Why China is not banning the bitcoin - Marc van der Chijs

+Marc van der Chijs 

Bitcoin expert and former serial entrepreneur in China Marc van der Chijs gives on his weblog his view on the latest developments of Bitcoin. Unlike the common opinion, Van der Chijs believes China is not trying to ban the bitcoin, but tries to contain the new financial feature. 

Marc van der Chijs:

China’s Bitcoin news over the past weeks has surprised me, but I think most people misinterpret the Chinese Bitcoin rules. The country is not trying to ban it, just wants to make sure speculation is not getting out of control until they better understand it. I would not be surprised it the country itself is actually buying Bitcoin. China wants to have more influence in the financial world, but it knows it can never control the USD. It’s unlikely that the RMB can take over this role because of a lack of trust in China, even though the Chinese currency is now the 2nd biggest currencies for trade finance. Bitcoin would be a great solution to gain more global financial influence and it would therefore make sense for China to be active in the Bitcoin market. 

Of course you could then come up with a conspiracy theory saying that China tried to reduce the price by not allowing banks and 3rd party payment providers to deal with Bitcoin, but I think that’s a bit too far fetched. However, I still wonder about one thing: who was buying Bitcoin on Chinese exchanges after the ban on payment providers to work with Bitcoin providers in China? Because nobody could fund their RBM accounts anymore and a lot of people were trying to sell, the price should have gone to zero. But that did not happen, after a major drop in price parties started buying again on the Chinese exchanges and the RMB/Bitcoin price started climbing up. But who was buying if no Chinese could add money to their accounts? Maybe I am overlooking something obvious here, but there is only one party I can think of…

More on Marc van der Chijs´weblog.

Marc van der Chijs is a speaker at the China Speakers Bureau. Do you need him at your meeting or conference? Do get in touch or fill in our speakers´request form.  

Related articles

• Foreign entrepreneurs: avoid China - Marc van der Chijs
• Why I decided to leave Shanghai - Marc van der Chijs
• When Tudou and Youku merged - Marc van der Chijs
• Where Mary Meeker is wrong on China - Marc van der Chijs
• What does it take for an entrepreneur to succeed in China? - Marc van der Chijs

Joining Sinolending board - Marc van der Chijs

Marc van der Chijs

The banking industry is one of the sectors where disruption by the internet will be huge, writes angel investor Marc van der Chijs in his weblog. "Most major banks are still living in the 20th century." He joined SinoLending board, a firm focusing on making getting loans easier. 

Marc van der Chijs:

One problem I have encountered many times over the past years, is that companies or individuals are not able to get bank loans. Even if the company is doing well and only needs a temporary loan, the banks are not able (or not willing) to gives these loans. This is a major problem for China’s growth and it’s an important reason why the whole shadow banking industry developed in China. SinoLending can help to solve this problem. SinoLending’s proprietary and state of the art technology gives the company a huge advantage over traditional banks by reducing the cost of customer acquisition, underwriting, fund managements, bad debt collections, regulatory compliance, and reporting. Better rates and better returns are now a reality in China. As a lender you get returns of on average 15-20% per year, much higher than you get anywhere else, and even a lot higher than I get on my Lending Club loans. .. 

I looked at several China based p2p platforms and think SinoLending is by far the most professional with an excellent back-end system (similar to Lending Club) and a great Chinese management team. Although there is a big regulatory risk in China I believe this company can become the leader in this space because of Soul’s previous experience, because of his strong team and because of their good local connections. Therefore I am happy to announce that after a few months of advising the company I now formally joined the SinoLending board, so I can help the company even better to achieve its goals.

More on Marc van der Chijs' weblog.

Marc van der Chijs is a speaker at the China Speakers Bureau. Do you need him at your meeting or conference? Do get in touch or fill in our speakers' request form.

China Weekly Hangout

The +China Weekly Hangout discussed on October 11, 2012 innovation as a power of change in China, with political scientist +G. E. Anderson and China consultant at-large +Janet Carmosky. Moderation by +Fons Tuinstra of the China Speakers Bureau.  

