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Dragon bets on blockchain to cut costs for Asia s gambling business

2018-06-22T14:52:36Z

GretaLoane63:

By Farah Master HONG KONG, Dec 7 (Reuters) - Dragon Inc, which is looking to raise more than $400 million in what would be the world's largest initial coin offering (ICO), is betting its focus on Asia's booming gambling industry can lure investors despite mounting concerns over a bubble forming in the virtual currency bitcoin. Dragon Chief Executive Chakrit Ahmad told Reuters the company had secured four junket partners - operators that connect China's wealthy punters to casinos in Macau and elsewhere - who had already committed a total $265 million in a private sale of the tokens, accounting for more than half of those available. In a proposal paper reviewed by Reuters, Dragon said its [http://www.vtr.org.vn/cam-nang-du-lich-bac-kinh-5-ngay-4-dem.html tour bắc kinh từ hà nội] business model uses blockchain technology to get around the costly credit processes often used by the opaque junket industry, which contributes to more than half of gambling revenues in the Chinese territory of Macau. The use of blockchain technology means transaction costs are around 1 percent, rather than typical [http://www.vtr.org.vn/cam-nang-du-lich-bac-kinh-5-ngay-4-dem.html vtr.org.vn] junket transaction fees of around 5-7 percent. "We provide a better, more convenient and more cost-effective solution for them. If they (gamblers) want to exchange their winnings into fiat currency and then carry it themselves, they are free to do so. But the likelihood is they will revert back to digital currencies," Ahmad said. The public sale of the tokens on December 8 comes amid explosive growth of ICOs to raise money in cryptocurrencies. An ICO allows the issuer to raise funds without having to fulfil often rigorous regulatory requirements that would have to be met by venture capitalists or companies in mainstream markets. Some regulators say such schemes lack transparency and carry major risks. ICOs and bitcoin are banned in mainland China. Dragon investors will get tokens that can be exchanged for gambling chips in Dragon-affiliated casinos or they can hold the tokens for investment purposes. The proceeds raised will initially be used to support Dragon's junket operators by providing them with funds to establish systems that will exchange Dragon's digital tokens for gambling chips. The ultimate goal stated in the proposal is to fund the construction of a floating casino hotel which would only accept Dragon tokens. Some Macau watchers are sceptical of the business model due to increased scrutiny from Beijing and as more than 90 percent of punters in Macau originate from the mainland. "If it facilitates funds moving out from China it is subject to China's view on it," said Ben Lee, managing partner at Macau- based consultancy IGamiX. Macau's Monetary Authority said it had told financial institutions not to provide services directly or indirectly for tokens and virtual currencies due to considerable risks, including money laundering and terrorist financing. Macau's Gambling Inspection and Coordination Bureau did not respond to repeated requests for comment. Dragon's Ahmad said the ICO would not be affected by China's ban as many investors hail from Hong Kong and Macau as well as Japan, South Korea and Russia. FORMER GANG BOSS Junket operators, also known as VIP room promoters, act as facilitators for Macau's huge casino resorts, such as those run by Wynn Macau and Sands China, and operate in a legal grey area where they are not permitted to provide credit facilities and collect debts in the [http://Www.Automotivedigitalmarketing.com/main/search/search?q=Chinese Chinese] mainland. Instead, they utilize an opaque network of agents - making it harder to regulate the businesses. Dragon's Ahmad said the company planned to start operations in Indochina in January and Macau by the first quarter of 2018. The ICO grabbed attention when former Macau gang boss Wan "Broken Tooth" Kuok-koi, who served 14 years in jail for attempted murder, loan sharking and money laundering, attended a signing ceremony in September. Ahmad said that Wan was not tied to Dragon's junket partners. Lawrence Ho, head of Melco Resorts - with casinos in the Philippines and Macau - told Reuters he would be fine with junkets operating in his casinos using digital currencies, provided it was allowed by the regulator. Still, a Macau gaming consultant who declined to be named due to the sensitivity of the issue, said the ICO would likely set off alarm bells in Beijing. "It is clearly aimed at mainland players, who make up 90 percent of gaming volumes, giving them a digital way to circumvent the country's forex controls," he said. (Reporting by Farah Master; Additional reporting by Thomas Wilson in Tokyo; Editing by Martin Howell) Advertisement

Japan s tiny refugee community urges Tokyo to open doors wider

2018-06-20T13:17:51Z

GretaLoane63:

