Yunzhanghu Technology (China) Co., Ltd. (referred to as “Yunzhanghu”), ranking No. 411 of the Top 500 Enterprises of China, provides digital-enabled human resource services that have benefited over 87 million workers in new employment forms from 120 countries and regions, thus engraving global vision and insight in our mind. We have in turn harvested a bumper revenue of 97.4 billion in 2022, only seven years into the flexible employment service, thanks to the booming digital economy and the hard work of tens of millions of users. Riding on the wave of the ever-changing digital era, we now have decided to immerse ourselves into cryptocurrency to deliver yet more to the people, with our flagship cryptocurrency trading platform Accumulus operated by Accumulus GBA Technology (Hongkong) Co., Ltd. (referred to as “Accumulus [Hong Kong]”), which was invested and incorporated by Yunzhanghu, in the international financial hub of Hong Kong, where East meets West.

• Changes

Over the past 15 years, the intrinsic concepts of decentralization and deregulation that have won adolescent cryptocurrency support and recognition have also exposed it to the risk of ill-intentioned exploitation for illicit gains or criminal activities, which contradicts the intended promises of ensuring privacy and equal access to development dividends when the resourceful but recalcitrant juvenile was born amid the financial crisis in 2008. This has become a nightmare pestering most investors. Self-discipline has always been a fairy tale in business. What should have been done will be done despite intentional negligence or evasion of due responsibilities. Changes are underway.In October 2022, the government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) released the Policy Statement on Development of Virtual Assets in Hong Kong. In February 2023, Hong Kong issued a consultation paper to enhance regulation on virtual asset trading platforms before publishing the consultation conclusions in May based on 152 submissions from the public, including one contributed by Accumulus (Hong Kong). On June 1, the licensing regime for virtual asset trading platforms officially took effect in Hong Kong.

The ability of global reflection that allows one to make rational choices based on predictions of others’ moves instead of sticking to the hypothesis of maximizing personal gains is the natural result of the comprehensive evolution of human society. For 15 years, industry outsiders, including regulators, have been speculating on and researching into the intentions, logic, and value of cryptocurrencies, while the industry is seeking breakthroughs and trying to understand the concerns, worries, and expectations of the outsiders. As the regulation is taking over the industry at a speed and strength never seen before, the two sides, which used to doubt and even resist each other, are finally reconciled to a certain degree and begin to explore the most suitable and rewarding development path based on mutual understanding.

We firmly believe that regulation, long rejected by the industry, will bring profound changes and major opportunities for sustainable development for the industry. Regulation, in essence, assures credit security. At a time when cryptocurrencies have become part of the interests of the global population and the world cannot be reset as crypto-free, some tiny initial energy can trigger a domino effect. First of all, the first rule-maker who manages to balance regulation and development and protect the investors can build the broadest consensus and take the initiative to lead the future path. Those who fail to capture the opportunities amid the changes will lose the chance again to set out from the same starting line with others. Second, cryptocurrencies are likely to gain continuous and widespread recognition when regulation controls uncertainties of industry development within a reasonable scope. Still striving to gain more global recognition for its value, the industry will find its biggest opportunity in the largest potential market. This reminds us of the shoe seller story. Two shoe sellers try to sell their products in a desert. One of them comes back, upset, complaining that people in the desert do not wear shoes, while the other is thrilled to find that desert residents do not have shoes yet. Last but not least, although the regulation will benefit the industry in the long run, it will also concentrate short-term pressure on the market. The nascent changes not only present opportunities but also caution us against risks. Once the rules are changed, all accumulated experience no longer works and even impedes development or creates pitfalls. Currently, choosing countries and regions with regulatory certainty as well as trading platforms that embrace regulation is a reliable way to enhance security in the short term and get one step ahead in long-term planning. The future is dawning, we and all participants are standing at the forefront of the historic opportunity created by the historic changes.

• Regulation

Currently, an increasing number of investors are swarming the market with high hopes for cryptocurrencies, especially the young people who have missed the initial dividend. It does not matter whether they care only about the momentary ups and downs of the market or focus on how to explore the application scenarios of cryptocurrencies in the market economy to better serve global social and economic development and people’s needs. One thing remains the same – cryptocurrencies carry unprecedented dreams, shoulder unprecedented responsibilities, and rise to unprecedented challenges. The continuous and profound changes are driving us to accelerate business steps with determination. Almost parallel to the release of the statement mentioned above, Yunzhanghu set up a Hong Kong entity to brave into the red ocean and directly confront the competition, backed by our reflections on “what kind of enterprises is needed in this industry”.

