Boxmining v2

Author: Michael Gu

  • Elastos Explained – what’s a decentralized internet

    Elastos Explained – what’s a decentralized internet

    Elastos is a third generation technology that leverages blockchain technology in giving internet users complete control over their digital properties. The protection that Elastos provide is beyond cryptocurrencies or private data. It covers other intellectual properties such as books, games, movies, and business ideas.

    Elastos is a new Internet technology that is revolutionizing online security and smart technology. Elastos is built on the concept of removing middleman, monetizing computing power, protecting digital assets and offering incentivised digital properties transactions with enhanced security and speed at an affordable cost.

    How does Elastos work?

    Elastos operates in an isolated environment called a virtual machine that runs on elastos runtime. Its is a lightweight operating system kept in a little box. To penetrate the system, an attacker has to create their own box and connect to the user’s data.

    If hackers manage to breach the security, Elastos does not grant Internet access so the information derived cannot be sent out or uploaded to the third-party websites like YouTube, Facebook or Dropbox.

    Alternatively, the hacker may try to download it to external storage, but elastos requires that the owners of the data grant permission from their end. Therefore unless the owners voluntarily share their digital assets, hackers cannot take possession of it giving owners exclusive protection over the data they secure with elastos.

    In another instance, assuming the hackers try to connect another virtual machine like engineering artificial intelligence (AI) scanner, it can only scan and check the data, but it is not transferable as it is an isolated device. The information cannot be passed on to the outside world.

    In another real-life instance, assuming you have a session with your doctor and he connects to your virtual machine, he can only read your medical report but will not be able to save a copy. It is also imperative to the point that the moment you close your Elastos machine, the information viewed by the doctor will be permanently erased guaranteeing you topmost security.

    The Blockchain Technology Behind Elastos

    Now that we know how Elastos works, it is possible for readers to conclude that Elastos does not need a blockchain technology to function in reality, the blockchain provides the secure ID to access Elastos.
    In a case where a hacker tries to override the user’s security, it is the blockchain that will be responsible for the assurance that the ID is authentic, not tampered with, void of virus and malware, and perfectly matches with the one registered in the block.

    Blockchain provides a layer of trust for all the virtual machines that want to connect to a system.

    Real Life Application of Elastos

    Business and Enterprise

    It helps businesses and enterprises to protect the trade secrets, for instance, Coca-Cola can use it to store their recipe menu which will not be available to anyone without their permission

    Professionals

    To safeguard valuable private data and ensure that only people with permission can access the information stored on it

    Content Creators

    Authors, content creators, movies and game developers can leverage the use of elastos in securing the ownership of their intellectual properties. With that, they can scale up their earnings and prevent illegal distributions of their contents to unauthorized users.

    Also, the content owners can use elastos to create a scarcity of their digital asset thereby increasing its value.

    Developers

    Elastos provides large blockchain applications in a secure environment and keeps contents intact after multiple uses

    Ethereum vs. Elastos

    Ethereum operates on a single main chain structure leading to speed limitation while elastos adopts main chain and side chain structure that speeds up the transaction, payment and smart contract support for several applications and services

    Ethereum experiences network congestion and data redundancy while Elastos is the more secure runtime with the independent operating system, software development kit (SDK) that speed up the operating process and prevent data congestion.

    Ethereum exposes data to risk as it employs a front end decentralized application (DApps) while elastos make use of a safe DApps prevented from accessing the networks thus protecting data from DDos. Also, elastos doesn’t make use of IP addresses which implies that hackers cannot track users’ activities.

    Conclusion

    In conclusion, Elastos is a disruptive third generation blockchain technology that offers total protection of data and vital confidential information for an individual or a corporate body. The innovative technology will help content owners to maximize the returns on the sale of their digital assets thus making more from their intellectual properties. Elastos is a very beneficial technology that every user of the internet should have in their possession to create a more secure internet environment for all.

  • Binance CEO Interview: Future of Exchange, Binance DEX, and BNB

    Binance CEO Interview: Future of Exchange, Binance DEX, and BNB

    I caught up with Binance CEO, CZ (Changpeng Zhao), at Binance Blockchain Week. I asked him about the future of the exchange, Binance Chain (BNB), Binance DEX and STOs.

    Binance CEO Interview: Future of Exchange, Binance DEX, and BNB

    To find out more about Binance, we have full Binance Exchange Review.

    CZ’s vision for Binance and Crypto ecosystem

    Micheal: What do you think about the crypto space at the moment?

