China Tech Talk

This week, John speaks with Patrick Dai, co-founder & chairman of Qtum foundation, about:

- What ICOs are

- Why companies want to do ICOs

- How many ICOs are fraudulent

- Why the Chinese government banned ICOs

- How long the ban will last

- How this will affect blockchain companies and applications

Matt and John start with Alipay's recent "smile to pay" demo and end with a discussion on why WeChat went into payments in the first place. Along the way, they talk about:

- Alipay and WeChat's money market funds

- WeChat's new money market fund feature

- The dangers and benefits of ubiquitous facial recognition

-The role WeChat and Alipay are playing in reshaping retail banking in China

-Whether Alipay can ever become a platform like WeChat

This week Matt and John talk with Dannie Li, an analyst at China Tech Insights about Jinri Toutiao, a Chinese content aggregator recently valued at $20 billion, including: 

- Why Jinri Toutiao is so popular

- How it is so sticky

- Its business model and why its valuation is high

- Why advertisers love it so much

- Risks to the app and business model

- Conflicts between Toutiao and content producers

- Challenges as Toutiao expands inside and outside China

This week Matt and John talk with Daniel Ahmad, an analyst at Niko Partners about: 

- The uniqueness of China's games market

- The size of the e-sports industry

- How gaming and e-sports are becoming more mainstream

- Tencent's position in the games market

- The role of Honour of Kings

- Future prospects for gaming and e-sports in China

This week Matt and John talk with Josh Gartner, veteran China hand and VP for International Corporate Affairs at JD.com, about:

- How JD stacks up against Amazon and Alibaba

- Early challenges and a crucial pivot towards in-house logistics

- Tencent as a major stakeholder

- The move towards a greater offline presence

- Drone deliveries to rural China

This week Matt and John talk with Neil Woodfine, former COO at Remitsy about:

- What bitcoin and blockchain are

- What Ethereum might be

- Why ICOs don't make sense

- How bitcoin is going to play a bigger part in decentralized transactions

- Why bitcoin is so big in China and should we be worried

This week Matt and John talk with Kaiser Kuo, veteran China hand and former International Communications director for Baidu about:

- What the early China internet was like

- How he joined Baidu

- How Chinese companies are like ice age tribes

- VPNs in China

- Future prospects for the company

This week Matt and John talk about Honor of Kings aka Strike of Kings aka Arena of Glory, Tencent's uber popular mobile multiplayer game, including:

- Background on mobile gaming and MOBA's

- Why it's become a cultural phenomenon

- Why Tencent is butting heads with the Communist Party newspaper

- Which Chinese celebrities are investing in e-sports

- Music: "Theme from Penguins on Parade" by Lee Rosevere, Music for Podcasts 3

This week John and Matthew talk with Bernard Leong, host of the Analyse Asia podcast, about Alibaba and Tencent's activity in Southeast Asia, including: Why banks aren’t competing with each other but with other tech companies Why Southeast Asia may be Amazon’s Waterloo Why WeChat and WhatsApp have been so slow Why Tencent and Alibaba may team up Links Analyse Asia Sean Konieczny: Jack Ma is set to disrupt e-commerce... again Emma Lee: These Ex-Baidu employees are connecting SEA merchants with mobile payment tools How to leave an iTunes review Hosts John Artman, @knowsnothing, TechNode Matthew Brennan, @MattyBGoooner, ChinaChannel Podcast information iTunes RSS feed Music: "Theme from Penguins on Parade" by Lee Rosevere, Music for Podcasts 3   China Tech Talk is a TechNode x ChinaChannel co-production

This week John and Matt talk with Jon Russell, TechCrunch's man in Asia about covering China from the outside. We cover topics including: Biggest challenges in covering China from outside the country Explaining China to people who aren't familiar with the market Challenges for bike sharing outside China Chinese brands in Thailand How China's biggest companies are differentiating outside their home country Links Jon Russell on TechCrunch How to leave an iTunes review Hosts John Artman, @knowsnothing, TechNode Matthew Brennan, @MattyBGoooner, ChinaChannel Podcast information iTunes RSS feed Music: "Theme from Penguins on Parade" by Lee Rosevere, Music for Podcasts 3   China Tech Talk is a TechNode x ChinaChannel co-production