Bloomberg Businessweek - USA (2020-12-07)

○ Taiwanwentmorethan 200 days

withouta locallytransmittedCovid-19

caseafterTsai’sadministrationinstituted

oneoftheworld’smosteffective

pandemic-responseprotocols.

Tsai,a formerlawprofessorandTaiwan’sfirstfemale

president,startedtheyearbysecuringa secondtermin

anoverwhelmingvictoryonJan.11.Butevenin therunupto

theelection,hergovernmentwasbusypreparingtoclose

borders,imposetravelrestrictions,andsetuprigorous

contact-tracingandquarantineprotocols.(Thosewhovio-

latelockdownmeasuresfacefinesofasmuchasNT$1mil-

lion,or$35,000.)Taiwan,witha populationof 23 million

people,hashadjustover 600 coronaviruscases

andsevendeaths,numberskeptlowbywide-

spreadadoptionoffacemasksafterthe

island’sdeadlyexperiencewithSARS.

Taiwanwilllikelybeamongthefew

economiestoexperiencegrowth

thisyear,withofficialsin August

forecastinggrossdomestic

producttoexpand1.56%.

Still,Tsaiwillhaveto

remainvigilant:Thisfall

thegovernmentrecorded

morethan 20 imported

Covid-19casesina two-

week period. Other

countries thatfought

theviruswellinitially,

suchasSingaporeand

Japan,latersawspikes.

—SamsonEllis

○ HisTwitter

campaignhelped

shametheU.K.

governmentinto

providingfree

schoolmeals

tomorethan

1.5millionchildren

fromlow-wage

families.

The23-year-old,oneofthePremier

League’s brightestyoungstars,

spentmuchofthesummerwork-

ingtoensurethatkidsfroma poor

upbringinghaveaccesstofreeschool

mealsduringscheduledandunsched-

uledclosures.InJunea groundswell

ofpublicsupportforhiscausegot

thegovernmenttospend£120mil-

lion($159million)toextenda voucher

schemethatit hadn’tintendedto

keepfunding.Inanopenletterto

ParliamentthatRashfordpostedon

Twitter,hewrote,“I encourageyou

toheartheirpleasandfindyour

humanity.”Thetweetgotmorethan

300,000likes.

Thegovernment’sabout-face

washumblingforPrimeMinisterBoris

Johnson,whosalutedRashford’sper-

tinacityinannouncingtheextension.

Sincethen,Rashford’sdoggedness

hasseenJohnson’sgovernment

backtrackfora secondtimeand

pledgemorethan£400millionin fur-

thersupportthrough2021.

Rashfordisdrivenbyhisown

hardships. Born and raised in

Manchesterbya singlemotherwho

reliedonfoodvoucherstofeedher

fivechildren,hewasspurredtoactiv-

ismduringthecoronaviruspandemic

whenhesawthepressureit heaped

onalreadystrugglingfamilies.His

effortsearnedroyalrecognitionin

October,whenQueenElizabethII

includedhiminherannualbirthday

honorslist.—FareedSahloul

○ Zhaosaysheexpectshisprivate

cryptocurrencyexchangetohaveprofits

of$800millionto$1billionthisyear,up

fromabout$570millionlastyear,asmarket

uncertaintypushestradersintodigitalcoins.

Zhao,whogoesbyCZ,startedhisbusinessin 2017.Bythatpoint,

theworldwaslitteredwithfailedexchanges—seeMt.Gox,2014.

ButZhaohadexperienceengineeringhigh-frequencytrading

systemsandworkingforothercryptostartups.(From 2002 to

2005,heworkedatBloombergLP.)Binanceofferedlowertrad-

ingfeesandrolledouta coin,BNB,thatdoublesasa loyaltypro-

gram:If youholdit inyourdigitalwallet,youpaylowerfees,no

matterwhatcoinsyoutrade.

Thecompanyhascometodominatethemarketforcrypto

derivatives—Bitcoinfutures,forexample—thankspartlyto

issuesatcompetitors.InAprilit acquiredCoinMarketCap,the

No.1 placeforcryptoinvestorstocheckthousandsofcoin

pricesandseewhichexchangeshavethehighesttradingvol-

ume.(Thetermsofthedealweren’tdisclosed.)Toprovehis

company’sstayingpower,Zhaomustnowremainontheright

sideofregulators.InJulytheU.S.SecuritiesandExchange

CommissionhiredthesamecompanyBinanceusestoglean

insightsfromitsblockchain,onwhichBNBruns,tokeepitsown

tabsontheblockchainandtodeterbadactors.“We’realways

workingcloselywithregulatorsandlawenforcementworld-

wide,”Zhaosays.—OlgaKharif

CHANGPENG

ZHAO

CO-FOUNDER,BINANCE

HOLDINGSLTD.

74

MARCUS RASHFORD

FORWARD, MANCHESTER UNITED

FOOTBALL CLUB

TSAI

ING-

WEN

PRESIDENT,

TAIWAN

RASHFORD: DANIEL LEAL OLIVAS/GETTY IMAGES. TSAI: TYRONE SIU/REUTERS. ZHAO: ANTHONY KWAN/BLOOMBERG

I

Rashford once learned

basic sign language to judge a poetry competition for deaf children