    CZ: Personally, I think we are in a better place than we were this time last year. We are healthier than ever and there are tons of great things to invest in. The valuations are high and those who are building now have really good products, contrary to how it was when the market was high. Everyone at the conference has many ideas and more people are enthusiastic. The number of people going to conferences, the number of people working in this industry is increasing so the industry still going very strong even though the price of dropped a little bit since last year but if you look at two years ago it was like $300 for a Bitcoin so today’s 3000 it’s not too bad at all.

    Michael: What’s the vision for Binance going into 2019?

    CZ: We want to build five to ten Fiat on-ramps around different parts of the world hopefully spreading out from different continents. We see that as a limiting factor for the market and we also see there is an overwhelming need for it in the Jersey market. We want money coming in from the fiat market but on the flip side, we also see the need for a decentralized exchange.

    Binance DEX – Decentralized Exchange built on Binance Chain

    Binance DEX: Decentralized exchange

    Michael: What is happening with the decentralized exchange? Will they be competing against each other?

    CZ: I don’t think it competes at all. There are three categories really so there are people who use Fiat to crypto centralized exchanges and now you can’t really decentralize anyway because the banking relationship you can’t do it. Then there are people who are using crypto to crypto centralizing because there are very high liquidity faster systems etc and then this exchange you got to rely on exchange some people view that as less secure, some people view that is more secure than doing themselves and then there are the guys who want to control their own private Keys who want to be more anonymous. So most of the guys in the core community are heavy power users and they’re loud they speak more and the others, they want to use Dex so we see that as not really competing we’re just offering different solutions to different people and we always let the user choose and we let the market choose. Overall, most people think decentralized exchanges will be the future.

    M: Will we see familiar tokens on the decentralized exchange?

    CZ: I think over time we will see more coins traded on the decentralized exchange because there’s less control we already have confirmation of a number of large projects were doing that they have to migrate completely from Ethereum on to finance. So, basically, if you’re only using ERC-20 as a token there’s no real reason for you to stay on Ethereum. There’s a lot of benefits with Binance, lesser cost transactions and it integrates a native Dex decentralized exchange so you don’t have to use a slower more expensive distance-wise exchange. So the Binance chain is actually a very simple chain where to create a token you don’t write a small contract so you just you just specify a few parameters you specify the token name the token symbol and how many decimals you have and pay a relatively large fee initially as we want to block out the scammers. Pay a fee in and boom you have your current you have your token so it’s much easier to use much less programming involved and so because we don’t have the smart contract there will be no EVMs making virtual machines to be faster so it’s a much condensed special-purpose chain.

    Security Token Offerings (STOs)

    M: What are your opinions on STO’s?

    CZ: It is definitely a very interesting space but excuse relates very heavily to regulatory regulations so we already have regulatory licenses at different places with different partners long term. It’s not our strength so we’re kind of waiting to see how other people do it and once other people figure out what they do. We can potentially copy them shamelessly and then grow that. (https://idealhealth123.com/) It requires a lot of lawyers a lot of guys in the regulator space so it’s one for the future, we are more technology-based right now.

    CZ showing off his new Binance Tattoo

    Getting to know CZ

    M: What’s the weirdest place you have used Twitter?

    CZ: I don’t know, I love Twitter. I am just myself and it’s nice to interact with the community and get feedback. Sometimes I attack people sometimes I am polite, I just am myself.

    M: Tell us about your Binance tattoo?

    CZ:  I was in Singapore with Gareth and Luke, and Luke had a bitcoin, coin finance tattoo and he said he was going to get a Binance one so I thought I should get one also. Then Gareth said he wanted a Binance tattoo too. So the three of us went to a tattoo shop in Singapore I got it like about a month ago so now it’s healed really well I like it.

    M: What’s your next tattoo going to be?

    CZ: Yeah actually I’m okay with one for now. I think for me the logo is very meaningful, I think if you want to put something on your body it has to be meaningful to you. I like it, yeah but I don’t think I’ll get a second tattoo anytime soon!

  • Blockshow Asia sends strong positive signals for crypto

    Blockshow Asia sends strong positive signals for crypto

    Attending Blockshow Singapore, I only have one question in my mind – is the Blockchain scene still alive? Conferences are great for answering this question because unlike fake trade volumes, attendees cannot be faked.

    Who’s Attending Blockshow – any new investors?