Hong Kong, which is phasing in regulation with the utmost determination, boosts our confidence. The continuous release of regulatory policies in Hong Kong shows its heartfelt concern for the interests of the investors and keen awareness of risks. The measures introduced by Hong Kong, such as the establishment of the virtual asset service provider (VASP) licensing regime, the emphasis on the Responsible Officer (RO) and Managers-in-Charge (MIC) team, and a threshold of 98% of virtual assets stored in offline cold wallets, show a strong regulatory momentum beyond the industry expectation. Since the very beginning, the authorities have affirmed their determination and confidence to embrace the development opportunities of Web 3.0 and allow all investors to ride the express of the Internet-based cross-generational transformation. Considering the broader context where the crypto development in Hong Kong has received recognition and support from the central government of China, we are even more convinced of Hong Kong’s regulatory resolution and certainty. As the Chinese mainland completely bans cryptocurrencies, we choose Hong Kong as the location of our business and have come this far through a non-stop process of careful evaluation and verification. We have been blessed with positive advice and kind wishes along the way, which is the source of confidence that encourages us to take more responsibility for industry development.

The profound changes in the cryptocurrency industry have blurred the once-clear distinctions between advantages and disadvantages. What previous guarantees of success may fall short; the once-underdog may now have a winning hand. We came after the regulatory picture becomes clear. We aim for new missions in the new and evolving industrial landscape. We can face up to any examination of our history and embrace regulation without hesitation, with no vested interests we cannot part with. We will quickly respond to and implement in the highest standards whatever is required by regulators and is conducive to investors’ security. We will work for the sound development of the industry by providing whatever is wanted, needed, and relied on by the industry. As a business in the new era, we hold such an attitude to regulation that we aim to become a landmark regulatory compliance platform that maximizes the protection of investors’ interests and contribute, from a market player’s perspective, our advice and wisdom to building a prosperous market with dual emphases on compliance and development. Our reverence for regulation stems from the fact that Yunzhanghu’s business in the Chinese mainland has benefited from our embracing regulation and promoting industry compliance. For example, we assisted in introducing China’s first provincial-level human resource services management measures for the digital economy and led or participated in the formulation of 24 standards, including international, national, and local standards. We have also shared data with relevant government bodies in Tianjin to identify fugitives, suspected gambling, suspected pyramid schemes, social security and major tax violations, abnormal business operations, administrative penalties, and dishonest judgment debtors.

Yunzhanghu is equipped with a young team averaging 29 years old and led by a founder born after 1985. We are well-positioned to devote ourselves wholeheartedly to development planning for the following 30 years or even longer. The entrepreneurial achievements and methodologies accumulated throughout the past years make us resilient to all tests posed by cyclical fluctuations of the industry. It is both an objective requirement of the industry and a proactive choice of us to build from scratch long-termism based on regulation as well as development philosophies and clients’ trust based on long-termism. To a certain extent, Yunzhanghu has no other options given that we are closely intertwined with the interests of tens of millions of people in the Chinese mainland. As a local business born in Hong Kong, Accumulus (Hong Kong) insists on localized operations, with key positions occupied by Hong Kong people, major suppliers based in Hong Kong, platform systems deployed in Hong Kong, and ultimately, our fate inextricably connected with Hong Kong. We will take part in Hong Kong’s digital infrastructure construction while incorporating ourselves as part of the regulatory certainty, so as to provide high-quality products and services for people in Hong Kong and around the globe.

• Development

Every day is a new day, for the planet and for us. When the objective changes occurring on the planet meet our subjective changes, we can always enrich our understanding of the past and generate more expectations for the future. This is nothing but the plain truth. Bitcoin raised little interest for a long time after it was launched and remained no more than a “game” played by a small group of people. However, it was so wildly pursued after 2017 that most people found it already out of their reach. Many sighed when talking of the “extremely generous” programmer who lavished 10 000 Bitcoins, which are now worth over 200 million US dollars, on just two large pizzas. Hearsay or not, the story makes us wonder, with the same calmness of the programmer who “just want to let you know that I bought pizzas with 10 000 Bitcoins”, how many crypto opportunities and unknowns are awaiting us as Web 3.0 is approaching at an unprecedented pace.

Web 3.0 offers a decentralized, licence-free, and open-source alternative that will reshape the future by transforming computing, data storage, and peer-to-peer transactions. The fact that it is still in the conceptual stage – there is even no consensus on the concept itself yet – cannot stop us from holding great expectations for the advent of novel stuff brimful of endless possibilities. Cryptocurrencies are a natural fit with Web 3.0. When people talk about the vision of Web 3.0, they believe that the main role of cryptocurrencies is to facilitate user interaction in Web 3.0 and smoothen communication and collaboration. Thus, it is only natural to use cryptocurrencies as a pass in the Web 3.0 era. We also believe that cryptocurrencies, as a decentralized payment system built upon blockchain technology, are the soil on which new things grow. The underlying consistency between the concept and technology will make cryptocurrencies the universal currency of Web 3.0 in the future. Technology changes the world. This is the reason why 1 Bitcoin would surely get you more pizzas.

