5 in 5 minutes - November 3

Hong Kong Techathon 2018 opens for application

City University, Hong Kong Science and Technology Parks Corporation and the Institute for Entrepreneurship of the Hong Kong Polytechnic University team up for the Hong Kong Techathon 2018.

The Hong Kong Techathon 2018 will be held on January 5 to January 7, 2017. Programmers, engineers, designers marketers and entrepreneurs will form teams and come up with ideas and prototypes over a weekend. Participants will pitch to investors during a pitching session.

The winning teams will have direct entry to PolyU Micro Fund Scheme 2018 Final Assessment and CityU Student Early Entrepreneurship Development Scheme Final Assessment for a Seed Fund. The winning teams will also get a conditional offer to HKSTP Incubation Programme.

Applications are opened from now until December 22, 2017, 1 pm.

The University of Hong Kong announces Massive Open Online Course

The University of Hong Kong announced a new Massive Open Online Course entitled an Introduction to FinTech, it is expected to launch in March 2018.

In collaboration with SuperCharger, Cyberport, CFTE, UNSW Sydnet and Microsoft, the 6-week certified online course on FinTech will be offered for free. An optional certificate of completion from the University of Hong Kong will be available for $100.

Learn more about the course here

Hong Kong's NetCurrency.com launches world's first digital currency for global forex market

Hong Kong-based FinTech startup, NetCurrency.com,  launched the world's first digital currency for global forex trading and asset management, named Neco. Net Currency (Neco) is a geo-political neutral digital currency portfolio monetary system, Net Currency combines the stability, liquidity of the world sovereign currency, it adapts the peer-to-peer community model and currency basket concept.

According to Tong Li, founder and CEO of NetCurrency.com, Neco can be used by financial institutions, banks and communities around the globe. The startup plans to issue the first batch of Neco in January 2018.

Singapore and Hong Kong collaborate on blockchain

The Hong Kong Monetary Authority and the Monetary Authority of Singapore signed the memorandum to collaborate on a blockchain-based solution and create a smart contract prototype for open account trade financing.

Click here to learn more

Vietnam bans Cryptocurrency

The State Bank of Vietnam has declared the “issue, supply and use” of all cryptocurrency, including bitcoin, to be illegal on October 30, 2017. The violation of using cryptocurrency to make payments will be fined around US$6,600 to US$8,806. On January 1, 2018, the act of supplying, issuing and using illegal payment methods may be subjected to prosecution.