    Upon arriving at the Marina Bay Sands Conference center, I was pleasantly surprised at the number of attendees: more than 3000 blockchainers packed the conference halls. Both conference halls had over 70% of the seats filled, which was a good sign as people were actually listening to the talks. The organizers made some cheeky “optimizations” by booking a smaller venue:  the main conference hall packed around 300 people instead of the usual 600 seen in other conferences. 

    I’m watching out for new investors. High numbers of new faces to the blockchain space would mean that the scene is heating up again. It could also potentially signal an end to the year-long bear market. Unfortunately, CEO of Blockshow Addy Crezee stated that there are few new investors coming into this conference. 

    Strong Development Focus

    You’re going to need different types of people – can’t just be engineers. You’re going to need branding, marketing, financial consultants … everybody

    Jeffrey Huang, Co-founder of Mithril

    For once in a Blockchain conference, attendees are no longer comparing “top ICO deals” or “hottest altcoin tips“.  Unproductive ICO deal discussion dominated the conversation space at Consensus in New York this year, a conversation topic that breeds unwanted speculation into this space.

    Read more about Mithril and Binance Partnerships in Mithril Coin Guide

    During Blockshow, discussions matured and revolved around about “what a team is developing?“. In addition critical debates were held over how to advance blockchain technology. This sends a strong positive long-term signal as we are guided towards health growth and advancements in this space. 

    Working Products

    I was lucky enough to catch a glimpse of the SBTG Shadow Fury with Vechain anti-counterfeit technology. Scanning the trainers with the Vechain Pro app will verify the unique ID on the shoe and match with records on the Vechain blockchain. (Diazepam) The tag is directly sown into the tongue of the shoe and cannot be duplicated due to the strong encryption used. 

    Read more about Vechain in our Vechain Coin Guide

    I have to say, seeing products in real life is much better than looking at drawings and whitepapers. The next step is to take this technology mainstream and into major brands (Nike is trialing this) and other products such luxury handbags. 

    Security Token Offerings (STO)

    CEO of Blockshow Addy Crezee gives a rundown of the conference

    Security Token Offerings (STOs) have become a hot topic this year, with ICO engineers look to STOs as a way to reignite the fundraising fever. STOs offer direct value to token holders – by offering an equity share of the company, it solves many of the problems of Utility Tokens face. Token holders no longer need to as “what are the tokenomics” or “what makes this token valuable in the long term“.

    However, there is catch: extremely limited accessibility, especially in the US. Security tokens can only be traded between accredited investors who have more than $1 Million USD net-worth. 

    There will be new terms like Token Security – which I always talk about. (Token Security) has an underlying asset that is a security, which already has an legal entity.

    Professor David Lee, Blockasset Ventures

  • Crisis at Steemit Inc (STEEM) : 70% Employees laid off

    Crisis at Steemit Inc (STEEM) : 70% Employees laid off

    Steemit Inc announced that 70% of their employees were laid-off due to the company restructuring. It is clear that there are major issues at the company. We did some analysis on the reasons for the layoffs and also took a deep dive into the future plans of the company. 

    Reasons for the Lay-offs

    • Market Collapse – Unfortunately, the price of STEEM dropped 97% (from $7.31 dollars in January 2018 to $0.24)
    • Budget Shortcomings – Steemit Inc held substantial amounts of the cryptocurrency STEEM. As employees are paid out in fiat, this meant the company couldn’t cash out enough STEEM to pay for the employees
    • Company direction – the company focused on two fronts – blockchain development AND website development. Unfortunately they couldn’t master both. 

    Long Term problems

    CEO Ned Scott explains layoffs at Steemit Inc
    • The company is doing too much blockchain development – developing blockchain features (Database migration, Smart media tokens (ie ICOs on Steem)), Developing DAPP (steemit.com),
    • Costs of API maintenance – the company maintains APIs for free (Steem API) which is expensive
    • Steemit.com is a full-blown social media project and is hard to maintain.
    • they don’t have resources/management skills to manage both sides well

    Solutions

    • Cut down the scope of new features (Steem Media Token ~ lite edition). 
    • Sunset on Steemit.com website / Dapp.
      • Ned said the infrastructure of can never scale to compete vs Instagram 
      •  “Destiny” a new app to solve core issues with steemit.com is now abandoned because of the lack of resources

    Future Goals 

    • Goals to improve the adoption of blockchain – transfer of value / store of value
    • encourage other applications on steemit that further censorship resistance
    • Increase usage of Steem as currency. how to grow the currency

    Competitors

    Various competitors in the social media space have also sprung up this year. One of them is Mithril, an ethereum based social network which focuses on fair-reward for content creators. Other social media services such as Dlive have migrated away from the Steem blockchain in favor of alternatives like Lino. 

