Webinar: The rise of ‘Govcoins’ and what’s next for crypto

The global financial landscape, especially i Asia, is being redrawn amid digitalisation of the financial sector, propelled by both the regulators and fintech innovators

ONCE viewed with suspicion, digital currencies have gained wider acceptance since the Covid-19 pandemic started.

` The recognition has sparked not only various investment opportunities but also technological innovations and developments, including by governments around the world eager to capitalise on the digital currency potential.

` One is China, where its central bank People’s Bank of China has just launched pilot projects on digital currency and is working with the Bank of Thailand and Hong Kong Monetary Authority on the initiative.

` The global hype in cryptocurrency investment, meanwhile, has come under restraint from the regulators but with the pandemic – a number of Asian companies have embraced the crypto innovation in hope of riding out of the economic slump. Investors especially the Gen Z have jumped on the bandwagon despite the risk and pushed the value of Bitcoin to a new high.

` To help people understand the government-backed digital currencies and the future of cryptocurrencies further, The Star will co-host a webinar entitled “The rise of Govcoins & What’s next for crypto” this Thursday, July 22, 2021, at 10am.

` The webinar is organised jointly with the Asia News Network (ANN), an alliance of 23 national media in 20 Asian countries, and The Investor, which is a tech media start-up of the The Korea Herald. Both The Korea Herald and The Star are members of ANN.

The webinar is organised jointly with the Asia News Network (ANN), an alliance of 23 national media in 20 Asian countries

` The speakers on the first session “The rise of Govcoins” include John Kiff, former senior financial sector expert at the International Monetary Fund; Nelson Chow, chief fintech officer at the Hong Kong Monetary Authority; and Andrew Sheng, one of Malaysia’s and Asia’s top economists, and The Star’s columnist.

` The second session “What’s next for crypto” will feature speakers Kevin Werbach, professor of Legal Studies & Business Ethics at the Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania; Stephane De Baets, president of Elevated Returns Ltd, an investment firm based in the US with Asian focus; Marcus Lim, group CEO, Zipmex Co, a regional cryptocurrency platform; and Pindar Wong, a blockchain specialist and chairman of VeriFi, a financial tech consultancy in Hong Kong. The speakers will discuss the decentralisation of finance, benefits and dangers of cryptocurrency, a shake-up which is taking place to weed out illegal financial transactions and the development of AI and programmable smart money.

Registration is available at https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/4916263173191/WN_LaWquMD2ROaxPkccdsC4Qg

You can also listen live on Clubhouse at https://www.clubhouse.com/event/M8ZWK53b

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The seismic shift in global finance

The dollar accounted for 88% in paired foreign exchange currency trading in 2019 and 59% of official foreign exchange holdings  

 

Why the global financial landscape is undergoing a seismic shift

• Regulators are struggling to keep up with fintech’s rapid growth and the impact of big data, even as intense geopolitical rivalries mean accidents could easily escalate into crises

 

AUGUST 15, 2021 marks the 50th anniversary of United States President Richard Nixon delinking the US dollar from gold. Instead of a crisis, the ensuing half century marked the pre-eminence of the US financial system to global dominance.

In 2017, US Treasury Secretary Mnuchin commissioned four major studies on the US financial system that reviewed its efficiency, resilience, innovation and regulation. These surveys highlighted the US dominance in all four areas of banking, capital markets, asset management and financial technology.

To quote the reports proclaimed : “The US banking system is the strongest in the world”... “The US capital markets are the largest, deepest, and most vibrant in the world..(that) include the US$29 trillion (RM119 trillion) equity market, the US$14 trillion (RM57.5 trillion) market for US Treasury securities, the US$8.5 trillion (RM35 trillion) corporate bond market, and US$200 trillion (notional amount or RM820 trillion) derivatives market.”

According to the reports,“Nine of the top 10 largest global asset managers are headquartered in the United States.” In the area of financial technology, “US firms accounted for nearly half of the US$117bil (RM480bil) in cumulative global investments from 2010 to 2017.”

Under-pinning the US financial system’s success is of course the US dollar’s dominant currency pricing role. The dollar accounted for 88% in paired foreign exchange currency trading in 2019 and 59% of official foreign exchange holdings in 2020. It is widely used in trade invoicing in manufacturing but less so in services trade. As a major International Monetary Fund study has shown, this pricing role impacts on emerging market economy (EME) exchange rate policies, as their devaluation would have only limited positive impact on their exports, but amplifies their import contraction.

