- The semiconductor space leads the tech sell-off
- ICOs attractive alternative investment in technology.
With the news of the Trump administration making a push to stop Chinese companies from investing in U.S. tech companies, many investors are wondering where the money will now flow? The ban is not only exclusive to China, the U.S. will plan on banning investment from any country that is planning on stealing U.S. Technology. News of the ban sent many tech stocks plunging with Micron Technology ($MU) dropping almost 7%. The semiconductor space leads the tech sell-off as trade war uncertainty and investment ban news intensified. Cryptocurrency caught a little bit of a break as many Altcoins posted double-digit percentage gains. Perhaps money that would once go into U.S. equities will now make its way into the cryptocurrency market, including ICO’s.
China and other nations affected by the U.S. ban may now see the cryptocurrency market including ICO’s as an attractive alternative investment in technology. China has been quick to support the development and use of crypto assets that emerge from within and work closely with its government. China is home to the 7th largest cryptocurrency, NEO that is currently trading near $32, down well over 50% from its all-time high of just over $162 at the height of the bull market. It is known that China and the United States are competing tirelessly to become the leader in technology. Perhaps cryptocurrency innovation is the vehicle that will give China the upper hand.
Many new crypto projects are emerging from China and interestingly enough, many of them have very close ties to the Chinese government. This could be China’s strategy to promote and support crypto projects that are built at home. For example, THEKEY (TKY) is an identity verification crypto project that works closely with the Chinese government and is built on the NEO platform. China is making a push to work with THEKEY on research of Blockchain applications in social security service. This is huge news being that this is a push to use Blockchain and cryptocurrency to improve and replace an existing system for data identification and collection. TKY is currently trading for $0.008415 and has an overall market capitalization of $39,590,000. Currently, THEKEY is listed on lesser known smaller exchanges such as Kucoin and HitBTC. When the project gets more attention and is listed on larger exchanges with more volume we could see a significant price surge. That is usually the trend for newer coins that get listed on larger exchanges.
It is said that NEO is the Chinese Ethereum and the success of Ethereum came due to the large number of ICO’s that have been launched using the platform. As the U.S. tries to push China out of the competition, NEO seems to present itself as a saviour for Chinese technology innovation. If ICO’s begin to launch on the NEO platform at a similar rate to that of the Ethereum platform during 2017; it is possible that NEO can overtake some of the largest cryptocurrencies and be a top choice for developers that wish to build applications on the Blockchain. Thus driving a Chinese protocol to the forefront of the cryptocurrency ecosystem along with Ethereum and EOS. After all, Chinas government backed crypto rankings recently put EOS at the top spot. China may be able to get around U.S. obstacles by investing their time and money into becoming a leading cryptocurrency and Blockchain backed nation. China’s interest in Blockchain and Cryptocurrency is glowing, this is just another reason to be long-term bullish.
