99Bill, a Chinese payments company, was just acquired by Baidu for RMB 2 billion. While there was no official confirmation from Baidu yet, the rumors started appearing on November 18. As the deal comes through, it will be yet another instance of a tech company moving into online finance. Alibaba through Alipay and Tencent through Tenpay already have payments licenses and operate successfully in the industry. Only Baidu was the last company of the three technology titans without a considerable traction in online finance. Its Baidu Wallet is still in promotion phase and is yet to gain a user base comparable to that of Alipay or Tenpay wallets.

According to new data released by China Securities Depository and Clearing (CSDC), Chinese investors have opened 243,073 new A-share accounts in the period between November 10th and November 14th.

October has been a tough month for China's P2P lending platforms as more and more are pressured to shut down due to capital shortages and fraudulent behaviour.

The digital revolution has finally caught up with the Chinese banking sector. As it undergoes important reforms, industry leaders are faced with numerous challenges and must innovate to stay on top of their game.

Baidu Baifa 100 Index Fund, the first big data-based quantitative strategy fund in China, announced that it was closed for new investors only  24 hours of online sale at 15:00 on October 28th.

According to the latest hardware specifications of bitcoin mining manufacturers, even with it no longer makes sense for individuals to mine on their own - even in China where electricity is somewhat cheaper. Except if they are willing to wait a long time. 

Ripple Labs announced partnerships with two U.S. banks, which will allow their customers to make same-day distributed money transfers at a very low-cost. How about partnering with Chinese banks? Could Ripple in China work with banks in a space where Bitcoin in China has struggled?

The recent announcement that there are now 190 million Alipay wallet users has confirmed Alipay as a real heavyweight and innovator within the mobile payments industry. What are the barriers for future growth?

Alibaba and Apple were in the same sentence quite a bit this week as rumours floated about a potential Alipay / Apple Pay tie-up. Beyond a potentially very unique name for a new payment service, what would a potential partnership bring to the table for the companies and consumers?

Like a piece of delicious cake, all good things come to an end and after robust growth since the launch, Yuebao has seen the first decline in 2014Q3. According to the data from financial news website East Money, although Yuebao has achieved 5.69 Billion in net profits, Yuebao AUM has declined 6.84% for the first time, reaching RMB 534.89 Billion. Is this part of a larger trend?