Furthermore, because EME debt is largely denominated in dollars, any dollar appreciation would have an overall contractionary impact on EME liquidity and growth. This is why US interest rate increases are feared not just by the US Treasury, but also almost all EME economies.

Several factors combined to create the recent seismic shift in the global financial landscape. 

First, financial technology has eroded the dominant share of the banking system. The Financial Stability Board (FSB) 2020 report on non-bank financial institutions (NBFI) revealed that as of end-2019, they accounted for 49.5% of global financial assets of $404 trillion, compared with 38.5% for the banks. Indeed, total NBFI lending now exceed bank lending, partly because of tighter bank regulations and higher bank capital and liquidity costs.

` Second, financial technology has enabled new arrivals in the financial sector comprising not new fintech startups, but also Big Tech platforms that are using Big Data, Artificial Intelligence, apps and their dominance of cloud computing to provide more convenient, speedy and customer-oriented finance for individuals and businesses. This month, a major BIS study on the implications of fintech and digitisation on financial market structure showed how Big Tech has muscled into traditional banking services, especially in payment services, lending and even asset management.

Taking the growth of NBFIs and Big Tech together, the traditional bank regulators and supervisors find that they regulate less and less of the financial system, but central banks are responsible for overall financial stability. Regulating the complex financial eco-system is like trying to tie down a huge elephant by a bunch of specialists each trapped in their own silos. And politically, no one wants to give a super-regulator power to rule them all.

Third, the financial landscape entered new minefields because of intense geopolitical rivalry. If global supply chains are going to be decoupled by different standards, and we arrive at a Splinternet of different technology standards, how should finance respond? As the US applies pressure on Chinese companies and individuals through new sanctions and legislation, financial institutions and companies struggle to deal with shifting goal posts and game changes. 

 

A woman and a child walk past the People’s Bank of China building in Beijing on March 4. China’s central bank, like others around the world, is grappling with how to regulate the fintech industry. Photo: Bloomberg

The Ant Finance and Didi events are more a reflection of regulatory concerns whether large domestic Big Data platforms should be subject to foreign legislation with national security implications. Will India, for example, continue to allow foreign Big Tech to own all their client data?

Fourth, the regulatory trend towards “open financial data” in which banks would open up their client databases to allow new players to access customer accounts and data will provide new products and services. But this means also severe concerns on client privacy and data security. No country has yet figured out how to manage competition fairly in the fintech world when five firms (Amazon, Microsoft, Google, IBM, Oracle) dominate 70% of cloud-related infrastructure services.

Fifth, blockchain technology, cyber-currencies and central bank digital currencies are now increasingly coming on-stream, making possible payments and transactions that rely less on official currencies and also outside the purview of regulation. In short, the official regulators are responsible for system stability, but may not have access to what is really going on in blockchain space. That is an accident waiting to happen.

 
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In addition to more than 600,000 COVID-19 deaths, growth in the US is based on a strong stimulus package of excessive money-printing. China's growth is more solid: Editor-in-Chief Hu Xijin

All these suggest that the global financial system has grown faster, more complex and entangled than any single nation to manage on its own. If the largest financial systems are caught in increasingly acrimonious geopolitical rivalry, what are the risks of financial accidents that can easily escalate to financial crises? In the 2008 global financial crisis, the G20 stood together to execute a whole range of responses. This time round, there is no unity as the US continues to apply financial sanctions against her enemies and rivals, amounting to 4,283 cases as of January 2021, of which 246 and eight respectively were against Chinese and Hong Kong entities.

The bubble in fintech valuation that has fueled rising stock markets and investments in technology is fundamentally driven by central bank loose monetary policy. Central bank assets have grown faster on an average of 8.4% per annum between 2013-2018, than banks (3.8%) or NBFIs (5.9%) to reach 7.5% of global financial assets. Does this mean that financial markets can assume that central banks will continue to underwrite their prosperity?

As inflation rears its head, central banks will have to reverse their loose monetary stance, thus putting the global financial system under stress. The global financial system has structural and regulatory cracks, but they can only be fixed by having some political understanding amongst the big players. Without this, expect a messy outcome.

Andrew Sheng comments on global affairs from an Asian perspective. The views expressed here are his own.

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Time for New Ways

 https://www.facebook.com/realchunwai/videos/2983923741845038/?sfnsn=wa

 

Tan Sri Ismail Merican was the former Director General of Health and President of the Malaysian Medical Council. He was among those who managed the SARS outbreak in 2002. Finally breaking his silence, he shares with us his thoughts on how the pandemic is being handled and real solutions to solve our current crisis.

