 There was a story that came out about a week and a half ago. I didn't put too much thought into it, but I have to tell you, things make a lot of sense when we take a look at what's going on in Hong Kong and China as they're moving rapidly into Bitcoin digital assets. The story that I'm talking about is this one. This was on June 15th and it states, Hong Kong regulators push HSBC, Standard Charter, and the Bank of China to embrace crypto clients. Now HSBC is the largest bank in Hong Kong. When I first read the title, I just skipped over. I didn't think too much of it. But when we get into the next article, you'll see why I'm talking about this piece. So here's what this section had. Hong Kong's banking regulator, the Hong Kong Monetary Authority or HKMA is applying pressure on HSBC, Standard Charter, and Bank of China. You have to understand something. This is very important. And that is that Hong Kong is different than mainland China. Mainland China is roughly 1.2 billion people in Hong Kong. It's around 7.8 million somewhere around there. China is not Hong Kong. It is one country, but two systems. When we talk about these things, don't get it confused that everybody of these 1.2 billion people are going to automatically get exposed to Bitcoin. That's not the case yet. So at a meeting in May, the HKMA questioned the banks and their reluctance to onboard crypto exchanges as clients. And a letter dated April 27, seen by the Financial Times, the HKMA stated that due diligence on potential customers should not create undue burdens, particularly for those setting up an office in Hong Kong to look for the opportunities here. And basically what they're saying is, stop dragging your feet just green like these people. Let's pull everybody in while America is falling flat in its face with this guy named Gary Genzer who can't approve anything. On the same date, in a blog post signed by Arthur Yen, the watchdog's deputy chief executive, it states he expects that regulated virtual asset service providers or VASPs will be able to successfully apply for a bank account through a reasonable process. That is refreshing. A regulator who says if you apply, it's going to happen. Just follow these directions. So that was the story that I just kind of skimmed over. And this is what happened just today, June 26. HSBC rolls out crypto services in Hong Kong. And this is a Bitcoin and Ethereum ETF. Don't get excited yet. I'll explain. Hong Kong and Shanghai Banking Corporation, HSBC, Biggest Bank in Hong Kong were probably introduced its first local crypto services. CSOP, Bitcoin Futures ETF. CSOP, Ethereum Futures ETF. And Samsung Bitcoin Futures Active ETF. I want to stress that a futures ETF is dramatically different from a spot ETF. This is just about the underlying asset. They don't have to buy Bitcoin itself. It's really just paper Bitcoin. On a spot ETF, they have to buy the underlying asset. So I know everybody gets really excited about an ETF, but you really shouldn't because it's really just paper Bitcoin. That's what they did here in the United States in 2017 by the CBOE, which essentially crashed Bitcoin for that rally. Anyhow, so this is actually positive. I think just because it's a futures ETF, it's a step in the right direction and it will give those people exposure. And of course, we'll blockchain is one that originally reported it. So fantastic work. But I will remind you at HSBC, it's amazing how these things turn around. You see this was with Jamie Dimon. We see this was with like Deutsche Bank, a lot of different people. And HSBC is no different. This was dated 7th of the number 2022. HSBC UK issues crypto warning. Pretty much says that you should look out because it is a scam. So it's amazing. And just, well, geez, under a year, they have come out with a futures contract. So again, ETFs are all the rage right now. Let's see if it gets approved. This was a report from CoinDesk. Bitcoin futures attract biggest bets since tariffs collapse. Open interest has surged to 11 billion. It's highest level in a year. Also, we've seen a lot of inflows. Digital asset inflows highest in a year after BlackRock's spot Bitcoin ETF. So everybody's getting ramped up. And maybe it happens. Maybe it doesn't. You already know my opinion on this. I don't think that BlackRock will be approved. But hey, I've been wrong before. But it doesn't matter because the cat's out of the bag. And this is another piece which shows you just how big China and Asian markets are going into crypto near. So we talk a lot about Bitcoin. We talk a little bit about Ethereum. But we should really take a look at what these other countries are doing with other altcoins and how they're integrating them into the system. And you have to remember that pay attention to the crypto projects that are building in the bear because they will crush it in the bull. Near Foundation partners with Alibaba Cloud to accelerate Web3 growth in Asia. Here's what we have. Partnership grants Near Foundation access to Alibaba Cloud's developer ecosystem across Asia, Middle East, and a bid to attract more developers. So if you don't know, Alibaba is a massive company and is located in China. Developers that want to launch new near validers will be able to do so with Alibaba's Cloud's plug-and-play infrastructure. This comes as Alibaba recently announced the hiring of its new chairman, Joseph Tsai, who has been an active Web3 investor and has signed multiple deals with crypto-related entities. Near Foundation Alibaba Cloud partnership is an important one as we continue to support Web3 developers to explore opportunities. It's also significant for developers and validators in the Asian markets as they can leverage Alibaba Cloud's comprehensive infrastructure in Asia. And when I read these types of stories, it gets me excited because I know we're going in the right direction. They want these companies to come over there. They want to work with them. They want to build and everything is great. However, there are some things that are stuck in the back of my mind. And you got to understand, Chinese companies are a little bit different than companies in a lot of different places. So the founder of Alibaba is Jack Ma. And Jack Ma, he had an issue with a lot of things that were going on in China and he became very outspoken. And when that happened, this was just a year, year and a half ago, he seemed to disappear. And it's not just Jack Ma. There's a bunch of different