Zhitong Finance App News, International Commercial Settlement (00147) announced that on March 15, 2024, Shousheng Enterprise Co., Ltd. (Shousheng), a wholly-owned subsidiary of the company, and Lu Zeng signed a joint venture agreement to establish a joint venture in the Lao People's Democratic Republic (Laos). After the joint venture is registered and established, Shousheng and Lu Zeng will own 51% and 49% of the rights respectively. The joint venture will mainly be engaged in Bitcoin mining and trading.

The initial paid-up share capital of the joint venture is US$2 million, and Shousheng and Lu Zeng will contribute according to their respective equity ratios in the joint venture. The investment will mainly be used as working capital for the joint venture.

According to the announcement, cryptocurrencies are digital currencies, in which cryptographic technology is used to regulate the generation of monetary units and blockchain technology is used to verify the transfer of funds. Cryptocurrency makes it easier to transfer funds between parties to a transaction. To ensure security, such transfers are carried out using public keys and private keys. The Group believes that as a method of storing value, cryptocurrencies have the support of a strong public open source architecture, so in the long run, they have the potential to resist inflation, increase the value of storage, and have long-term value. The Group also notes that the price of cryptocurrencies may fluctuate greatly, so the Group plans to invest in cryptocurrencies that are more mature and widely recognized in the market, have good market liquidity, large market capitalization, and relatively long-term holding value. Among all types of cryptocurrencies, Bitcoin was introduced in 2009, and as of this announcement date, it has become the largest cryptocurrency in the world by market capitalization.