take direct legal action against Barry, DCG, and those who share responsibility for the fraud that has harmed the 340,000+ Earn users and others who have been deceived by Genesis and its partners.” In a lawsuit filed late last week, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) claimed Gemini and Genesis offered unregistered securities. One of the main creditors of cryptocurrency lender Genesis is VanEck’s New Finance Income Fund, followed by Gemini, Cumberland, Mirana, MoonAlpha Finance, and Gemini. Genesis owes the Gemini Trust Company $766 million, Cumberland DRW, a trading company, $18.7 million, and Mirana, a cryptocurrency fund that invested in ByBit, $151.5 million.
Read about: Digital Currency Group’s Genesis Global Capital to Declare Bankruptcy Due to Liquidity Crisis