Related articles

• Leaving Shanghai pollution behind me - Marc van der Chijs
• Foreign entrepreneurs: avoid China - Marc van der Chijs
• Life start-ups tougher in China than in Silicon Valley - Marc van der Chijs
• Where Mary Meeker is wrong on China - Marc van der Chijs
• The economic damage of internet filters - Marc van der Chijs

Where Mary Meeker is wrong on China - Marc van der Chijs

Marc van der Chijs

Cheers from VC Marc van der Chijs for Mary Meeker, who gave a lot of attention to China in her latest "The State of the Internet". She underestimates the size of China's internet companies by using under-reporting figures from Comscore, he writes on his weblog. 

+Marc van der Chijs:

Mary Meeker makes a mistake by saying that the top 8 of biggest Global Internet Properties are all US companies. The data they use (based on Comscore) suggest that #9 (Tencent) and #10 (Baidu) both have less than 300 million unique monthly visitors. This is far below their real user numbers, the Comscore figures for China are always way too low. It should have been clear from some of her other charts that her figures are too low, for example WeChat (a Tencent app that was launched 18 months ago) already has 400 million users. WeChat is just one of many of Tencent’s services. Later she mentions Sina Weibo with 530 million users, which did not even make it in the top 10. Not a big deal, but in my opinion Chinese companies should be ranked much higher in the Global Internet Properties list.

More on Marc van der Chijs' weblog.  

Marc van der Chijs is a speaker at the China Speakers Bureau. Do you need him at your meeting or conference? Do get in touch or fill in our speakers' request form.

+China Weekly Hangout 

One of the reasons China's labor force is changing, is because people are better connected than ever. Workers can complain anonymous via chat rooms in QQ, explained +Dee Lee (Inno) of  Inno, a Guangzhou-based hotline, who joined the China Weekly Hangout last week.  Heleen Mees, NYU professor in New York, entrepreneur +Sam Xu and +Fons Tuinstra , of the China Speakers Bureau, ask him questions.

Related articles

• Why I decided to leave Shanghai - Marc van der Chijs
• KPCB's Mary Meeker: The Full D11 Interview (Video)
• People Actually Use QR Codes (In China)

Why I decided to leave Shanghai - Marc van der Chijs

Marc van der Chijs

A tougher business climate, poor internet connections and other problems did not deter serial entrepreneur Marc van der Chijs from working in Shanghai. But when his son started coughing, he left for Vancouver, Canada. The pollution the tipping point, he tells The Vancouver Sun. 

The Vancouver Sun:

“My son was getting asthma. He was coughing a lot,” said van der Chijs, who moved his family to West Vancouver and set up with venture capital company Cross Pacific Capital. “We went to see the doctor and he said it was probably pollution-related. As parents, we felt pretty bad about it.” 

Van der Chijs isn’t the first, nor likely the last, expatriate to flee China because of the country’s notorious smog... 

Air pollution has also been worsening in Shanghai over the years, van der Chijs said. A trail runner, he never ran outside while he was there, preferring to run on a treadmill, while his children rarely played outside. 

“It was off the scales sometimes. If it was really bad there I just stayed inside,” he said. “When you live here you realize it’s not the norm.” 

Exposure to high levels of air pollution can lead to cardiovascular and lung disease, and increase the risk of cancer... 

Van der Chijs admits he likely wouldn’t have felt the urgency to leave China if his son hadn’t become sick. 

“I like China a lot. It’s just very hard for families who live there,” he said. “I’m very happy to be here. It’s night and day compared with what you have over there.”

More in the Vancouver Sun.

Marc van der Chijs is a speaker at the China Speakers Bureau. Do you need him at your meeting or conference? Do get in touch or fill in  our speakers' request form.

+China Weekly Hangout

Pollution featured already more than once in our China Weekly Hangout. Our most-watched session, with now over 2,000 viewers, is the discussion with +Richard Brubaker of AllRoadsLeadtoChina and CEIBS on the rampant pollution in China. Is it getting worse, and what can be done? Moderator: +Fons Tuinstra of the +China Speakers Bureau.

 The China Weekly Hangout is holding on May 9 an open office, where you can discuss current affairs in China or suggest subjects for hangouts later this year. You can read our announcement here, or register for the hangout here.  

