Technology giants are increasingly active in the blockchain and cryptocurrency fields. Recently, China's financial technology giant Ant Group has further increased its investment in blockchain business, while Japan's electronics technology giant Sony Group has officially entered the cryptocurrency trading field. These moves reflect the different attitudes and layouts of the two countries towards the blockchain and crypto asset fields.
Ant Group doubles down on blockchain
As a financial technology company under Alibaba, Ant Group has been actively expanding its blockchain business. According to the latest news, Ant Group's blockchain technology company "Ant Blockchain Technology (Shanghai) Co., Ltd." has increased its registered capital from the original 100 million yuan to 1.5 billion yuan, a 15-fold increase. At the same time, the registered capital of another Ant Group blockchain subsidiary "Ant Chain (Shanghai) Digital Technology Co., Ltd." has also increased from the original 100 million yuan to 2.1 billion yuan, a 21-fold increase.
Since its establishment in December 2018, Ant Blockchain Technology Co., Ltd.'s main businesses include software development, hardware retail and information technology services. Ant Chain focuses on the research and development and application of blockchain underlying technology. Ant Group said that the increase in registered capital was "due to the needs of business development", highlighting the company's continued investment and layout in the blockchain field.
It is worth noting that although China completely banned domestic cryptocurrency transactions in September 2021, it still remains open to domestically developed blockchain technology and digital economy. Chinese technology giants represented by Alibaba and Tencent are actively developing their own alliance chains and digital economy applications.
As China's largest Internet financial company, Ant Group has always attached great importance to the application of blockchain technology in finance, supply chain and other fields. In July 2020, Ant launched its own blockchain brand "Ant Chain". In September 2023, Ant launched its overseas blockchain brand "ZAN". In addition, Ant also participated in the blockchain industry community established in Hong Kong in May 2023 to jointly promote the development of central bank digital currency and asset tokenization.
There is no doubt that Ant Group is making great strides in advancing its blockchain business layout to seize the initiative in this emerging track, which also confirms the ambition and determination of Chinese technology companies in the blockchain field. It can be said that after missing out on the cryptocurrency track, China is actively cultivating its own blockchain ecosystem and is committed to applying blockchain technology to various fields of the digital economy.
Sony Enters Cryptocurrency Trading
As cryptocurrency and blockchain technology continue to develop around the world, more and more technology giants are beginning to increase their investment and layout in these emerging fields. Not only is Ant Group making a big bet in China, but Japanese technology leaders such as Sony Group have also accelerated their pace of entering cryptocurrency trading and blockchain applications.
Recently, Japanese electronics technology giant Sony Group announced a major acquisition. Sony has successfully acquired Amber Japan, a Japanese cryptocurrency exchange under Singapore market maker Amber Group, and announced that it would be renamed S.BLOX, officially entering the field of cryptocurrency trading. This is its first foray into the field of digital assets.
Amber Group is well-known as a cryptocurrency market maker, and its investors include Temasek, Sequoia China, Pantera, Tiger Global management, Coinbase, etc. Amber Group acquired DeCurret, a regulated cryptocurrency trading platform in Japan, in early 2022 and changed its name to Amber Japan. However, after the FTX crash, Amber Group fell into financial difficulties and considered reducing its mass consumer business and non-essential business lines to focus on its core business. Therefore, the company began to sell its Japanese subsidiary Amber Japan after April 2023. Finally, there is the news today that Japanese electronics giant Sony Group has spent billions of yen to complete the acquisition of Amber Japan.
According to the statement, Amber Japan (S.BLOX Co., Ltd.) was acquired by Quetta Web Co., Ltd., a wholly-owned subsidiary of Sony Group, in August 2023 and continued to operate cryptocurrency trading services. In the future, as a member of the Sony Group, it will cooperate with the diverse businesses within the group and strive to create new added value in cryptocurrency trading services.
Regarding this acquisition, Amber Group said that it will work closely with Sony Group in the future to explore the application of cryptocurrency and blockchain technology in different industries. Sony Group said that the acquisition is to expand its business layout in the field of cryptocurrency and blockchain technology. Sony has been paying attention to the development of digital assets and encryption technology before, and this acquisition of a cryptocurrency exchange is undoubtedly an important move for it to further deepen its presence in this field.
For Sony Group, this acquisition is an important strategic layout. As cryptocurrency and blockchain technology are gaining more and more attention, many technology giants are beginning to enter this field, and Sony's move will undoubtedly intensify competition in the industry. In addition, Sony's first foray into the field of cryptocurrency is expected to bring significant progress and increased credibility to the market. At a time when cryptocurrency is on the rise, this highlights the technology giant's commitment to embracing digital financial innovation.
Summarize
In summary, this can be said to be a competition between the technology giants of China and Japan in the field of blockchain and cryptocurrency. It is worth our continued attention to see how these technology companies will use their own advantages to occupy a better market position in these emerging fields in the future.
It is foreseeable that with the rapid development of blockchain and digital economy around the world, more countries will continue to increase their investment and layout in these fields, compete and cooperate with each other, jointly promote digital transformation, and lay the foundation for the future industrial landscape.