Chinese billionaires that keep vanishing. So I know like we applaud these things. We want mass adoption. We think it's great. But remember, China works on a whole new set of rules and what maybe you and I are used to. Anyhow, let me know what you think about that in the comment section. And then also to talk about more or different parts of what is happening in the altcoin space, Algorand. Algorand partners with DWF Labs in a $50 million deal. And pay attention to the ones that are building the bear. This partnership aims to help support and grow development. Funding, DeFi, art and music, gaming, oracles and bridges and infrastructure. And just so you know, before we go on, I am super biased on this channel. I don't usually talk about things I don't own. So I talk a lot about Bitcoin and Ethereum. And you better believe I own near and you better believe I own Algorand because I'm talking about it. So don't be disillusioned and think that this is nice. I'm just talking about these random things. No, it's because I own it. So Algorand, again, looking pretty good. I thought about this part where it says DeFi, art and music, gaming, oracles and bridges and I thought to myself because I invested into it. I had forgotten what the transactions, the cost was because if you've ever dealt with a theorem, you know, transaction costs are high. And if you ever dealt with Bitcoin during the bull runs, you know those costs are actually very high as well. So I took a look at Algorand and on its website itself it says the transaction fee is .0001. Wouldn't that be nice if you could do that on the Ethereum blockchain? Well, you can't. So that's why Algorand, it says current activity transaction per second, only eight. Remember, they're not using too much. So hopefully that'll be a little better. But then to dig into it, you take a look at the fees. It states on the website, but this is from developer.algorand.org. Fees are calculated based on the size of the transaction and the user can choose to augment a fee to help prioritize acceptance and you can pay higher to get things faster into a block when network traffic is high and blocks are consistently full. But it did stay here right here, right here, right here. .001 Algos. So I don't think it's that much different. I mean, we're talking a little bit, but it's still way cheaper than what it is. And just so you know, I like Algorand. I like what they're doing. Sue McCauley, he's one of the forefathers of cryptography. And it's not just me that is investing in Algorand. There's a guy named Anthony Scaramucci. When I interviewed him, we were talking about different investor mindset. He let loose that his company had invested $250 million into Algorand. So they believe they did their due diligence and they think it's going to be a heck of a winner. But I will tell you this. Don't just go out and invest in anything because some guy says it on YouTube is talking to his computer or a guy named Anthony Scaramucci. Anthony Scaramucci also does due diligence in his whole organization and they invest it into FTX. So take it with a grain of salt. Anyhow, let me just think about that in the comments section. And then to finish up, I just want to make two mentions here. One is that there's a security tip for you. I found this out today. And I said in the tweet, I said, I know some of you have two factor authentication. And some of you think that 2FA is just the text message. Like if you want to log in somewhere, you get a text message from somebody, from the company, you're from Ledger or whatever else it is or the exchange and it'll allow you to get into the app or the device. And I said that's no good. You really should have a Google Authenticator app. You don't know what I'm talking about. There's a great website. It's 100% free. It's called DanTeaches Crypto. There's a bunch of different things in there. And I talk about how to secure yourself. But the thing is I found this out today, which is on my Google account, I could get authorized in three different ways. One I'm not going to talk about, sorry, shut it down. But the second one was 2FA via text message. And the third one was the Google Authenticator app, which generates a number every 30 seconds. And I could get into my account one of those three ways. And I didn't know that. I thought it was all of them for some reason. If you have another account where you're not for sure, like am I using a Google Authenticator app where it generates those numbers every 30 seconds, or it's just text message, get out of the text message one because they can do a thing called a SIM swap and they can take your accounts and they can get into it and do all those things. But this was actually news for me. I was like, oh my God, I must have messed that up. So just be aware of that. And then lastly, if you haven't got an email from Voyager, this meaning that you can now start to take out roughly 35.7% of what you had on the platform. And this is from the app itself. And it'll tell you what you can take out, which is pretty great. And then you have to, unfortunately, you have to go through some disclaimers, click on that, and then of course continue again. And just so you know, whatever you take out, you can send it to, if you have Bitcoin, you can send it to any Bitcoin address. It doesn't have to be an exchange. It doesn't have to be a storage or a hot store, whatever you want to do, but it's just to tap the pace to a Bitcoin address. So just make sure you know that. And that is available for up to 35.7%. Some things I've noted that people have told me, they said that sometimes it doesn't work because their app is outdated. So they have to either update the app or like me, I had to delete it and then reinstall it on my phone and everything just worked just fine. So that is that. So I mean, I guess take it, take the win, right? And out of all these things, at least we got one of these guys to give us some of our funds back. But I will tell you, it is a learning experience and all these guys are very slick. They're either incompetent or they're just thieves, and I'm glad this is going to be behind us. That's it for today. So look, like today's video, put a thumbs up, consider subscribing. Everything to talk about is time-sensitive. I don't care who you subscribe to, just make sure you get your news from somebody because this is not a sudden forget it. That's it. Thanks so much. I do appreciate you and I'll see you on the next one.