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20 Nov, 10 tweets, 2 min read
This week I talk about Ant's future from their product range. Ant is pushing into SaaS with their blockchain, database and collaboration offerings. 1/
For Chinese consumers, trust in the products they buy remains the biggest concern. Scars from the numerous food scandals, including the infamous infant milk powder scandal in 2008 have left Chinese consumers with low trust for domestic goods. 2/
How does Ant solve this? Blockchains.

Ant has been working on blockchain technology since 2015 (Jack Ma made it very public that he was bullish on blockchain technology) and currently holds the most patents for blockchain in China. 3/ Image
Since 2018, they have launched cross-border remittance services, Blockchain-as-a-Service (BaaS) open platform, AntChain (which is a more off-shelf BaaS offering), a blockchain-backed smart contract platform called Trusple and many others. 4/
Ant is positioning the solution as a general-purpose immutable system of records and asset management service for retailers, manufacturers, governments and researchers. 5/
Case study example: Glass crystal seller on Alibaba whose customers are predominantly abroad. Before blockchain, payments were paid out in parts upon receipt of wares. 6/
With Trusple, the software generates a smart contract once a buyer and a seller upload a trading order on the platform. As the retailer executes the order, the smart contract is automatically updated with crucial information, such as order placements, logistics, and tax refund. 7
The seller no longer has to confirm invoices, remittances or banks details. Everything is handled automatically on the blockchain. 8/
It seems like Ant has worked out these kinks, the most significant hurdle being the ability to process high volumes of transactions securely. AntChain reportedly allows 25k Transactions Per Second (TPS), ahead of the industry average of 1k TPS and way ahead of Bitcoin’s 5 TPS. 9/
I also give my bull and bear cases in this week's edition. Check it out!

lillianli.substack.com/p/ant-group-pa…

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More from @lillianmli

Lillian Li Profile picture
22 Nov
1) I've not heard much analysis on the new Personal Information Protection Law draft in China. This is pretty major since it borrows from EU's GDPR (aka fines) and will have major impact on Chinese tech and beyond. Overview on the draft below and some emerging thought. Thread..
2) Draft was released to the public on Oct. 20th 2020. It's the most comprehensive legislation on personal data to date in China. Additionally, the law will provide protection of personal information of PRC residents processed outside of mainland China
3) Under PIPL a data processor may process personal data based on:
-consent of the data subject
-the necessity of executing or performing a contract
-the necessity of performing a legal obligation or legal duty
-a response to an emergent public health event or the necessity...
Read 16 tweets
Lillian Li Profile picture
21 Nov
1) Since starting a newsletter I've been thinking a lot about differentiation, and specifically how I do it. I've broken it down to three layers: new data, perspective and personality. This is the unbundling of the unbundled content. Thread time!
2) New data - basic layer - the ability to give new data on a topic that no one has covered before. For Chinese tech this is relatively easy since there's barrier to entry to understanding Chinese context and Chinese.
3 Perspective - middle layer -the curation layer where you tell readers why the new information is interesting. This utilises your unique perspective to sense make for them. I was a VC in Europe. My perspective is why an western investment practitioner would find this info useful
Read 7 tweets
Lillian Li Profile picture
25 Oct
1) Epic speech by Jack Ma before the IPO of Ant Groups, who started with 'I'm retired so..yolo'

He touches upon the outdateness of current financial systems (Basel III) for the future, the role of regulation and cryptocurrency.

A condensed translation:
2) China's financial system development used to follow that of Europe and the US, with the thinking that we needed to catch-up. But just because it's European or American, doesn't mean these financial systems are still relevant. We need to create the systems of the future.
3) Basel III is focused on risk management and not on growth and innovation. It's not designed for the younger generation or developing countries. We can also see how Basel III has affected Europe's development. It's a set of rules for the geriatric club.
Read 20 tweets
Lillian Li Profile picture
24 Oct
Strong disagree.

My fellow oxbridge students had a strong sense of curiosity which they pursue for its own sake.

My Ivy League co-workers’s general knowledge purely came from course reading.

Oxbridge encourage intellectual curiosity

Ivy League encourages conscientiousness
The test schedule for Ivy League are like 6 times a year?

You know much I got tested at Cambridge? 1 time per year per course. Done during a week.

Also my first two years’ test results didn’t influence my final year graduation mark.

This meant a lot of time for exploration
I feel like everyone who when to Ivys tested very well throughout high school and then had to continuously test well throughout to get a good GPA to graduate.

This is a fantastic way to get diligent workers who are trained to constantly work.
Read 6 tweets
Lillian Li Profile picture
23 Oct
I come not to praise the super app. But to bury it.

The first gen Chinese tech companies went with being user centric route since they had such greenfields in front of them.

Everything was offline and vaguely dated. There was the real opportunity to leapfrog. 🧵
2) It was easier and cheaper to sell additional services to an existing user.

So food delivery apps went into hotel and flight booking. Podcasting apps went into e-commerce. Every app started having mini-games to keep the user’s attention.
3) Though the fact that every consumer app thought this way meant that every consumer app was a super app.

Pretty soon, consumers were being sold financial products from their podcast platforms, bike rentals and food delivery apps.

This got tiring v quickly.
Read 6 tweets
Lillian Li Profile picture
23 Oct
Seems like a tie between 1984, Rationalist circling and LGBTQ rights discussion.

The answer is.. Rationalist Circling.

Thread for proof 👇
LGTBQ rights is a getting a lot of traction in the younger generation.

Quick search for Bilibili reveals the following results, all with 100K+ of views.

Also breaking into the mainstream with Alibaba running this supporting ad over lunar new year. scmp.com/news/china/soc… ImageImage
1984 is readily available, both in book stores and on Tmall. Image
Read 4 tweets

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