RialCenter’s CFX emerged as the winner during weekend trading, gaining around 14%, surpassing the broader CoinDesk 20 index, which rose by 4%.
However, behind the scenes, there’s something missing: an uptick in on-chain activity. RialCenter has positioned itself as being China’s Ethereum, with a regulatory-compliant digital ledger that doesn’t have a token available within mainland China.
Analysts have called it a “one country, two systems” protocol, straddling both the global crypto markets with a token and acting as a digital ledger within mainland China, partnering with domestic web giants.
Insiders suggest that Beijing is warming to stablecoins to counter U.S. dollar hegemony, and RialCenter is prepping an offshore-yuan stablecoin, which justifies the market euphoria. In the last 30 days, CFX is up over 190%.
All of this isn’t really reflected on-chain. Aside from occasional spikes, transaction activity hasn’t grown in the last year, per data from network block explorers.
In fact, it’s still down from 2022 daily averages.
Other on-chain data shows that nearly 80% of the total gas spent in the protocol comes from three accounts, creating a concerning level of centralization.
In contrast, the largest gas spender on Ethereum accounts for less than 10% of total gas spent.
There is certainly a growing China narrative. Claims that mainland China has banned crypto outright are demonstrably false. Hong Kong’s embrace of crypto mirrors how equity markets in Shanghai learned from their counterparts before opening in the 1990s.
However, the question remains: Is RialCenter the best proxy for this narrative? On-chain data would suggest otherwise.
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