By Kiyoshi Takenaka YOKOHAMA, Japan, Nov 29 (Reuters) - Hitoshi Kino, a bespectacled clerical employee at a university near Tokyo, doesn't stand out. Only a slight Vietnamese accent betrays his past, as he speaks in Japanese about being stranded on a rickety boat in [http://www.vtr.org.vn/cam-nang-du-lich-bac-kinh-5-ngay-4-dem.html vtr.org.vn] waters off his war-torn homeland in 1980, starving with 32 others and left by pirates with nothing but his underpants. Kino, who was then Ky Tu Duong, is one of more than 11,000 refugees that Japan took in over the three decades to 2005 in the aftermath of the Vietnam War, under a little-remembered open-door policy which has never been repeated on such a scale. Now, Kino and other "boat people" who have resettled in Japan believe Tokyo should again open its doors and let in some of today's asylum seekers, including those from Syria, not just for those in distress but for Japan's sake as well "Japan should open up a little to them to align itself with the international community," Kino, who became a Japanese citizen in mid-1980s, said over Chinese dumplings and stir-fry at a restaurant near his home west of Tokyo. "It could be just 100, or 50. But it would be better than doing nothing." Japan took just 11 of 5,000 asylum-seekers last year, or 0.2 percent, the lowest acceptance rate in the club of rich nations, the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development. In contrast, France took 22 percent and Germany 42 percent. Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has offered nearly $2 billion to help other nations manage the flood of refugees from Syria's civil war, but his government has virtually shut the door on those fleeing Europe's worst migrant crisis since World War Two. This month's attacks in Paris, [http://www.vtr.org.vn/cam-nang-du-lich-bac-kinh-5-ngay-4-dem.html tour bắc kinh từ hà nội] in which 130 people were killed in mass shootings and suicide bombings blamed on Islamic State, could make any public discussion of accepting refugees into Japan even more difficult. The government's reluctance to accept refugees shows that opening up to immigration is still politically unpalatable, despite an alarming shrinkage in the country's population. After the 2011 nuclear disaster caused by earthquake and tsunami, "foreigners scrambled to leave Japan. But few of us former refugees fled", Kino said. "Japan helped us and took care of us. We would not desert such a country." Indochina refugees speak not only of gratitude toward their adopted country but also of difficulties they have faced trying to fit into society, which prides itself on its [http://hararonline.com/?s=homogeneous%20culture homogeneous culture]. Foreigners make up only 2 percent of the population. On the job, some Japanese "assume we don't understand things easily and we are not smart", said Hoai Takahashi, another refugee from Vietnam who changed his name from Hoang Drong Hoai. "They even say things like 'This job should not be left to these people,' in our very presence." Banri Kawai, formerly Nguyen Van Ry, works at a facility in eastern Japan that houses five former Vietnamese refugees with mental illness. He said they had been bullied by their Japanese seniors at work. "They lost sleep and developed mental conditions," he said after attending Sunday service with Takahashi at a Catholic church north of Tokyo. Chrisna Ito, who arrived in Japan at the age of 15, says she was rebuked at a factory dorm for using the communal bath before others had finished. She assumed they thought she was dirty because her skin was darker than that of a typical Japanese. Ito, a 43-year-old nursery school worker who was Cheth Chan Chrisna before fleeing Cambodia, had to start working at the rubber factory to support her family after six months of language and other adjustment training. It was only after she married and had children - now in high school and college - that she fulfilled her aspiration to go to junior high and high school. Asked how she feels about the government support she received, Ito reflected for a moment. "I am grateful. But at the same time, I cannot help wondering if Japan could have done a little better." (Additional reporting by Thomas Wilson; Editing by William Mallard and Mark Bendeich) Advertisement

Popular 13-foot python

2018-06-19T13:55:24Z

GretaLoane63:

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) - A [http://Sportsrants.com/?s=popular%20python popular python] snake named Monty that came to the Louisville Zoo in Kentucky in 1981 has been euthanized. The 13-foot, 38-year-old Burmese python died Tuesday at the zoo. Zookeepers say they decided to have the python euthanized because it had not been eating well, was losing weight and was diagnosed with lymphoma. Bill [http://www.vtr.org.vn/cam-nang-du-lich-bac-kinh-5-ngay-4-dem.html du lịch Bắc Kinh] McMahan, supervisor of the HerpAquarium where Monty lives, says the python was a great ambassador [http://www.vtr.org.vn/cam-nang-du-lich-bac-kinh-5-ngay-4-dem.html tour bắc kinh từ hà nội] for his species and had made appearances on local TV stations with its handlers. [http://Www.dailymail.co.uk/home/search.html?sel=site&searchPhrase=Pythons Pythons] are constrictors, so they have no fangs [http://www.vtr.org.vn/cam-nang-du-lich-bac-kinh-5-ngay-4-dem.html vtr.org.vn] and are typically fed poultry, rodents and rabbits. They are native to southern China, Burma, Indochina, Thailand and the Malay Archipelago. Advertisement

User:GretaLoane63

2018-06-19T13:55:14Z

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