Asia

July 19, 2019 @ 1:30 am By Cali Haan  |  

On the heels of a controversial debate held recently in Taipei, crypto skeptic and NYU Professor Nouriel Roubini has written an article, “The Great Crypto Heist,” to come back again against, “Some of the biggest crypto players…openly involved in systematic illegality.” Roubini singles out Hong Kong-headquartered… Read More

July 18, 2019 @ 7:59 am By Samantha Hurst  |  

China Lending Corporation (NASDAQ: CLDC), a non-bank financial corporation servicing micro, small and medium-sized enterprises in China, announced earlier this week it has entered into a five-year strategic partnership agreement with Rui Xin Insurance Technology (Ningbo) Co., Ltd, a fintech company providing comprehensive insurance solutions…. Read More

July 18, 2019 @ 6:30 am By JD Alois  |  

ZhongAn Online P & C Insurance Co. Ltd. (6060:HK), a Chinese Insurtech backed by Alibaba founder Jack Ma and Tencent founder Pony Ma, has announced multiple changes to its executive leadership. ZhongAn went public in Hong Kong in 2017. At that time, it was Hong… Read More

July 18, 2019 @ 1:06 am By JD Alois  |  

The IOST Foundation has “completed an integration” with Eastern European rewards/donation platform Boomstarter, according to a note from the company. The goal is for the two entities to make $IOST a global fundraising currency to support entrepreneurs and builders in an international expansion plan spanning… Read More

July 17, 2019 @ 5:35 pm By JD Alois  |  

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has completed its Financial Sector Assessment Program for Singapore and has reportedly “reaffirmed” Singapore’s financial sector oversight to be “among the best globally,” according to a release. The IMF said the economic fundamentals of Singapore were strong and its economic… Read More

July 17, 2019 @ 2:19 pm By JD Alois  |  

The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) has signed a “Fintech Cooperation Agreement” with the Central Bank of Kenya. The agreement was finalized during the inaugural Afro-Asia Fintech Festival in Nairobi, Kenya. The two entities said they will collaborate to develop digital infrastructure services including KYC… Read More

July 16, 2019 @ 10:19 pm By JD Alois  |  

GOJEK, a Southeast Asian unicorn, has received backing from global credit and payments provider Visa. According to a release, Visa participated in GOJEK’s ongoing Series F funding round for an undisclosed amount.  Other investors include Mitsubishi Motors Corporation, Mitsubishi Corporation, and investment from Mitsubishi UFJ… Read More

July 16, 2019 @ 1:07 pm By Samantha Hurst  |  

Hong Kong-based cryptocurrency platform Crypto.com announced on Tuesday it has named OS Limited (OSL), a digital asset brokerage providing global counterparts with a suite of institutional products and services. OSL offers over-the-counter (OTC) trading services, as its first Settlement Agent and Paxos, financial institution regulated… Read More

July 16, 2019 @ 8:00 am By JD Alois  |  

Backed by JP Morgan and Sequoia, Near has just raised $100 million in new financing from PE firm Greater Pacific Capital. Near is a company that uses AI to make “real-world data actionable.” The company claims to have the “largest data set of people’s behavior… Read More

July 14, 2019 @ 1:12 pm By JD Alois  |  

Digital banking and online lending is a huge portion of the future of finance. The days of brick and mortar dominance is slowly drifting away as the next generation of consumers prefer banking on their iPhone or Android smartphone. Last week, Deutsche Bank announced a… Read More

July 13, 2019 @ 2:32 pm By Xu Gao  |  

China’s State Council Approves the Research and Development of CBDC At the launching ceremony and the first academic seminar of the Digital Finance Open Research Project held on July 8th, Wang Xin, director of the Research Bureau of the People’s Bank of China, revealed that… Read More

July 13, 2019 @ 12:56 pm By Cali Haan  |  

Development of “the largest data centre in the world,” in Rockdale, Texas, has slowed to a halt less than a year after the facility was announced by Bitmain, the world’s largest cryptomining firm, Wired reports. While courting officials in the region, Bitmain representatives promised to… Read More

July 12, 2019 @ 4:55 pm By Cali Haan  |  

More than a hundred proposed “crypto asset” exchange projects are seeking permission to operate in Japan, according to information furnished to Bitcoin.com by an official from Japan’s financial market regulator, the Financial Services Authority (FSA). “The number of crypto asset exchange service providers which have… Read More

July 12, 2019 @ 10:06 am By Samantha Hurst  |  

Bitpoint, a licensed cryptocurrency exchange based in Japan, has reportedly shut down operations following a hack that caused the platform to lose ¥3.5 billion yen ($32 million) in cryptocurrency.  According to Bloomberg, The exchange revealed about 2.5 billion yen of stolen funds belonged to customers,… Read More

July 12, 2019 @ 8:38 am By Samantha Hurst  |  

Singapore-based Pundi X announced on Friday it has completed integration support of its XPOS module on X990 made by U.S.-based Verifone. Pundi X reported that with this integration, shops and retail outlets using the Verifone X990 with XPOS module activated will now be able to… Read More

July 10, 2019 @ 9:44 pm By Cali Haan  |  

Protestors believing they were bilked out of 200 million yuan ($29 million USD) by the cryptocurrency/blockchain project TRON occupied the offices of TRON affiliate company Raybo Monday in Beijing. The protestors were eventually “removed” from the offices by police, TRON CEO Justin Sun claimed in a response on… Read More

July 10, 2019 @ 8:24 am By JD Alois  |  

Special purpose acquisition company (SPAC) 8i Enterprises Acquisition Corp. (NASDAQ: JFK) has entered into a definitive share exchange agreement with Diginex Limited. The deal claims to engender the largest publicly traded blockchain company in the US – once it closes. JFK is a BVI company… Read More

July 9, 2019 @ 3:26 am By Cali Haan  |  

Influential bankers convening at an academic conference at Peking University’s Institute of Digital Finance this week have expressed serious concerns about Libra, Facebook’s forthcoming cryptocurrency payments network, South China Morning Post (SCMP) reports. Wang Xin, director of the People’s Bank of China (PBOC)’s research bureau warned… Read More

July 8, 2019 @ 9:57 pm By Cali Haan  |  

India’s Economic Affairs Secretary, Subhash Garg, has confirmed rumours that India is less than keen on Facebook’s current effort to create a private, global currency network aimed particularly at citizens in the developing world, Bloomberg reports. “(The) Design of the Facebook currency has not been… Read More

July 6, 2019 @ 5:51 pm By JD Alois  |  

Crowdfunding on PitchIn, Qeos LED plans to raise sufficient capital and then plan a public listing in Singapore later this year or in early 2020, according to a report in Digital News Asia. If the company is successful in their ambition, Qeos will be the… Read More