Wirecard, the global innovation leader for digital financial technology, and Tirol Werbung, the tourism organization of the Austrian state of Tyrol, are launching a new China Pay Initiative together with partners Innsbruck Tourism, Kitzbühel Tourism, the Kufsteinerland Tourism Association, Ötztal Tourism, the St. Anton Tourism Association and the Swarovski Kristallwelten. The initiative will enable a state-wide coverage of Wirecard’s mobile payment solution, integrating the most popular Chinese mobile payment methods into numerous Tyrolean companies. Initially, 150 businesses in the region will be equipped with the solution.

According to a Nielsen study, around 91 percent of Chinese tourists would be willing to spend and buy more abroad if more merchants accepted Chinese mobile payment methods. With this initiative, Wirecard and Tirol Werbung are therefore addressing the preferences of this target group. The state of Tyrol wants to offer Alipay, among others, as a payment option in as many businesses as possible. Wirecard is responsible for the entire payment integration and processing operations.

A 2018 report found that total spending by Chinese tourists in Austria had increased by 28 percent over the previous year, making China the top spending country for tax-free purchases in the Alpine nation among non-European countries. With a share of 30 percent of all tax-free sales in Austria, China clearly ranks first, ahead of Russia (10 percent) and Switzerland (8 percent). While the average non-European tourist spent 508 euros, visitors from China spent an average of 616 euros per purchase.

Holger Gassler, Market Manager of Tirol Werbung, said, “We expect to gain a competitive advantage as the first Austrian province to introduce Chinese mobile payment methods on a large scale. Payment convenience plays a major role for this target group in particular and can make both the region and participating merchants more attractive to Chinese tourists. The introduction of Wirecard’s digital payment platform is also one of the first projects within the scope of Tyrol’s digitization campaign.”

Roland Toch, Managing Director CEE at Wirecard, added, “Experience shows that accepting Alipay as a new payment method can lead to an increase in transaction volume with travelers from China of more than 350 percent within one year. We are proud to partner with Tirol Werbung to offer our digital payment solution to hundreds of companies and to continue the digitization of their payment processes. We look forward to expanding our partnership with Tyrol and other European regions in the future.”

SOURCE Wirecard AG

The Kuala Lumpur edition of Trescon’s World Blockchain Summit will mark the global series’ entry into the Malaysian marketplace. The summit will take place on 27 – 28 February 2019, at the Intercontinental Hotel.

World Blockchain Summit is an internationally renowned series that has hosted over 15,000 delegates in over ten countries across the world, with a special focus on hosting elites from regional governments and enterprises alike.

Malaysia is one of the newest countries on the blockchain map, as the country pushed for the active legislation of blockchain based service providers. Furthermore, after initially distancing itself from Cryptocurrencies, the Malaysian Government is now looking to classify CryptoTokens and other digital currencies as tokenised assets. The Finance Ministry has also announced it hopes to completely regulate Cryptocurrencies by Q1 of the 2019 fiscal year.

Hence, the World Blockchain Summit is arriving in Kuala Lumpur at the most opportune moment as the local blockchain industry is moving towards the wide-scale adoption of ledger based services. The summit will gather over 500 technology developers, startups, entrepreneurs and solution providers at the venue to share knowledge, implementation techniques and adoption practices for blockchain solutions into diverse industries and sectors.

Regulatory body MIGHT (Malaysian Industry-Government Group for High Technology) is helping institutions and government bodies adopt blockchain services rapidly. The Ministry of Education has also setup a degree verification system via a distributed ledger. The President and CEO of MIGHT, Datuk Dr Mohd Yusoff Sulaiman, will be delivering a keynote address at the World Blockchain Summit in Kuala Lumpur.

Mohammed Saleem, CEO of Trescon, said that “Malaysia is now the centre of global news after the Government, whom first opposed blockchain and cryptocurrency services, did a full 360 and is now looking to regulate them within the country. Industries like Education, Tourism, Healthcare and Public Services can benefit from the transparency and incorruptible features a distributed ledger provides”.

The event will also have startups and ICOs present at the exhibition venue, displaying their services and products to a hoard of investors, seeking the required assistance and support needed for growth.

Some other notable industry personalities and leaders attending the event include Rene Bernard, President of ACCESS — Malaysia; Kohei Kurihara, President of the Tokyo Chapter — Government Blockchain Association; and Samson Lee, Founder and CEO of CoinStreet.

PR Newswire is a News Release Distribution Partner of World Blockchain Summit.

SOURCE Trescon

Ethereum Creator Vitalik Buterin, alongside regional leaders from the Ethereum Meetup communities of Asia, are set to gather in Hong Kong to host the inaugural Asia Region Ethereum SuperMeetup. Organized by Ethereum Hong Kong and Singapore, and attended by Meetups including Ethereum Taipei, Seoul, Tokyo, Philippines, Sydney, Hanoi, and Jakarta, the event is the first major community-led regional gathering. Supported by Ethereum, TOKEN2049, Kenetic, and Digix, the Meetup will take place in the Kerry Hotel, March 13, 2019. Congregating 500 attendees, the SuperMeetup will act as a platform for discussion on the past, present, and future of the ever-larger growing Ethereum ecosystem.

The SuperMeetup will provide participants with the opportunity to learn from the leading voices in the Ethereum ecosystem as key members of the Ethereum Foundation and Ethereum Community Leaders from all across Asia come together for an informative evening of keynotes, panel discussions, and AMAs.

Speaking at the event, Ethereum creator Vitalik Buterin will provide invaluable insight into what 2019 has in store for the development of the decentralised platform. Additional confirmed speakers include Jehan Chu, Co-Founder and Managing Partner at Kenetic Capital; Shaun Djie, Co-founder and COO of Digix; Kazuki Obata of Smart Contract Capital; Brian Cheong of TTC Protocol; Chih-Cheng Liang of Ethereum Research, James Zaki of Ethereum Sydney, Veronica Andrino of Ethereum Boracay, and Teguh Kurniawan Harmanda of TokoCrypto.

Participating communities include Ethereum Hong Kong, Singapore, Shanghai, Taipei, Philippines, Japan, Indonesia, and Seoul.

The event is free to attend and will take place at 6:30 PM on March 13, 2019, at TOKEN2049 in the Kerry Hotel, Hong Kong.

For more information and to register please visit: https://www.ethereumsupermeetup.token2049.com/

SOURCE Ethereum SuperMeetup