I'm in the county town, and you say I'm a big shot?

Chapter 692 Secret War
“Mr. David Larter, you will be the star of the Fintech Summit the day after tomorrow. Congratulations.” The speaker was Bai Chengrui, CEO of Standard Chartered Bank Asia, holding a cocktail glass.

Bai Chengrui sounds like a Chinese name, but he is actually an Indian. He graduated with an MBA from Harvard Business School and is fluent in English, Hindi, and Cantonese. He is a true "China expert".

Hearing Bai Chengrui's slightly flattering words, David couldn't help but feel a little proud, but he remained humble on the surface: "Thank you, Mr. Bai Chengrui. The promotion of Corda in Hong Kong and even in mainland China is thanks to your help."

“Standard Chartered Bank Hong Kong Limited will announce its membership in the Corda Alliance at the summit,” Bai Chengrui said.

"In addition, I have communicated with Mr. Yue Yi, Chairman and President of BOC Hong Kong, and they will also join the Corda Alliance."

"Thank you, thank you." David was overjoyed upon hearing this.

BOC Hong Kong is the abbreviation for Bank of China (Hong Kong) Limited, and its parent company is Bank of China! It holds more than 60% of the shares.

If Bank of China Hong Kong can join the Corda alliance, it will mean opening a breakthrough in Chinese banks, and the next step will be to enter the banking industry in mainland China!
This is what David has always dreamed of.

"Come on, let's have a drink!" David took the initiative to clink glasses with Bai Chengrui.

The two were enjoying their drinks when a white man walked over with a cocktail glass. He was Schnand, the president of Goldman Sachs Asia Pacific.

Schnande, speaking fluent American English, said, “Mr. David, I’ve heard that there’s a company in mainland China that’s also developing a distributed ledger platform based on blockchain technology. Its name is Zhiyun Technology.”

“Zhiyun Technology? I’ve heard of them before.” David smiled. “However, what they developed is not a distributed ledger platform, but a payment system, which is said to have been commercialized and is called SCP. A payment system is just an application software based on a distributed ledger platform and cannot be compared with the platform itself.”

“No, Mr. David, your information is outdated.” Schnand shook his head: “They have indeed developed a commercial SCP payment system, but they are further researching distributed ledger platforms—this is intelligence from Goldman Sachs China in Shanghai, and it is absolutely correct.”

David's expression immediately turned serious: "Did they succeed in their research?"

"The specifics are unknown. Wasn't Zhiyun Technology also invited to the summit? Everything will be revealed then," David Nan said with a smile.

"I don't believe that Zhiyun Technology can develop its own distributed ledger platform!" Bai Chengrui suddenly interjected.

Both of them were looking at him.

"Because it requires a lot of funding! Mr. David said that the initial investment in developing Corda was as high as $8000 million, and in order to continue development and maintenance, financing is needed by the end of the year," Bai Chengrui explained.

David nodded, quite frankly: "That's right. My company almost went bankrupt. Fortunately, the research and development was successful, otherwise I would have had to slink back to my hometown in Ohio."

Thinking about all this, David was filled with emotion.

"I don't believe that Zhiyun Technology has such abundant funds! Although they have developed the SCP payment system, as far as I know, its rollout is very slow, which means they are losing money on this project!"

Seeing Bai Chengrui's confident expression, Shi Nande smiled mysteriously: "Then do you know who the investors behind Zhiyun Technology are?"

"Which company is it?" they both asked curiously.

Tuofang Technology Trade & Investment Co., Ltd.

"Topway Technology?" The two pondered. David had never heard of the name before, while Bai Chengrui's expression suddenly changed drastically after a moment of thought.

"You mean the parent company of Xiangjiang Tuofang Fund?!"

"OK! It's him!" Looking at Bai Chengrui's expression, David asked curiously, "Is Tuofang Fund an investment company? And what kind of company is Tuofang Technology?"

Bai Chengrui said with a wry smile, "Mr. David, Tuofang Fund is a hedge fund recently established in Hong Kong. It mainly engages in hedging transactions such as futures and foreign exchange. It is very large, with tens of billions of Hong Kong dollars. Tuofang Technology is its parent company, located in Shanghai, mainland China."

"So, Zhiyun Technology doesn't lack funds at all?!" David suddenly understood.

“Yes, we are not short of funds at all. Just recently, Tuofang Fund made a fortune in the LEM futures market, reportedly several hundred million US dollars, which has made them famous in Hong Kong’s investment circles,” Bai Chengrui explained.

Schnande's expression turned unnatural.

This is crazy.

That's just bringing up the very thing you shouldn't be talking about.

The recent LEM copper futures battle between bulls and bears ended with Goldman Sachs, one of the short sellers, suffering a crushing defeat and losing nearly $10 billion, which shocked the entire group. Goldman Sachs Futures Vice President Clark resigned to take responsibility.

Among the various parties involved, Topway Hedge Fund is one of the main players!

David's expression also became unnatural.

I originally thought that with Corda, I would be able to break into the financial industry in mainland China, but I didn't expect to encounter such a formidable opponent!
Seeing David's expression, Bai Chengrui quickly comforted him: "Even if Zhiyun Technology has developed a distributed ledger platform, I estimate that their technology is not as good as yours. Moreover, the Corda Alliance already has top international investment banks such as Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, and UBS joining. Who can Zhiyun Technology have? Without our approval, their technical agreement is just a piece of paper."

Hearing Bai Chengrui's words, David's mood improved. Thinking of something, he quickly said, "Could you two please help introduce me to the heads of ICBC Asia, CCB Asia, and Bank of Communications Hong Kong?"

The three banks David mentioned are all mainland Chinese banks located in Hong Kong, and are at the same level as Bank of China Hong Kong.

Schnande pondered for a moment and said, "I have a good relationship with Jiang Xianzhou, the chairman of ICBC Asia. I'll try to introduce you to him."

"As for the heads of CCB Asia and Bank of Communications Hong Kong," Schnande gestured to Shih Hsu-Yi-Min, President of UBS Asia Pacific, who was engaged in a lively conversation not far away, and whispered, "Shih Hsu-Yi-Min has a relationship with Zhang Weicai, President of Bank of Communications Hong Kong. You can ask him for help."

"OK! Thank you." David clinked glasses with the three of them. "Excuse me, I'll go over and have a chat." He then walked towards Xu Yimin.

Fang Qingye's banquet is also coming to an end.

He felt dizzy from drinking.

Although each person only gets one drink, there were nearly 20 people in the room, all of whom were senior and middle-level leaders and experienced investment managers from Tuofang Fund. He was a little overwhelmed by the sheer number of people in the room.

At the dinner table, we didn't talk about work, just about everyday things, and happily drank and ate.

Back at the Mandarin Oriental Hotel, Fang Qingye took a shower and lay comfortably on the bed. He checked his phone; it was 10 p.m., which should be 9 a.m. in New York.

He wasn't calling Xia He, but rather Smith, the president of Vertex Consulting.

"Smith, based on the information we've gathered, has there been any noteworthy developments regarding R3 in the United States recently?"

(End of this chapter)