Key Takeaways:
Qian Xun has unveiled PayKet, allowing users to settle payments on its platform with stablecoins, as it shifts away from its previous main business in advertising services
In September, the company also bought a fintech company to develop new products and services based on blockchain technology.
Qian Xun Technology Ltd. (1640.HK) is the latest in a new generation of listed Chinese companies transitioning to new businesses, often dropping yesterday's news for the latest flavor of the moment. In this case, the company evidently believes its future lies in applications using virtual currencies.
Last Friday, Qian Xun, which is transforming into an e-commerce platform operator from its older advertising services business, provided the latest evidence of its new strategic direction by unveiling a new payments service. Called PayKet, the service is primarily for settlements of cross-border payments for trading in second-hand mobile phones using stablecoins, which are cryptocurrencies pegged to real-life assets like the U.S. dollar. The product also offers some features that make supply chain finance easier, as well as digital-money wallet functions.
Cryptocurrencies are banned in China, where Qian Xun is based. But Hong Kong has embraced them, especially stablecoins, which are less speculative and, like their name implies, are meant to be more stable in value. Hong Kong launched a stablecoin regulatory regime in August, and it's quite likely that's where PayKet's services are based.
The PayKet rollout comes just three months after Qian Xun agreed to buy Punkcode Technology, a Web3 fintech company founded by Tencent alumni, for HK$25 million ($3.2 million) to develop new products and services based on blockchain technology.
Qian Xun is exploring use cases for cryptocurrencies in real-life transactions as it shifts its focus to e-commerce from advertising, following another acquisition last year of a platform for online trading of used computers and other electronic devices. As it made ...