    Conclusion

    Steemit Inc had to make some tough decisions. After setting the core direction of blockchain development, everyone else was cut. Moreover,CEO Ned Scott was unnerved during the livestream Q & A session, especially considering a majority of their employees are leaving leaving. This sets a dangerous precedent at the company and goes to show that financial management and prudence – including not speculating on their own currency is key to the successful running of any company. Questions over how the company can generate income to sustain long-term development remains. 

  • Lightning network explained – is it Bitcoin 2.0?

    Lightning network explained – is it Bitcoin 2.0?

    The Lightning Network promises free transactions on the Bitcoin network that can be confirmed instantly. This is exactly what is needed for Bitcoin to gain mass-adoption and move away from fear of major congestion (transaction cost exceeded more than $100 USD the network peak in January 2018). 

    It’s hard to understand because it breaks what we normally understand of the Bitcoin network. Bitcoin network is limited to 10-minute blocks – that is transactions take up to 10 minutes to confirm, and a high fee is required to guarantee a confirmation on the next block.

    Regular Bitcoin Transactions

    When we send Bitcoin and broadcast a transaction we need to wait for confirmations that only come every 10 minutes. The block groups all the transactions that are announced and puts it into a ledger called the blockchain. You get one confirmation for each block that forms after the transaction, so if you want to wait for 3 confirmations, you must wait for 30 minutes. In contrast, the Lightning Network promises instant transactions.

    How the Lightning Network Works

    The Lightning Network works by creating payment channels off the blockchain. This means that you don’t need to wait for the 10 minutes to confirm each block. However you do have to deposit a certain number of bitcoins so now you’re proving ownership of these bitcoins. You’re effectively handing over these bitcoins to the network a little bit like that and it works with multi-signature wallets. There are failsafe protocols in place, so if something happens and the transaction fall through, you are still protected.

    The concept works kind of like a tab at a bar. You can maybe put down a few thousand dollars and create a tab and every time you buy a drink, instead of paying directly with visa or cash every time, you can use your tab. This cuts down a lot on the fees with using visa for each transaction and this likewise can be applied to bitcoin and the blockchain transaction fees.

    Current State of the Lightning Network

    Lightning Network right now it mostly commands prompt based so it’s like we’re still quite far from a good wallet and good user-friendly graphical interface. Right now it’s mostly kind of the text command based and there have been tests of the Lightning Network over international regions. We’re at a stage where we know that the concept works but we’re still developing the software and making sure that it works very well and securely. Recent hacks of the Party Wallet has shown us that software stability and robustness is absolutely vital. As a result, development on lightning has been quite slow because it’s highly complicated and any bug in the code would maybe be quite catastrophic. On top of that, a good user-friendly interface is also vital.

  • Monero (XMR) in a Nutshell

    Monero (XMR) in a Nutshell

    Monero is a rather unique member of the cryptocurrency family thanks to its focus on privacy and absence of the traditional open blockchain network like those found on Bitcoin. It is, in a nutshell, a system that makes use of three key technologies — Ring Signature, Stealth Address and Ring CT (Confidential Transaction) — to ensure that the sender, receiver and transaction amount are concealed from view.

    On a traditional blockchain, you can freely click to see who sent any transaction, how much it was, and who the receiver is. For many this was the logical way to do things because an open book meant less suspicion of dubious activities on the network. Going into “stealth mode”, as you can choose to on some platforms, is a sure-fire way to attract raised eyebrows. Monero tried to eliminate this problem by making its transactions 100% private.

    Advantages and Disadvantages of Monero

    + Users don’t have to worry about fraudulent chargebacks or multi-day holding periods. What’s more, there are no capital controls which restrict flow for traditional currencies. The user truly is in control.

    + Protection by CryptoNote’s hashing algorithm, “CryptoNight” makes it more resistant to ASICs (but not 100% ASIC-proof). The thinking is that it would be so costly to produce an ASIC for Monero that the benefits couldn’t possibly be worth it.

    + For better or worse, privacy is more attractive to more users. Privacy has always been a hallmark of any online industry’s success. Online shopping, for instance, was never going to be a reality unless people had ways to conceal their purchase histories and keep things private.

