Binance, the crypto exchange giant has made its first strategic Chinese investment after leaving China amid the local crypto trading ban back in 2017. Founded in China in 2017, Binance has participated in a $200 million funding round of Beijing-based Mars Finance, a local crypto and blockchain publication, according to the report.
Binance invests in crypto media
It has been reported that investors also included Singapore-based Matrixport, recently founded by former CEO of Bitmain, and Beijing-based venture capital (VC) firm Ceyuan Ventures. Following the news, Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao tweeted to confirm the news, expressing the company’s willingness to support the industry.
He wrote:
“Let’s make more news, and less FUD. Invest in the industry.” Changpeng Zhao
Mars Finance was established by Wang Feng, a local entrepreneur in February 2018. According to a report, the firm previously completed two funding rounds with investors including leading crypto exchanges OKCoin and Huobi, and major American VC firm IDG Capital.
At press time, the Chinese version of Mars Finance, with the domain huoxing24.com, has around 124,000 monthly visits, with a 70,947 rank in China, according to SimilarWeb, a website traffic tool. However, the English-language version of the website appears to be relatively inactive since early January 2019.
While China has been remaining negative to cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin (BTC), the People’s Bank of China is reportedly preparing for its own central bank digital currency (CBDC).
According to an unconfirmed report in August, the bank is working on the project with Alibaba, an online retail giant, Tencent, an Internet giant, five banking organizations and one unknown entity.
On September 9, Circle CEO said that no one in the world is closer to launching CBDCs than China.