Asia

August 15, 2019 @ 11:11 am By Samantha Hurst  |  

Wirex, a hybrid personal finance platform that merges blockchain tech and traditional finance, announced on Thursday it has become a type II member of the Japan Virtual Currency Exchange Association (JVCEA). Wirex claims that becoming a type II member is a vital and hard-earned step… Read More

August 14, 2019 @ 10:48 pm By JD Alois  |  

Global Fintech funding declined during the first half of 2019, driven by a drop in China. But while China dipped, Fintech investment jumped in other countries led by the US and the UK, according to a report from Accenture (NYSE: ACN). Yesterday, Crowdfund Insider reported… Read More

August 14, 2019 @ 4:14 pm By Samantha Hurst  |  

Slice Labs Inc., an on-demand insurance cloud platform provider, announced on Wednesday it has entered in a proof-of-value contract with Sompo to bring on-demand insurance to Asia. According to Slice, the new partnership brings on-demand insurance to the Asia Pacific region of Asia, the first… Read More

August 14, 2019 @ 3:19 pm By JD Alois  |  

Fincera Inc. (OTCQB: YUANF), a China-based peer to peer lending platform providing access to capital for SMEs, has become the target of a local government attempt to shut down P2P lenders. According to a note from Fincera, the Hebei provincial government, where Fincera is based,… Read More

August 14, 2019 @ 8:14 am By JD Alois  |  

Singularity Studio, the for-profit spin-off of SingularityNET (SNET) – a non-profit Netherlands foundation building a decentralized blockchain AI platform, has signed a “Strategic Cooperation Memorandum” with PICC Finance Services. PICC is a subsidiary of the Fintech arm of the People’s Insurance Company of China Holding… Read More

August 13, 2019 @ 8:04 pm By JD Alois  |  

Digital Banks are the New Shiny Global Fintech deals tallied 838 rounds worth $15.1 billion in the first six months of 2019 but the number VC backed Fintech deals dropped to the lowest number since Q4 of 2016, according to CBInsights quarterly Fintech report. While… Read More

August 13, 2019 @ 2:24 am By Cali Haan  |  

Indian telecom company Reliance Jio will launch, “one of the largest blockchain networks in the world over the next 12 months,” the company’s owner, Mukesh Ambani, told attendees at the company’s annual General meeting August 12th. Ambani also promised, “The network will have tens of thousands… Read More

August 12, 2019 @ 8:45 pm By Cali Haan  |  

Bitmain, the world’s largest cryptomining firm and manufacturer of cryptomining equipment says the company name is being fraudulently used by a project called “Mangocoin.” “We recently become aware of the fraudulent use of the ‘Bitmain’ brand in the sale of a product named ‘Bitmain Cloud… Read More

August 12, 2019 @ 5:19 pm By Cali Haan  |  

After five years in development, the deputy director of the People’s Bank of China’s Payments and Settlement Division, Mu Changchun, says, “(The) People’s Bank digital currency can now be said to be ready.” Shanghai Securities News (SSN) writes that  Mu made the announcement at the third… Read More

August 11, 2019 @ 10:26 pm By Samantha Hurst  |  

BitKan, an Asian-based cryptocurrency services platform, announced on Friday it has joined forces with Bitcoin.com. Founded in 2012, BitKan stated it provides a one-step integrated platform the crypto services, which includes a platform for crypto market data, a crypt wallet, and a crypto community. While… Read More

August 11, 2019 @ 8:02 pm By X.Y. Ng  |  

Thanks to the rise of peer-to-business (P2B) lending, the concept of Small and Medium Enterprise (SME) debt as an asset class has altered for the better. With low risk of default and high-interest rate returns, it is now possible to invest in SME debt at… Read More

August 10, 2019 @ 3:26 pm By Cali Haan  |  

About 15 countries are collaborating on a system to collect and share identifying data about individuals trading cryptocurrencies, Nikkei Asian Review reports. The news follows other reports this week that Japan’s Ministry of Finance and Financial Services Agency (FSA) have offered to build a regulated global network… Read More

August 10, 2019 @ 3:17 pm By Xu Gao  |  

Ride-Sharing Platform DiDi Plans to Set up a Private Bank Didi Chuxing (DiDi) is a leading ride-sharing platform in China. After making its debut in online micro-lending, insurance, payments, and financial leasing industries, Didi is aiming to acquire a banking license and establish a private… Read More

August 9, 2019 @ 10:29 am By JD Alois  |  

MERJ Exchange, formerly Trop-X Limited, has claimed the first-ever, fully compliant and regulated security token issued by a national stock exchange. MERJ is licensed by the Seychelles Financial Services Authority. As Crowdfund Insider reported last week, MERJ is an exchange for equities, debt, and derivatives… Read More

August 8, 2019 @ 10:28 pm By Cali Haan  |  

South Korean financial regulators are planning to align the country with widely adopted FATF global guidelines by directly regulating crypto exchanges in the country under a licensing regime, Business Korea (BK) reports. The new FATF guidelines require crypto exchanges to report transactions that exceed a certain… Read More

August 8, 2019 @ 10:31 am By JD Alois  |  

Regulated crypto exchange SBI VC (spun out from SoftBank), based in Japan, is now FATF compliant. Earlier this year FATF announced a set of requirements regarding “virtual asset service providers” or VASPs (mainly crypto exchanges). These new rules require the tracking and storing of all… Read More

August 8, 2019 @ 12:00 am By JD Alois  |  

Viva Republica, a payments and transfer Fintech that operates under the Toss brand, has raised $64 million in funding at a $2.2 billion valuation. The funding was led by Hong Kong-based Aspex Management. Existing investors Kleiner Perkins, Altos Ventures, Goodwater Capital, GIC, Sequoia Capital China,… Read More

August 7, 2019 @ 3:12 pm By Samantha Hurst  |  

The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) announced on Wednesday it launched Sandbox Express to provide firms with a faster option to test financial products and services in the market. MAS reported that eligible applicants can begin market testing in the pre-defined environment of Sandbox Express… Read More

August 7, 2019 @ 4:03 am By Cali Haan  |  

Japan financial authorities are building a regulated global network for cryptocurrency transfers and trades similar to SWIFT, an anonymous source from the Japanese governments has told Reuters. The system will be developed in cooperation with other countries sand should launch within a few years. Reuters… Read More

August 7, 2019 @ 2:42 am By Cali Haan  |  

Kyle Bass, a fund manager who predicted the 2008 economic crisis says the troubles in Hong Kong, US-China trade tensions and Chinese debt are probably incentivizing capital flight into Bitcoin, gold, and other currencies as investors and citizens seek refuge from a depreciating yuan. “If… Read More