Update:

A few potential subjects have already emerged ahead of the upcoming hangout:

1. What can you earn in China, focused on business executive

2. The Chinese influence on the Australian/New Zealand dairy industry

3. Chinese tourism in New Zealand and Australia.

Related articles

• Chinese brands fighting global heavyweights - Shaun Rein
• Why I left China - Marc van der Chijs
• Size matters for mainland start-ups - Marc van der Chijs
• Tudou co-founder Marc van der Chijs: 'Bye, bye, China'
• Why I'm leaving China - opinion

Has China's internet returned to 'normal'? - China Weekly Hangout

Beijing March 2011 (Photo credit: Remko Tanis)

The controls on China's internet have always been a nuisance - especially for those working on international business from China. But during the past months, trouble increased, supposedly because of the power transition from the Hu Jintao to the Xi Jinping team, during the party congress and the March' National People's Congress. In December we even hosted a +China Weekly Hangout   about VPN's, as China's censors seemed to target more actively those workarounds of the censorship.
The frustration grew and the troubled internet connections popped up regularly as one of the reason for people to leave China. Of course, never was the filtered internet the only reason, but for people like internet entrepreneur +Marc van der Chijs it was certainly one.
But Xi Jinping is now in place, the meetings are over, so the question is whether the internet is back to 'normal', as far as China has a normal internet. We are looking for your input.

The +China Weekly Hangout will discuss the current state of China's internet, and we might even speculate on what we can expect in the near future, as loosening media controls, and checks on the internet, does not seem to be on the agenda.
We are looking for people who have on the ground experience with the internet, and can help us to piece together a picture for the near future. Are you interested? You can register to participate at our event page here.
The hangout will be held on Thursday 25 April, 10pm Beijing Time, 4pm CEST (Europe) and 10pm EST (US/Canada)
You can watch the event here, on our event page and on YouTube, if you do not participate directly. Until the event you can send questions and remarks by leaving a comment here, or at our event page. During the event you can leave messages via Twitter, Google+ and our YouTube channel (do add the hash tag #CWHCWH).
For some good background, you can read a special of +The Economist on the internet in China or listen to the Sinica Podcast with auther +Gady Epstein, interviewed by +Kaiser Kuo and +Jeremy Goldkorn.



The previously announced hangout on North Korea has been postponed, as the current crisis seems to have fizzled out a bit. But we are sure we might get new opportunities.

On December 20, 2012 the +China Weekly Hangout discussed the problems with VPN's with +Sam Xu, +John R. Otto and +Gabriel Rüeck. Moderation was in the hands of +Fons Tuinstra of the +China Speakers Bureau.

Related articles

• Why I left China - Marc van der Chijs
• What do you expect from Xi Jinping? - China Weekly Hangout
• Bird flu: what learned China from SARS? - China Weekly Hangout
• Size matters for mainland start-ups - Marc van der Chijs
• Why WeChat works better in China - Tricia Wang
• China's media in Africa - China Weekly Hangout

Size matters for mainland start-ups - Marc van der Chijs

Marc van der Chijs

In China start-ups are successful and huge, or you fail, there is no way in between, says serial entrepreneur Marc van der Chijs in the Wall Street Journal. His success was video-sharing company Tudou, other ventures saw more trouble. 

The Wall Street Journal:

Since Tudou, he has helped establish two more companies in China, with varying success. The first was an online video games company called Spilgames Asia, and most recently UnitedStyles, a website which allows users to design their own fashion. However, securing venture capital in China for UnitedStyles was difficult, prompting him to exit China’s startup scene and move to Canada as an investment professional for CrossPacific Capital Partners. 

UnitedStyles “started up pretty good, but then hit a wall. It’s hard to get VC in China…because of the foreign team,” he said. “It’s tiring. Sometimes you win and sometimes you lose.”   

That said, van der Chijs hasn’t severed links with China’s startup scene altogether as he will oversee CrossPacific’s investments made in North America looking to expand into China. The firm is currently targeting a $100 million maiden fund to close this year, he said.

More in the Wall Street Journal. Marc van der Chijs is a speaker at the China Speakers Bureau. Do you need him at your meeting or conference? Do get in touch or fill in our speakers' request form.