    – On February 19th 2017, the CryptoNote currencies, including Monero, were subject to a bug that allowed for stealthy creation of an unlimited number of coins, untraceable unless the viewer, too, knew about the flaw and what to look for. Fortunately, after scanning their system, Monero found it had never been exploited using this flaw, and by February 21st the problem was patched. To be fair to Monero, they have been open and disclosed full details of the error and all measures taken to rectify it.

    – The privacy element means there are view or no wallets available for full viewing, and so it’s impossible to know about past transactions and what’s really going on in the network. It may be a pro for existing users, but for newcomers it can be a little unsettling.

    It’s clear that one of the biggest pulls of Monero is the ability to remain anonymous without the same suspicion being leveled at you on other platforms where “stealth” is optional (and only used for dodgy transactions, people think). But, after the open-ledger and dominance of more “typical” cryptocurrencies, Monero represents a radical, even revolutionary approach that has a potent allure.

    RandomX CPU mining

    RandomX is a new cryptocurrency mining algorithm designed improve the distribution of mined cryptocurrencies more evenly to a broader base of users. The idea is that everyone with a computer has a CPU, and hence an algorithm that favors the CPU will be more inclusive. Random is is designed to only function on CPUs, with strong resistance to both GPU and ASIC mining. This is achieved by making use of functions only available on modern day CPUs, such as virtualization. RandomX has already been audited and is currently deployed on Epic Cash and will be deployed on Monero.

    Monero – How does it work?

    So how does it work? Each piece of aforementioned tech is used to protect a different element of the transaction.

    The sender is protected by the “Ring Signature,” which attaches multiple names to each transaction, forming a ring around the true sender and obscuring their true identity.

    The receiver is protected by the “Stealth Address,” which sends transactions to a single-use address that will flag up as non-existent should anyone try to look into who the transaction was going to.

    The amount of each transaction is concealed by the “Ring CT,” which only shows each exchange as being more than zero and valid — that’s it!

    The conscious crypto user who wants to be anonymous for innocent reasons, but doesn’t want to arouse suspicion, will find the perfect partner in Monero. Privacy is a right, and Monero is one of the platforms offering it openly and genuinely. Not everyone agrees. Some people see universal anonymity as limiting, as it makes it impossible for new users to look into past transactions and determine if everything is kosher. There are even additional tools like their “Kovri” tool which masks IP addresses. To the experienced observer of the Bitcoin ledger, this secrecy can be rather off-putting.

  • China’s crypto-exchange bans become “Permanent” – ViaBTC, BTCC, Yunbi

    China’s crypto-exchange bans become “Permanent” – ViaBTC, BTCC, Yunbi

    Exchanges have updated their shutdown status and included the word “permanent” into the announcements. This comes at a time where no new announcements have been made by the People’s Bank of China (PBoC), however, there have been rumors that authorities have been talking directly with the exchanges. The circulating document titled “北京互金整治办：比特币交易平台15日晚必须发公告明确停止交易时间” sets a deadline for exchanges to announce their closure by the end of the 15th of September.  Where is an aggregated list of the announcements so far:

    BTCC

    BTCChina has updated its phrases to say it will “completely shut down” its exchange business (previous “stop all trading“). Seems like they needed to include some finality (at least for now).

    YunBi

    YunBi has made an official announcement on their customer service zendesk that they will be permanently shutting down “永久性关闭” on the 20th of September.

    1. 云币网将于北京时间 2017 年 9 月 20 日 00:00 永久性关闭所有品种交易功能；

    ViaBTC

    Via has issued an announcement today that they will close their website by the 30th of September. The reason for the shutdown is due to the ICO regulations put forth on the 4th of September, and no new legislation has been quoted on the shutdown notice.

    OKCoin

    Stopping RMB trading announcement 

    Huobi

    Stopped RMB trading. 

    Will it really be “Permanent”

    One of the major cultural differences between the East and the West is that China tends to use stronger language. Hence making something “illegal” or “permanent” doesn’t mean it will always be so. We saw with the ICO ban that after making it illegal, Chinese National TV CCTV-13 had a feature section where a chinese official came out to say the the ICO ban was just a “halt” rather than a “permanent ban”. Currently there is massive pressure to make things look good before the “19th National People’s Congress” on the 18th of October.

