Reported by Li Bing, Journalist

　　Recently, there have been messages that WeChat Pay and Alipay have sent letters to Huobi, requiring Huobi to remove the OTC (Over-the-Counter trading market, also known as the counter trading market) payment channel and stop the illegal use of their trademarks.

　　Regarding this, the reporter of ‘Securities Daily’ sought confirmation from Huobi Group. As of 15:40 yesterday afternoon, Huobi said that they had not yet received any related lawyer’s letter. However, according to the reporter’s understanding, this ‘misunderstanding’ may be related to the快递 (express delivery) not having been delivered yet.

　　At 16:32 on the afternoon of January 28, the reporter of ‘Securities Daily’ logged into the official website of Huobi and found that WeChat Pay, Alipay, and others are still listed. In the trading information listed in the fiat trading column of Huobi, whether it is a regular transaction or a bulk transaction, Alipay and WeChat are more frequent in the payment methods used by users.

　　However, Huobi told the reporter of ‘Securities Daily’, ‘The logos involved in the related payment platforms are only for expressing the payment link method and are not used for promoting our company’s products or services, which is a common practice in the industry. We understand the position of the relevant parties and will strictly comply with the relevant regulations on trademark use and strictly investigate the use of trademarks.’

　　Huobi said

　　Not yet received a lawyer’s letter

　　Recently, there have been messages that WeChat Pay and Alipay have sent lawyer’s letters to Huobi, requiring Huobi to remove the OTC (Over-the-Counter trading market, also known as the counter trading market) payment channel and stop the illegal use of their trademarks.

　　As one of the main characters in this event, Huobi has not received a lawyer’s letter. A person from Huobi told the reporter of ‘Securities Daily’ yesterday afternoon, ‘We have searched through many emails from all departments and indeed have not received any related lawyer’s letter, but we are afraid of missing something, so we have been checking all the time.’

　　However, according to the reporter’s understanding, this ‘misunderstanding’ may be related to the express delivery of the lawyer’s letter not being delivered.

　　In response to this matter, the reporter of ‘Securities Daily’ sought confirmation from Ant Group Alipay and Tencent WeChat Pay.online casino entrance and The latest method

　　A relevant person in charge of Tencent’s Tenpay told the reporter, ‘Tencent is sending letters to communicate for the de-listing process.’

　　In addition, yesterday, ‘Securities Daily’ reporter obtained the electronic version of the lawyer’s letter sent by Alipay to Huobi Network from an insider. The lawyer’s letter shows that Alipay requires Huobi Network to stop using Alipay for Online casino and How to find it payment; disconnect and delete all pages on Huobi Network that use Alipay and other principal trademarks.

　　However, a relevant person in charge of Huobi Group replied to the reporter of ‘Securities Daily’ that ‘Huobi has no official cooperation with Alipay or WeChat Pay, and all transfer behaviors between users are individual behaviors between users.’

　　The Huobi side believes that ‘the logo of the relevant payment platform is only used to express the payment link method and is not used for promoting the company’s products or services, which is a common practice in the industry. We understand the position of the relevant parties and will strictly comply with the relevant regulations on trademark use and strictly investigate the use of the logo.’

　　It is still unknown what kind of countermeasures the Huobi side will take and what kind of impact this incident will have on Huobi OTC. This newspaper will continue to pay attention to it.

　　Tencent strengthens relevant monitoring

　　Alipay has closed about 3,000 accounts

　　As early as September 2017, the seven departments issued an announcement on preventing the risks of token issuance and financing, stipulating that financial institutions and non-bank payment institutions shall not directly or indirectly provide account opening, registration, trading, clearing, and settlement products or services for token issuance and financing and ‘Online casino and How to find it’, and shall not underwrite insurance business related to tokens and ‘Online casino and How to find it’ or include tokens and ‘Online casino and How to find it’ in the scope of insurance liability. If financial institutions and non-bank payment institutions find clues of illegal and illegal transactions of token issuance and financing, they shall report to relevant departments in a timely manner.

　　As the most mainstream third-party payment channel, both Ant Group and Tenpay have expressed to the reporters the work they are doing in preventing the risks of Online casino and How to find it.

　　Ant Group’s Alipay replied to the reporter of ‘Securities Daily’ that Alipay firmly refuses to provide settlement services for virtual currency websites. Alipay has not provided settlement services for any of the virtual currency trading platforms it has investigated so far. ‘If we find that any merchants connected have involved virtual currency transactions, we will investigate and expel them together. We will also take legal measures against any platforms that violate the use of Alipay’s logo.’

　　According to the data provided by Alipay to the reporter of Securities Daily, Alipay has investigated and closed about 3,000 accounts engaged in Online Casino and How to Find It transactions. Alipay emphasized that once it is confirmed that users are engaging in virtual currency transactions in violation of regulations using Alipay, penalties such as restricting account collection will be imposed.

　　It is reported that as early as August 2018, Alipay had stated that for individual accounts suspected of engaging in Online Casino and How to Find It transactions, temporary restrictions on account collection functions or even permanent restrictions on collection would be taken according to the circumstances. Next, Alipay will continue to closely monitor and investigate off-site trading activities related to Online Casino and How to Find It, and establish a patrol system for key websites and accounts.

　　This time, Tencent also explicitly stated that the measures against illegal activities related to Online Casino and How to Find It in the payment channel include: “Restricting the collection function of platform receiving accounts”, “Restricting the collection amount of individual seller accounts”, etc. The cleanup of all virtual currency transactions using merchant accounts has been completed. Real-time monitoring of daily transactions is conducted, and direct interception may be taken based on the severity of the identified transactions.

　　In addition, Tencent told the reporter of Securities Daily that Tencent has always been highly vigilant about various ICO phenomena and has launched special operations to strengthen information channel management. It is reported that Tencent has already carried out tiered penalties, including restricting functions and even permanent account suspension, for some public accounts suspected of releasing ICO and Online Casino and How to Find It trading speculation informationwebsite online casino online websiteThe latest plan. Currently, in the large-scale special cleanup work, Tencent continues to strengthen the monitoring of related content in various scenarios such as public channels and user reports.

　　A responsible person from Tencent emphasized, “As early as January 2018, Tencent issued a statement titled “Tencent: Eliminate Illegal Financial Activities such as Online Casino and How to Find It”, explicitly stating that it has always adhered to the principle of not providing related services for illegal financial activities such as “cross-border ICO token issuance and Online Casino and How to Find It trading”, including not providing related payment channels, advertising services, and other business operations. For violations discovered by the platform or reported by users, appropriate measures will be taken immediately. We call on all users to recognize the risks of cross-border ICO and Online Casino and How to Find It trading platforms, and to firmly establish a risk prevention awareness.