The +China Weekly Hangout is Thursday April 4 going to focus on Xi Jinping's upcoming tenure. Which of the 14 subjects discussed during the recent NPC do you think at important. See here our survey and announcement. Here you can register for the event. Earlier we discussed already one of the issues: food security and dead pigs, in our session two weeks ago with +Richard Brubaker , +Andrew Hupert , +Chris Brown , moderated by +Fons Tuinstra  

Related articles

• Why I left China - Marc van der Chijs (chinaspeakersbureau.info)
• Tudou co-founder Marc van der Chijs: 'Bye, bye, China' (sgentrepreneurs.com)
• Why I'm leaving China - opinion (money.cnn.com)
• Dutch Co-Founder of Tudou Leaves China, Cites Worsening Web and Pollution Woes (techinasia.com)
• A Few Foreigners Are Leaving China ... (theatlantic.com)

Why I left China - Marc van der Chijs

Marc van der  Chijs

Foreigners have always been leaving China, but every now and then a high-profile departure hits the headlines. In CNN formerly Shanghai-based entrepreneur Marc van der Chijs explains why he left for Vancouver, Canada.

Marc van der Chijs:

Over the years, doing business had become more and more difficult for a non-Chinese. Although many areas have opened up for foreign investment, outsiders are not always able to do business on equal terms with Chinese entrepreneurs. 

For example, foreigners need more capital to set up a business. Once you have a business up and running, it will be more closely scrutinized than Chinese firms. There are still tons of business opportunities available in China, but I generally felt less welcome in recent years as a foreign entrepreneur. 

Much more important than this, however, was the fact that air pollution and food quality were getting worse in my adopted home. 

I have a family with two young kids, and found myself wondering about the health effects of long-term exposure to hazardous air. Without children, the pollution may not have been as important a factor to me, but I want my kids to grow up in a healthy environment. I also missed being able to exercise outside, having been forced to run indoors on a treadmill for several years -- even while training for marathons.

More about too slow internet connections and pollution in CNN.

Marc van der Chijs is a speaker at the China Speakers Bureau. Do you need him at your meeting or conference? Do get in touch or fill in our speakers' request form.

In one of its earlier sessions, in September 2012, the China Weekly Hangout discussed why foreigners are leaving China, with three China veterans, two of whom left China. Andrew Hupert joining us from Chicago, Richard Brubaker from Shanghai and Fons Tuinstra from Lausanne, Switzerland.

Related articles

• Tudou co-founder Marc van der Chijs: 'Bye, bye, China' (sgentrepreneurs.com)
• Baidu is an even worse company now that Google is gone (chinesebox.typepad.com)

A festival of broken start-up dreams - Marc van der Chijs

Marc van der Chijs

Shanghai-based VC Marc van der Chijs has a brilliant idea. Why not use the many failed business ideas and technology of start-ups and create an online market of broken dreams? He has not the time to execute, he writes on his weblog, so he hopes somebody steals his idea. 

Marc van der Chijs:

Normally these teams already have a working prototype or built a working piece of software (I never look at plans that are still in the idea phase). Normally I don’t hear anything from these entrepreneurs again, but sometimes I hear from other investors that the company didn’t make it and shut down. Other teams manage to get some funding but eventually also don’t survive. 

If you know that out of every 10 angel investments only 1 or 2 do really well and maybe another 1 or 2 generally just break even, it means that the vast majority of funded businesses eventually fail. If you also take into account the business that never raise any money, it probably means that 75-80% of all implemented business ideas never get off the ground. 

From experience I know that most founders just abandon the idea and do something different. But that means that there is a huge amount of software, apps, websites and product designs out there that have value to other start-ups, but that nobody knows about. Many business ideas could still be successful in a different market or with a different team. 

My idea would be to build an online market for virtual assets of failed companies, a Boulevard of Broken Dreams. It could be a database where companies can describe what virtual assets they have (probably source code is most interesting, but possibly also designs or even ideas that can be patented), and others can browse them and bid for these assets. I think you would be surprised how many source codes could be (partially) re-used in other start-ups. That would save new (or existing) businesses a lot of time, because they can get started with a working source code for a similar product that they are working on.