Disclaimer: All opinions expressed are purely personal and do not reflect the views of any organisation.

In partnership with ANN.

#IsmailMerican #COVID19 #ChunWaiLive

 

Ex-health DG slams 'toothless tiger' Noor Hisham for not putting foot down in govt's virus handling

 

 

https://youtu.be/v_qF5i5Tesc

LETTER  More than a year and a half after the first case of Covid-19 in Malaysia and with endless rounds of movement control order (MCO) of various forms plus multiple knee-jerk fire-fighting measures, it is clear that the Health Ministry is still struggling for a comprehensive solution.

The rakyat has faithfully delivered what was asked of them.

They have taken in stride, the toll, the pain and suffering of the hardship of the pandemic and its purported solution. Yet, we are constantly dismayed and disgusted to read and hear about how our politicians and leaders have failed to deliver their share of what is needed - stable leadership.

Instead, they seemed more engaged in their own political survival and happily dancing in and out of the country. They and their supporters display utter disregard for the rules and regulations which they themselves have set.

The national immunisation programme seems to be set with countless muddles, hurdles and supply issues and has not given the rakyat the assurance that the vaccine is indeed the silver bullet to end this misery.

The current industrial action (CodeBlack) by the junior doctors asking for a resolution to their contract problems with the MOH, signals the breaking of a healthcare system that was once proudly touted to be one of the best in the world.

It is clear that we have not learnt and have not taken action from all the many mistakes made in the past and present.

Instead, problems were swept aside and left unaddressed year after year from the overproduction of doctors to the long-standing issue of healthcare inequity.

We have become an example of how things could have been done in a better way.

Thus when put to the Covid-test, it cannot be denied that our healthcare system has failed, putting us now in the league of the worst-performing nations.

It is time again to support the call for a Royal Commission on Healthcare in Malaysia that was proposed in 2017 at the Tunku Abdul Rahman Putra Oration of the Academy of Medicine.

The oration has put on record the facts and figures (ironically sourced from MOH studies itself) to justify why only a royal commission was the way forward to seek holistic solutions for the future of Malaysian healthcare.

The advice seemed to have fallen on deaf ears.

Healthcare is a basic right of the rakyat. Having an equitable, effective and compassionate system is what is expected.

It must be the duty of the government to deliver this at all times especially so in a time of national calamity.

DR STEVEN KW CHOW

President

Federation of Private Medical Practitioners’ Associations Malaysia

The writer is president of the Federation of Private Medical Practitioners’ Associations Malaysia.

The views expressed here are those of the author/contributor and do not necessarily represent the views of Malaysiakini.

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Cute migrating wild elephant herd melts Chinese netizens’ hearts

Cute elephant herd! Turning on faucet and drinking water by turns, snoozing in the fields, the migrating parade of wild Asian elephants wandering for 15 months in Southwest China’s Yunnan Province has become new internet celebrities.

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VIDEO: https://www.globaltimes.cn/page/202106/1226008.shtml

 Cute migrating wild elephant herd melts Chinese netizens’ hearts. - Global Times https://www.globaltimes.cn/page/202106/1226008.shtml#.YO6yIyXt74M.twitter

 

Elephant herd new darling in China 

 

A HERD of migrating elephants has stolen the limelight from the giant pandas which dominated the most popular position of China’s iconic animals for decades.

The wild Asian elephants’ “adventure” has captured not only domestic attention but that of global too for over a month and there is no sign of fading.

These mammals caught people’s attention after they were spotted roaming at residential areas in Yuxi city, Yunnan province, in late May.

Since then, their movements and daily activities have been the talk of the town, occupying a permanent slot on hot topics chart across social media platforms and gaining millions of followers.

Thousands of articles on the herd bathing in the rivers, feeding on crops in farms, playing in the mud and visiting people’s homes were widely reported.

The act of a baby elephant refusing to take an afternoon nap and kept disturbing its mother that was asleep, the sight of a male adult stopping a fight between two female elephants and the herd huddled together for warmth during thunderstorms melted the hearts of many Internet users.

Making their way through forests and suburban zones, the elephants have marched over 700km up north from their home at Xishuangbanna National Nature Reserve and their destination remained unknown, as of now.

Asian elephants, found mainly in Yunnan, have a small population of around 300 in China.

They move in family units, led by a matriarch.