    Sources

    Coindesk

  • ViaBTC to close website by 30th of September

    ViaBTC to close website by 30th of September

    The Chinese Exchange ViaBTC partly responsible for Bitcoin Cash, has issued an announcement today that they will close their website by the 30th of September. This is the second exchange to do this, as BTCChina has also announced that they will stop all trading by the 30th as well. The reason for the shutdown is due to the ICO regulations put forth on the 4th of September, and no new legislation has been quoted on the shutdown notice.

    On September 4th, China’s central bank together with six other departments released a public statement  on regulation policies and warning the risks of ICO projects. As a responsible cryptocurrency exchange platform, ViaBTC (www.viabtc.com) has made a serious decision to carry out the spirits of the policy – we will officially close the website www.viabtc.com for exchange business in Mainland China on September 30th. Before that we will complete processing of all withdrawal requests of CNY and cryptocurrency assets. ViaBTC mining pool (pool.viabtc.com) and cloud mining services will not be affected.
    The arrangements are as follows:
    Sept 25th: Closing of registration, asset deposits and all trading pairs
    Sept 30th: Closing of website www.viabtc.com
    Please make sure to withdraw all your assets including CNY and cryptocurrency before September 30th, after which ViaBTC website www.viabtc.com will be officially closed in Mainland China.
  • Rumors to Reality: BTCChina to suspend all trading by 30th of September

    Rumors to Reality: BTCChina to suspend all trading by 30th of September

    After a week of endless rumors from China, starting with the original announcement on Caixin calling the “end of exchanges in China“, the rumors have become a reality when it comes to BTCChina. BTCChina has announced today that they will stop all trading on BTCChina (The chinese version of BTCC) on the 30th of September.

    The reason they gave for the was the Sept 4 announcement – the ICO ban. This means no additional announcements have been made from the government regarding closing exchanges. It might be that they are announcing the end of trading as a precaution, or they might be in contact with different government departments and cannot disclose the details. OKCoin and Huobi PR said they have not received notice from regulators and are operating normally

    Cashing Out:

    Immediately after the announcement, there was a flurry of trade activity on BTCC, with the price of Bitcoin falling to as low as $2600 USD. Currently prices on BTCC are around $450 USD cheaper than the international price.

    Other Exchanges:

    Binance: Service for international exchange not affected. Chinese not allowed to trade since sept 6th

    Yunbi: Rumored to shut down in 3 months

  • Chinese Exchange Yunbi rumored to close within 3 months

    Chinese Exchange Yunbi rumored to close within 3 months

    After reporting the demise of cryptocurrency exchanges in China, Chinese financial paper CaiXin followed up a rumor that exchange YunBi will close within 3 months. Journalists from CaiXin interviewed Xiaolai Li (李笑来) who indicated that YunBi will Progressively shut down in 3 months (There are no other official sources to back this up, other than the Caixin Journalist). Xiaolai Li is known to be a major investor in YunBi and is known to have investments in the ICO platform, ICOINFO. It is important to note that YunBi is the only large exchange talking about a potential shut-down, other exchanges such as BTCC, Huobi, OKCoin, Btc38 and Viabtc have all come out to say they haven’t received any notices from the government.

    “Xiaolai Li:Yunbi is winding down in 3 months”

    BTC is trading for lower on Yunbi

    Coin Market Cap trading information

    A look at Coinmarketcap shows that BTC is trading at a lower price than competitors such as OKcoin. Currently Yunbi is trading at $3950 USD per bitcoin whilst OKcoin is trading at $4102. This might be sign that OKcoin users are more concerned and choosing to sell their Bitcoin. It is important to note that the current trade volume for Yunbi is only at 1. (https://northeastohiogastro.com) 2 Million USD, which is ranked #141 in terms of trade volume.

    ICO connection?

    It is possible that YunBi is under additional scrutiny because of its ties ICO trading. They previously unlisted coins such as QTUM, GXS, EOS, ANS, DGD, 1ST, GNT, REP, SNT, OMG, PAY, LUN, VEN. Their investor Xiaolai Li is also connected to ICOINFO, so this might make them a larger target for potential government control. The government explicitly wanted to break up the connection between ICO platforms and Exchanges, hence separating the streamlined ICO listing process.

    Additional sources:

    8BTC: Li Xiaolai: Yunbi Is Winding Down In 3 Months 

    8BTC: “It Will Take Two or Three Years Before all Exchanges Are Shut Down in China”

    韭菜日报:李笑来称云币网将在三月内逐步关闭；聚币网普通交易区或将全部暂停；3ICO 将于12日关站，请投资者尽快提现