More on Marc van der Chijs' weblog.

Marc van der Chijs is a speaker at the China Speakers Bureau. Do you need him at your meeting or conference? Do get in touch or fill in our speakers' request form.

Related articles

• Shanghai Marathon still accepts Japanese - Marc van der Chijs (chinaspeakersbureau.info)
• UnitedStyles: Where Fashion is All Up to You (dailynewsmug.com)

Shanghai Marathon still accepts Japanese - Marc van der Chijs

Marc van der Chijs

The Beijing Marathon refuses Japanese "for security reasons", the Shanghai Marathon kicked out a Japanese sponsor, but still accepts Japanese runners, writes participant Marc van der Chijs on his weblog. 

Marc van der Chijs:

I went to the Beijing Marathon site to check if it’s really true that Japanese can’t join, but after registering as a user I could not continue the registration process because I did not receive their confirmation email. Maybe they put all registrations on hold because people started complaining to the press? 

Because I plan to participate in the Shanghai marathon on Dec. 2, I immediately checked their website as well. The Shanghai Marathon kicked out their Japanese sponsor (they were forced to do so by the government), so I was a bit worried that they would also not allow Japanese to join. But luckily that was not the case, so if you are Japanese and living in China (and you’re not sick and tired of all the anti-Japanese campaigns that don’t seem to stop) you could potentially still run in Shanghai.

More at Marc van der Chijs' weblog.

Marc van der Chijs is a speaker at the China Speakers Bureau. Do you need him at your meeting or conference? Do get in touch or fill in our speakers' request form.

The China Weekly Hangout will focus next Thursday on the global ambitions of China's internet companies. For our announcement, please go here, or you can register directly at our event page. You can see all previous editions on our YouTube channel. 

Related articles

• Shanghai nixes Japanese marathon sponsor - Marc van der Chijs (chinaspeakersbureau.info)
• China accepts Japanese runners for Beijing Marathon in about-face (english.kyodonews.jp)
• Beijing Marathon bars Japan runners (japantimes.co.jp)

Shanghai nixes Japanese marathon sponsor - Marc van der Chijs

Marc van der Chijs

"Sport and politics do not go together in China," sights Marc van der Chijs, serial entrepreneur and marathon running, on his weblog, after he learned the Shanghai government kicked out Shanghai marathon sponsor Toray after 16-years, because the company is Japanese. Marc van der Chijs:

For 16 years Toray has been the title sponsor and this year they would again sponsor the race. On Monday organizers held a press conference with Toray management and some Shanghai government officials present. The event just started when suddenly other government told the organizers to stop the press conference. 

What happened? Because of the new tensions about the Diaoyu islands (or the Senkakus in Japanese) the government felt that it could not allow Japanese sponsorship for the Shanghai marathon. So in the middle of a press conference they decided to tell Toray that they could not continue their sponsorship! Even for me, after all these years in China, this is quite unbelievable. What will now happen to this year’s Shanghai Marathon I don’t know, the website is currently down... 

Shanghai will likely get government sponsorship to make up for the lost revenue from Toray, but will likely lose a lot of its participants. Tons of them were Japanese, and not only will these runners cancel this year’s participation, they also won’t return next year. Sports and politics don’t go together.

More on Marc van der Chijs' weblog and why the Beijing marathon will be cancelled.

Marc van der Chijs is a speaker at the China Speakers Bureau. Do you need him at your meeting or conference? Do get in touch or fill in our speakers' request form.

Related articles

• What does it take for an entrepreneur to succeed in China? - Marc van der Chijs (chinaspeakersbureau.info)

What does it take for an entrepreneur to succeed in China? - Marc van der Chijs

Marc van der Chijs

Marc van der Chijs co-founded Tudou, worked for Spil Games Asia, and now organized fashion firm United Styles. What does it take to succeed as an entrepreneur in  China, asked the SXL Group our serial entrepreneur and former VC.