What further grows our confidence is what we are witnessing right now. On February 16, 2023, the government of HKSAR issued 800 million HK dollars of tokenized green bonds, which marks the world’s first batch of securities issued by the government through the blockchain network. Hong Kong has proved with its actions that by leveraging the advantages of fintech innovation, tokenized bonds can serve the real economy well. Accumulus (Hong Kong) will explore the issuance of security tokens, bridging the blockchain industry, the traditional financial market, and the real economy. We will serve start-ups that have not reached break-even but show certain potentials, or meet such policies as green development but have not satisfied listing requirements by providing efficient, easy, and low-cost access to global capital funding, as well as innovative financing models and diversified financing channels. We are driven by the development needs of the real economy and will ultimately serve the development of the real economy. Accumulus (Hong Kong) will start with the crypto trading business to improve technology and accumulate experience for future security token offerings. We will also research extensively into the feasible pathways to serve the development of the real economy through green and sustainable financial practices. Through continuous product innovations, we will promote technological and governance mechanism innovations and consolidate the underlying logic of industry development. The potential of innovation-driven development should not stop here. We will explore the international pathway of e-CNY to forge a synergy with e-HKD in virtual assets while enlarging the application scope and increasing the use frequency of RMB in international clearing, settlement, and payment through experiments on technology, models, and products. As a global enterprise, we have the vision to integrate into China’s modernization endeavor and make the world a better place.

• Aspirations

Our choices are guided and influenced by two directions of thinking: the first concerns what kind of persons we want to become, and the other is about what kind of a world we want to live in. Many places around the world are still trapped in local wars; the dividends of global economic development are yet to be distributed equally; people are in need of better protection of their interests. In the “global village” where countries are interdependent and people are closely interconnected, any decision may become a small but mighty force affecting the world. We can hardly deny that a thinking, decision-making, and action pattern that prioritizes righteousness over material gains is the only way to disseminate peace and love into every corner of the world, without which we cannot survive or live, although not everyone recognizes and adopts the pattern.

As a China-based team led by the founder with multiple years of studying and work experience in the West, we recognize and respect cultural differences, but we are also aware that it is not all about, and not even mostly about, the differences. Chinese President XI Jinping advocates “a community with a shared future for humanity”, which is deeply rooted in the ancient Chinese philosophy of universal harmony and co-existence, as exemplified by quotes such as “all under heaven belong to the people” and “harmony without uniformity”. In the West, whether it is cosmopolitanism put forward by the Stoics after the collapse of the city-state system of ancient Greece or Immanuel KANT’s idea of “perpetual peace” in the Enlightenment in modern Europe, the commonality and empathy of humanity always survive and last throughout the long history. Today, the unanimous crackdown on the use of cryptocurrencies for criminal activities continues to confirm the same commonality and empathy that transcends countries, nations, cultures, and ideologies. We do not buy anarchism.

The advent of Bitcoin gave us one more approach to getting infinitely closer to the ideal world. 15 years on, we are grateful to all the believers and practitioners who have participated in building the cryptocurrency. All great things evolve from creation. Having embarked on the path that they pioneered with hard work, we are gaining a better understanding of how cryptocurrencies win gradual popularity since birth, and start a new journey to build a new era of cryptocurrencies and create new value. The new era, as we understand it, entails taking the initiative to strengthen cooperation with governments as well as industry’s compliant operations and embracing strong regulation. When cryptocurrencies are well-regulated, it will be a scheme worth discussion, if not downright necessary, that the national sovereign funds can take positions and become important participants in the development and governance as rational decision-makers. We will gradually seek support from mainstream institutional investors and remain committed to gaining the recognition of traditional financial cornerstone investors. The new value, as we understand it, entails focusing on the inclusiveness of cryptocurrencies, helping people worldwide to join the genuine decentralized system, and protecting users’ interests in an all-around way, backed by the policy security provided by regulation. The development goal is to share the dividends of fintech innovations while having efficiency and equity at the same time, allowing all people to hold crypto and benefit from it. We will create new value as we deeply explore the functions of financial service infrastructure, enrich and expand application scenarios, promote the free allocation of resources and the low-cost flow of production factors worldwide, and serve the development of the global real economy. In short, through the sincere practice of the cryptocurrency business, we aim to promote the common values of peace, development, equity, justice, democracy, and freedom shared by all mankind, work towards a world full of peace and love, and protect people’s interests. In this way, we will fulfill the aspirations of the global population for a better life as well as strengthen global governance, building in joint efforts a new form of international relations characterized by cooperation and mutual benefit and a community with a shared future for mankind.

A better future for all beckons. We are driven by this aspiration, and we are heading to this aspiration.

Accumulus Management Team

August 2023