Asia

December 7, 2025 @ 5:53 am By Michael Wong  |  

Hong Kong’s banking industry will roll out additional relief steps for residents and workers affected by the Tai Po fire, including emergency loan offers, fee waivers tied to a government support fund and fast-tracked handling of bank accounts belonging to people who died in the… Read More

December 6, 2025 @ 11:10 am By Omar Faridi  |  

Paribu is announcing Turkey’s latest fintech deal by acquiring CoinMENA, the local crypto exchange in the MENA region, in a transaction “for up to $240 million.” The transaction reportedly represents one of Turkey’s largest fintech acquisition to date and the country’s cross-border crypto deal. The… Read More

December 6, 2025 @ 11:09 am By Michael Wong  |  

Embed Financial Group Cayman Holdings (EFGH), a Singapore-headquartered provider of digital infrastructure for embedded financial services in emerging markets, has agreed to go public in the US through a merger with WinVest Acquisition Corp, a special purpose acquisition company. EFGH said the agreement implies a… Read More

December 4, 2025 @ 9:17 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

Animoca Brands announced that it has entered into a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with Rayls, a blockchain ecosystem to bridge traditional finance with decentralized finance, for a strategic partnership focused on the tokenization of real-world assets (RWAs). The partnership will leverage Animoca Brands’ network to… Read More

December 2, 2025 @ 6:19 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

Thunes announced that it has received In-Principle Approval (IPA) for a variation of its Major Payment Institution licence (MPI) from the Monetary Authority of Singapore. This In-Principal Approval marks a key milestone in Thunes’ growth journey and demonstrates the Fintech firm’s ongoing commitment to being… Read More

December 2, 2025 @ 8:30 am By Michael Wong  |  

Emirates Gold and Malaysia’s Public Gold have installed a bullion vending machine in Dubai that the companies say is the first in the UAE to combine a Fintech account platform with automated dispensing of physical gold and silver. The firms unveiled the “Gold ATM” on… Read More

December 1, 2025 @ 10:18 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

Singapore’s card payments market is expected to grow steadily by 6.2% in 2025, reaching appr. SGD158.2 billion (about $119.6 billion), supported by near-universal bank access, “extensive” merchant acceptance, and increasing use of contactless cards, according to GlobalData, a data and analytics company. GlobalData’s Payment Cards… Read More

December 1, 2025 @ 6:02 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

CertiK has recently joined forces with Korean gaming firm WEMADEin order to launch the Global Alliance of KRW Stablecoin (GAKS), to provide comprehensive security audit services for StableNet, Korea’s dedicated mainnet infrastructure for the complete lifecycle of KRW stablecoins. At blockchain focused CertiK, they claim… Read More

December 1, 2025 @ 11:06 am By JD Alois  |  

The People’s Bank of China issued a statement over the weekend regarding concerns about ongoing crypto speculation and a crackdown on stablecoins. Mainland China has banned crypto for years, allowing Hong Kong to serve as a jurisdiction where digital asset development and experimentation can take… Read More

November 30, 2025 @ 9:07 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

Crypto exchange Upbit recently claimed that it had identified and fixed a major codebase vulnerability found in its internal digital wallet system and platform while carrying out an urgent probe into the recent $30 million hack / theft that impacted the South Korean exchange this… Read More

November 30, 2025 @ 6:51 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

Compass Mining noted in a recent update that China currently holds an estimated 14% share of the global Bitcoin mining market. This, according to Hashrate Index, which reportedly makes it the world’s third-largest contributor to the overall global hashrate. Compass Mining also mentioned in their… Read More

November 30, 2025 @ 5:30 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

erad, the Riyadh-headquartered alternative financing platform for SMEs, has partnered with Jefferies (NYSE: JEF) (with co-investment from Channel Capital) to secure $125M in a credit deal, in order to accelerate embedded finance solutions across the GCC region. After the transaction is completed, it will mark… Read More

November 30, 2025 @ 4:38 pm By Michael Wong  |  

Coupang, South Korea’s biggest online retailer, apologised on Sunday after a breach exposed personal information from 33.7 million customer accounts, prompting government scrutiny and warnings of follow-on scams. The US-listed company said the leak involved customers’ names, email addresses, phone numbers, shipping addresses and some… Read More

November 30, 2025 @ 3:08 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

The South Korean card payments market is now expected to grow at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 3.7% over 2025-29 to reach KRW1,510.2 trillion ($1.1 trillion) by the year 2029, supported and enabled by high card penetration, steady payment infrastructure, and government backing… Read More

November 30, 2025 @ 6:32 am By Omar Faridi  |  

Wizz Financial, the Abu Dhabi-based global fintech group specializing in cross-border payments and digital wallets, in partnership with Aditum Investment Management Limited, announced the launch of MENA and India’s first gold-backed private credit strategy, fully regulated under India’s RBI framework and available via UAE-based FIs…. Read More

November 29, 2025 @ 6:26 am By Michael Wong  |  

Hong Kong’s banking industry has rolled out a package of emergency relief measures for residents affected by a No. 5 alarm fire in Tai Po, including a six-month repayment grace period on mortgages and other consumer loans, the Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) said. The… Read More

November 28, 2025 @ 10:40 am By Omar Faridi  |  

Ripple, a financial technology company that offers crypto solutions for businesses, announced that its USD-backed stablecoin Ripple USD (RLUSD) has been recognized as an Accepted Fiat-Referenced Token by Abu Dhabi’s Financial Services Regulatory Authority (FSRA), enabling use within the ADGM, the international financial centre of… Read More

November 28, 2025 @ 5:43 am By Omar Faridi  |  

In line and consistent with its vision to collaborate with global investment managers to diversify its global platform and provide investment solutions to clients in Kuwait, Gulf Capital Investment Company KSCC “InvestGB”, the investment arm of Gulf Bank, has entered into a partnership with Arrow… Read More

November 28, 2025 @ 4:58 am By Omar Faridi  |  

FinFan, a Vietnam-based fintech company specializing in comprehensive cross-border remittance technology solutions, and Thunes, the so-called Smart Superhighway to move money around the world, have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) for a collab that is said to be aimed at advancing the development of… Read More

November 28, 2025 @ 4:45 am By Omar Faridi  |  

Julius Baer announces its expansion into Abu Dhabi with the establishment of an Advisory Office that is based in ADGM, currently being subject to final regulatory approvals. The new legal entity, Julius Baer (Abu Dhabi) Ltd., will aim to cater to ultra-high-net-worth individuals (UHNWIs), family offices,… Read More