On Tuesday, Alibaba announced that Joseph Tsai, one of its founders, will become Chairman in September while Eddie Yongming Wu was named the new CEO. The shuffle occurs as the company reorganizes itself into multiple units, separating its technology services from retail divisions. This move has caught the attention of crypto enthusiasts, as Tsai is a known proponent of cryptocurrency and an active Web3 investor.
Tsai’s appointment may indicate that Alibaba is positioning itself to embrace the new reality of Web3 and cryptocurrency in China, should the government show signs of warming up to the sector. In December 2021, Tsai first announced his interest in the Web3 space, tweeting, “I like Crypto.” Since then, he has been an active investor through his family office, Blue Pool Capital, which was a minority shareholder in FTX. Other investments include Polygon, Web3 fantasy sports platform Fast Break Labs, and NFT platform Artifact Labs.
Adding to the crypto-connections, Tsai also owns the Brooklyn Nets, and two of its key players, Kevin Durant and Spencer Dinwiddie, are involved in crypto. Durant has signed deals with Coinbase and Dapper Labs, while Dinwiddie tokenized his employment contract and spoke at CoinDesk’s Consensus conference.
Nonetheless, the extent to which China is warming up to crypto remains uncertain. Hong Kong has introduced a list of crypto rules to allow licensed trading of digital assets, but critics argue that the rules are overly restrictive and discourage serious institutions from participating. Hong Kong’s framework has been deemed highly unattractive due to the small and unproven market, nonexistent banking partnerships, and highly restricted products. Banks have been hesitant to engage with crypto, leading the Hong Kong Monetary Authority to put pressure on major financial institutions to work with crypto clients.
Meanwhile, mainland China seems to be embracing digital assets on the blockchain, provided they are not associated with crypto. Non-fungible tokens (NFTs) are allowed as long as they do not possess any speculative attributes. For example, Alibaba’s Alipay restricted sales of NFTs until users had held them for 180 days.
Beijing’s definition of Web3 includes artificial intelligence, blockchain, faster computing chips, and more resilient networks rather than being synonymous with crypto. While Alibaba might be preparing for a crypto-ready executive team should China fully embrace the technology, the current leadership shuffle could also simply be part of the company’s normal restructuring process. Only time will tell if Alibaba’s leadership changes signify a broader shift toward Web3 and cryptocurrency acceptance in China.
Source: Coindesk