Marc van der Chijs:

If you want to start a Chinese Internet company make sure you first get some work experience in China before you jump in on your own. If you want to work for a Chinese Internet company try to join an Internet start-up that you like. Offer to work for them for a very low salary with a good option package and many will be interested. Of course you will need to speak Chinese first, without that skill you will have a hard time to find something suitable. Most important, make sure you are really an entrepreneur and not doing it for fame or riches. Most start-ups will fail, and unless you really like what you are doing and don't mind living with high stress and uncertainty for years don't even think about striking out on your own. But if you feel you have what it takes, go for it as soon as you feel you have enough experience to make it a success.

More in the newsletter of the SXL Group.

Marc van der Chijs is a speaker at the China Speakers Bureau. Do you need him at your meeting or conference? Do get in touch or fill in our speakers' request form.  

Related articles

• Why the New York Times heads for an internet block - Marc van der Chijs (chinaspeakersbureau.info)
• When Tudou and Youku merged - Marc van der Chijs (chinaspeakersbureau.info)
• Language Learning Marketplace italki Gets Seed Funding (techinasia.com)
• Beijing Startup Goes Full Crazy on Web Design... By Keeping It Simple (pandodaily.com)

Why the New York Times heads for an internet block - Marc van der Chijs

Marc van der Chijs

The New York Times started an online edition in simplified Chinese to lure luxury good advertisers. A commendable move, writes serial entrepreneur Marc van der Chijs on his weblog, but also a receipt for disaster, as an internet block seems unavoidable.

Marc van der Chijs:

The New York Times decided to host the site outside the Great Firewall, which is probably a necessity because they would have likely never received a Chinese Internet publishing license. But by doing that they run the risk that the site can by blocked at any moment. It is difficult to judge how likely that is, but for sure the government doesn’t like it when foreign media companies start targeting their population in simplified Chinese. YouTube is a good example, they were allowed in China until they launched a simplified Chinese language site. 

So far the NYT was not blocked in China, although sometimes specific articles were censored. But with a Chinese site that may be different. One wrong article could lead to the whole nytimes.com domain being blocked (for some reason they did not use a separate domain name for their Chinese site, something I would have done to test the waters), meaning that also English language content won’t be available anymore.

More on Marc van der Chijs' weblog.

Marc van der Chijs is a speaker at the China Speakers Bureau. Do you need him at your meeting or conference? Do get in touch or fill in our speakers' request form.

When Tudou and Youku merged - Marc van der Chijs

Marc van der Chijs

"Yes, it felt weird," summerizes Tudou-founder Marc van der Chijs the decision in March to merge with rival Youku, the numbers one and two on China's competitive video hosting market. But it was the right way to go forward, he tells The Pandodaily.

The Pandodaily:

In the seven years since [since their start], Tudou, like Youku, has grown into a major media channel, producing original content as well as benefiting from hosting its fair share of pirated TV shows and films. Youku, which launched in June 2006, has a very similar offering but would ultimately become the leader, claiming about 22 percent market share to Tudou’s 13 percent. In February 2010, the two agreed to share original content in a combined effort to stave off outside competition. 

As part of the $1.1 billion merger, Youku agreed to acquire Tudou to form Youku Tudou Inc. (Update: A reader has pointed out that the name, amusingly, translates to “Excellent Cool Potato”). Together, they will be gigantic. Each site claims 250 million to 300 million unique monthly users, and they own a third of the online video market, which, like most Internet sectors in China, is very fragmented. Baidu’s iQiyi and Ku6 are among the other major players in the space... 

So you can imagine Van der Chijs’ mixed emotions. But then, he’s quick to see the upside, and, as a shareholder, he no doubt enjoyed the benefits of the pop in Tudou’s share price, which tripled on news of the announcement. Van der Chijs, who was careful not to discuss stock information while the merger is still being finalized, is optimistic for the future of the new company. “I think Tudou and Youku together can actually do a lot more than Tudou could alone and Youku did alone,” he said. “So although it feels a bit weird, I really think it’s the right decision.”

More in the Pandodaily.

Marc van der Chijs is a speaker at the China Speakers Bureau. Do you need him at your meeting or conference? Do get in touch or fill in our speakers' request form.  

Related articles

• The rising tide of angle investors - Marc van der Chijs

  ---

• Anti-foreigner sentiment on the rise - Marc van der Chijs

  ---

• Top-10 most-read stories in May 2012

  ---