This north-bound group is identified as the “Short Nose Family”.

The name was given as one of the females has a shorter nose following an injury, according to a special report on China Central Television.

The family of 16 embarked on a “long holiday” in March last year.

They took “a slow” walk and spent nine months to reach Mojiang of Pu’er city, where they welcomed a new member following the birth of a baby elephant.

After a short rest, they moved on again and entered Yuanjiang county of Yuxi city on April 16.

The herd came across a winery and just like some humans, elephants could not resist drinking.

Two of them ended up “drunk” and could not keep up with the others.

Left with no other options, they returned to their original habitat in Mojiang.

The remaining 15 elephants continued to trek up north.

Their journey came to light after news of them entering the residential zones was highlighted by the local media.

On May 27, the herd caught the residents by surprise when they suddenly appeared in a neighbourhood of Eshan county.

A businessman, identified only as Jia, said he saw the elephants from the windows of his tyre shop.

“It was around 10pm, I heard noises on the street and looked out – wow, elephants!” he told the Global Times while sharing the extremely rare experience.

After leaving the town, they carried on the journey and arrived at the provincial capital of Kunming on June 2.

Four days later, a male elephant left the herd and began to wander around the cities alone.

He was captured and sent back to its original habitat in Xishuangbanna Dai autonomous prefecture last Wednesday.

After spending some 10 days in Kunming, the remaining 14 elephants entered Yuxi again and has been moving back and forth within the forest areas.

Drones have been used to monitor the herd’s movement round the clock.

Last week, the local government dispersed over 280 wild mushroom pickers from the forest to avoid the herd, which was heading towards their direction.

Just as all eyes were on the northbound elephants, it was reported that another herd of 17 has made its way to the Xishuangbanna Tropical Botanical Garden of the Chinese Academy of Science in May.

The mammals left the nature reserve and headed some 100km down south.

Their route ahead was blocked by a river, in which a calf had difficulty crossing the rapid water.

So, the herd moved into the nearby garden and stayed on since May 24.

It is unusual for elephants to leave their habitat.

Experts attributed the elephants’ movement to shrinking habitat and food sources as a result of overpopulation.

Due to a series of wildlife protection measures, the number of wild elephants in Xishuangbanna National Nature Reserve has double-up over the past four decades.

Human activities and climate change were said to be among other reasons.

In general, the experts believed the elephants are in search for new homes. The elephant fever has raised awareness on wildlife and nature protection among the people, who called for more actions to be given to ensure sufficient habitats and a healthy ecosystem for these animals.
 
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Think forward, walk backwards

  https://youtu.be/rMxGVVBUSIc

Walking Backward: Benefits for Mind and Body - Healthline

 

Several studies also show that walking backwards can boost memory power

 

 

Walking in reverse is less stressful on the joints and can add bouts of increased intensity, similar to a brisk walk or an easy run.

LAST month, I wrote about how it is not strictly necessary to walk 10,000 steps a day for better health (Walking 10,000 steps a day, Two Fit, StarHealth, June 13).

Due the way our human brains are wired, we all assume walking always refers to forward motion.

Today, on a reader’s request, I’m going to discuss the effects of walking backwards, also known as retro walking or reverse walking.

Walking as a physical exercise has plenty of benefits: it’s easily accessible (though not in all areas, such as those under the enhanced movement control order), doesn’t require registration fees, and can be done any time at your convenience, indoors or outdoors.

However, walking in reverse makes the heart pump faster and circulates more blood and oxygen to the muscles and organs, including the brain.

Because it places a greater challenge on your body, walking backwards gives you a better cardiovascular workout, and perhaps, faster weight loss if that’s what you’re aiming for, compared to walking forward.

Apparently, 100 steps of backward walking is equivalent to roughly 1,000 steps of conventional walking, which explains why you can burn calories quicker.

Walking backwards also heightens your sense of balance and hearing, as you cannot depend on vision alone to steer you.

 

It’s great for people involved in a sport where they need to change directions rapidly or run backwards.

If you notice footballers in training, their coaches will include drills that include backward running and jumping.

Backward walking training is becoming a popular treatment method for people with musculoskeletal disorders, Parkinson’s disease, multiple sclerosis and cerebral palsy, as well as post-stroke patients.

Brain and pain 

Basically, walking backwards helps fire up the neuromuscular pathways that tend to get sluggish as we age.

One way to keep these neural circuits active is to exercise and slow down the natural rate of their degeneration.

