From e-commerce to taxes, we have your Monday all wrapped up in a neat little bundle
News from Asia
Thailand may soon tax e-commerce to help local businesses compete — e27
In an effort to foster competition for local companies, Thailand is preparing to amend its tax laws to include foreign e-commerce companies. The goal is to generate higher foreign taxes and even the playing field for local companies. The amendment is set to be voted upon in January and could include a 7 per cent value-added tax.
Last month, JD.com was revealed as a major player in Thailand’s e-commerce push. Also, in December 2016, Alibaba had 41 million clicks in the month.
Ping An’s Good Doctor app to seek Hong Kong listing next year, targeting US$1 billion share sale —SCMP
In the second half of 2017, successful tech startups — both Chinese and global — have begun to leverage the Hang Seng Index and are consistently listing in Hong Kong.
Good Doctor, a company that provides medical consultations and will soon be able to fill prescriptions is seeking to raise US$1 billion through an IPO early next year. If the company successfully goes through the process, it will follow notable tech companies like ZhongAn, Razer and China Literature. In total, there have been 5 IPOs by tech companies on the Hong Kong exchange.
Crypto updates
Malaysia’s central bank says it has no plans to appoint cryptocurrency exchange — e27
While Malaysian Reserve, a local Malaysian newspaper, first reported that the Malaysian Central Bank was considering a plan to set up a cryptocurrency exchange. The government has come out to deny the reports. The bank said the article was speculative, and should not be taken as “news”.
Malaysia is working on a government structure for crypto currency but hasn’t come up with something solid.
KICKICO is burning more than 40 million of its tokens — BtcNews
What is happening in KICKICO is important for understanding how ICOs work. In an effort to mitigate speculative risks, the coins that were not sold during their ICO would be frozen. Even though the company raised US$25 million, the result of their plan (all facilitated on a smart contract) is the company froze 42 million coins. They will never be withdrawn or used on the platform.
However, the company will be issuing new coins every month until September 2019. Kick tokens can be used to buy in-game purchases for various gaming startups.
$300 Billion: Bitcoin Price Boosts Crypto Market Value to Record High — CoinDesk
As the price of cryptocurrency is closing in on US$10,000, it has buoyed a market capitalisation number for all cryptocurrencies that crossed US$300 billion. Bitcoin accounts for over half of that number (US$158 billion) — but it points to the growth of the industry that alternative coins like Ethereum or Ripple make up US$142 billion of the market cap.
For context, to start November, the market cap. was US$200 billion and it crossed the US$100 billion mark in June.
Features and opinions
This startup puts the AR in art and makes collecting easy through tech — e27
Meet Artzbit, a company based in both the Philippines and Singapore, that wants to help people visualise art in their apartment using augmented realist. A lot of times, there can be a disconnect between how a piece of art looks in a gallery vs. the home.
Artzbit uses plane detection to help people visualise how the piece will look, circumnavigating the complicated measurements a lot of people go through when buying art.
The time I was turned away from China
Jon Russell of TechCrunch, and a well-known name amongst e27 readers, outlines his experience of being denied entry. What is particularly interesting about the account is that Russell does not cover politics. Sure, it can sometimes cross over into subjects like censorship, but it rarely directly challenges the authority of the communist party.
As China grows to directly challenge Silicon Valley, the country wants the world to understand the ‘China story’, but it refuses to allow it to be told.
Amazon, in hunt for lower prices, recruits Indian merchants
As the shopping season heads into the holidays, Amazon will continue to work to undercut global retail prices. This article from the New York Times highlights the extent to which the company will go to offer cheap goods.
The best part about this article? It is full of amazing photographs.
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The post Today’s top tech news – November 27 appeared first on e27.