The top stories from the Chinese cryptocurrency sphere this past week include: China’s CBDC test in Suzhou to involve the fintech arm of JD.com, Bitcoin skyrocketing to hit all-time high of just under $20,000, China’s authorities cut off electricity supply to bitcoin miners in Yunnan province.……

JD.COM plans to support purchases with Chinese CBDC

Chinese e-commerce firm JD.com said it has become the first online platform to accept the country’s digital currency. The announcement on Saturday comes as part of another real-world major trial for the digital yuan in Suzhou.

JD Digits will participate in the Suzhou programme put together by the municipal government and the People’s Bank of China for 200 digital yuan “red envelopes” to be issued to 100,000 consumers selected through a lottery. The Dec. 11 giveaway of digital yuan – cash vouchers worth 20 million yuan in total – to citizens of Suzhou, near Shanghai, will be the second experimentation after Shenzhen.

The fintech affiliate of the company, JD Digits, has been tasked with developing a pilot program for the digital yuan this month. With that support, the customers can purchase any item from the e-commerce company using the central bank crypto as another payment option. On this note, the company will reportedly become the first e-commerce company to support digital currency.

Bitcoin skyrocketing to hit all-time high of just under $20,000

Nearly three years after it went on a hair-bending rise and hit a peak of $19,766, bitcoin gained a daily increase of 9.17% last night. The turnover of bitcoin in 24 hours was 26.69 billion US dollars, with a market value of 366.8 billion US dollars, which exceedes the market value of JP Morgan Chase.

Demand for bitcoin has surged during November, with its advocates citing increased institutional investor interest for the digital asset, which was only invented in late 2008 by a still anonymous developer.

During 2020 the value of the cryptocurrency has risen by about 170%. On Monday it rose by only 6% but its price had increased by $2,000 since Friday, demonstrating its extreme volatility. As a special asset class, bitcoin, different from stocks or bonds, will not generate any predictable cash flow. The only way for investors to get return is the price increase.

Like all risky assets, its price is subject to the pendulum of investor sentiment and the change of risk attitude, showing the characteristics of cyclical change. Bitcoin has a strong financial attribute, so speculative demand is an important factor affecting the price of bitcoin.

Bitcoin miners in China’s Yunnan province cut off from electricity supply

China has been tightening its grip around crypto and crypto businesses. According to recent reports, authorities from Baoshan city in the Yunnan province have cracked down on Bitcoin miners. The authorities have ordered the electricity suppliers to cease supply to the miners in the area.

Making public this report, Colin Wu, a renowned Chinese crypto reporter posted on his Twitter handle that several miners had told him about the incident. Wu supported his claim by sharing a scanned copy of the document issued to the electricity producers instructing them to cease the supply of electricity to the Yunnan crypto mines.

Earlier in 2020, the Yunnan government shutdown 64 mining operations for reasons of unauthorization. This included seven that were still being constructed at the time. Tax evasion, security risk and infrastructural reasons were also alleged by the authorities at the time in support of their actions.