Tests with backward-forward walking are also used for diagnostic purposes as these tests show how well our brain and body can coordinate our balance and mobility.

In addition, geriatricians might use walking backwards as a diagnostic tool to predict the likelihood of a fall in elderly people and patients with dizziness.

By regularly walking backwards, you are exercising the same neuromuscular circuits that these doctors are checking with this test.

Ageing brings about a lot of challenges, especially to our natural ability to “automatically” do things.

You may have noticed older people appearing to concentrate as they lift their feet to walk; this is because it is more difficult for them to “walk without thinking”.

This happens to the best of us when we lose the automaticity of walking.

For those experiencing lower back and knee pain, backward walking is a good alternative as the motion places less strain on the knees.

It may be useful for anyone experiencing pain going up and down stairs, or doing lunges or squats.

Hikers can also give their overused muscles a break by trying something different.

According to a 2019 study published in the journal BMC Musculoskeletal Disorders, a six-week retro walking programme resulted in greater reduction in pain and functional disability, and improved quadriceps muscle strength and performance in individuals with knee osteoarthritis, when compared to the forward walking or control groups in the study.

The subjects completed 10 minutes of supervised retro or forward walking training, in addition to usual care, three days a week for six weeks.

In another study published in the Journal of Biomechanics ,itwas also found that reverse or backward running reduced anterior knee pain.

From heel to toe

During a forward walk, most people will begin with the heel first gait as it is more efficient in transferring stored energy into motion so that our muscles don’t have to do as much work.

With each step, some energy of motion is lost when your feet hit the ground.

When you walk on the balls of your feet, you lose more energy due to these “collision forces” than you do if you walk heel first.

On the other hand, toe-walking, often used by ballerinas, requires activation of certain calf muscles that don’t need to be used in heel first walking, as your weight is directly supported by your heel.

In backwards walking, the toes have to contact the ground first and the heel is lifted off the ground last.

So, even if you have long legs, your strides can’t be too long unless you’re accentuating the movement.

If you’re an early riser (unlike me), you might be able to catch some backward walkers in action at our public parks.

They usually belong to tai chi groups, and while they walk, they will clap their hands as traditional Chinese medicine practitioners believe the palms have many acupressure points that can be stimulated via clapping.

Improved memory

Several studies also show that walking backwards can boost memory power and take you “back” in time.

In 2019, psychologist Dr Aleksandar Aksentijevic at the University of Roehampton, United Kingdom, and colleagues published a study called It Takes Me Back: The Mnemonic Time-Travel Effect in the Cognition journal.

They asked 114 volunteers to watch a video in which a woman has her bag stolen by a passer-by.

Ten minutes after watching the video, the participants were split into groups: one was told to walk forward 10m and another backwards 10m, while those in the control group stood in one place.

They were then asked 20 questions about the events in the video.

It was found that the backwards walking group got two more answers correct on average than the forward-walkers and the non-walkers.

The researchers also did another variation of the experiment, which tested several groups on how many words the volunteers could remember from a list.

One group walked backwards, while other participants simply imagined moving forward or backwards, or watched a video filmed on a train, which created the impression of moving forward or backwards.

In all scenarios, the backwards group or those who imagined walking backwards got the most answers right.

You don’t need to spend a whole lot of time walking backwards to reap its benefits. Just slot it in as a one-minute interval during your regular workout.

Check that the area behind you is clear so that you can walk confidently without bumping into anything.

Or find a partner so that he or she can keep an eye out for potholes and uneven surfaces, as our public roads and parks are full of them.

Better yet, grab a stick and have your friend lead you.

As muscles work in pairs and walking backwards recruits a new pair, you’ll inevitably feel some initial adjustments.

An added bonus is that your posture also improves while walking backwards as you tend to stand taller – it’s practically impossible to slouch while in reverse gear!

Combine both types of walking and add in some lateral walking as well to give all your muscles a workout.

As you get stronger and more confident, try walking backwards on an incline.

Having balanced muscles goes a long way towards reducing joint pain.

Revathi Murugappan is a certified fitness trainer who tries to battle gravity and continues to dance to express herself artistically and nourish her soul. For more information, email starhealth@thestar.com. my. The information contained in this column is for general educational purposes only. Neither The Star nor the author gives any warranty on accuracy, completeness, functionality, usefulness or other assurances as to such information. The Star and the author disclaim all responsibility for any losses, damage to property or personal injury suffered directly or indirectly from reliance on such information.

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