Nike's Vaporfly edge isn't down to carbon
In today's WIRED Daily, we look at how China crushed its tech giants and explain why Nike's Vaporfly running shoe edge isn't down to carbon. China's ban on all cryptocurrency transactions, announced on Friday, is just the latest of a series of bombshells that over just one year have profoundly reshaped the country's technological landscape. It is not only bitcoin miners, crypto-traders, or video gamers that have suddenly found themselves in Beijing's crosshairs. By and large it is China's largest internet platforms that have been feeling the heat. One after another, tech giants like Ant, Meituan, and Didi have been targets of antitrust probes. This has intersected with a tightening of data protection regulation, which is seen as a national security issue, and a general drive to curb capitalist excess. Ride-hailing firm Didi, for instance, hasn't just come under antitrust scrutiny: two days after its New York IPO in June, it was forced to stop accepting new users while regulators investigated suspicions it might leak user data to the US. Just a few years ago, China's technology companies used to seem immune to regulation. Their CEOs were idolised. Almost every STEM student in China wanted to work in consumer tech, not hardware. The government favoured these companies, which never would have gotten so big without it. They were allowed to grow in a nurturing policy environment with no competition from overseas tech giants, enjoying what Tiffany Wong, a consultant at China-focused research firm Sinolytics, calls an "experimental Wild West period of growth". Crypto exchanges start cutting links with China - What happened: Exchanges have acted swiftly in response to Beijing's ban on all digital currency activities. Huobi, one of the world's largest exchanges, will remove all Chinese users by the end of the year. Binance will immediately stop accepting registrations from Chinese phone numbers.
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- Why it matters: China's crypto market was, until recently, huge. But a series of broadsides from Beijing have cut it down to size – and now it looks set to disappear almost completely. Industry watchers point to the imminent arrival of the digital yuan, which will be issued by China's central bank. Public testing started earlier this year ahead of a 2022 launch.
Facebook 'overpaid' to avoid naming Zuckerberg -
What happened: Facebook paid $4.9bn extra in a US Federal Trade Commission to protect CEO and founder Mark Zuckerberg, a lawsuit has claimed. The settlement, which came after the Cambridge Analytica scandal, was allegedly beefed up to "protect Zuckerberg from being named in the FTC's complaint, made subject to personal liability, or even required to sit for a deposition". Facebook has denied the claims.
Why it matters: The lawsuit alleged that if Zuckerberg has been named in the complaint he could have faced big fines. But, more importantly than that, directly linking the Facebook founder to the data scandal would have been toxic for his public image.
Catch up on everything from Netflix's Tudum event -
What happened: Why's it called Tudum? Well, what noise accompanies the Netflix ident? Clever, huh? Everything from a new season of The Witcher to the return of Tiger King were revealed during Netflix's three-hour livestream.
Why it matters: Netflix is facing increasing competition from Amazon Prime and Disney+. And other rival streaming services, from Peacock to Apple TV+, are also spending big to attract new subscribers. In response, Netflix is spending big on original content: a total of 70 series and 28 movies were shown off during the event.
Spending £200 on carbon shoes to get ahead? You'd better lace up a pair of Nikes. But it's likely nothing to do with that carbon Technology evangelist
Slack Senior game producer Zwift Get the latest issue of WIRED WIRED's guide to the 100 hottest startups in Europe covers the best of the best from ten of Europe's most vibrant ecosystems. Also in this issue...
- The rise of internet shutdowns
- Azeem Azhar on the Exponential Age
- The hunt for dark energy
- Making coding less of a drag
🐟 The fish factory farming nightmare 💵 Microsoft's antitrust problem |
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