Asia

April 21, 2019 @ 6:32 pm By Cali Haan  |  

Relatives of Chad Elwartowski, a “pure libertarian” wanted by the Thai government for setting up a “seasteading” platform on an abandoned oil rig within the country’s waters say they are concerned about his well-being. Elwartowski’s sister, Delynne Elwartowski, told the Detroit Free Press that her… Read More

April 21, 2019 @ 4:24 pm By Cali Haan  |  

The Reserve Bank of India’s (RBIs) Draft Enabling Framework for its Regulatory Sandbox program shows that cryptocurrency and crypto asset startups may be excluded from participating in the program. According to the document, the RBI established an inter-regulatory Working Group (WG) in July 2016, “to… Read More

April 20, 2019 @ 3:00 pm By Xu Gao  |  

PBC to launch the second-generation credit rating system The People’s Bank of China (PBC) is going to launch the second-generation credit rating system from May 2019. PBC will start using the new system for inquiry purpose, with the two systems running concurrently. After data uploaded… Read More

April 19, 2019 @ 7:48 am By Cali Haan  |  

The recent loss of $190 million CAD by the now-defunct Canadian cryptocurrency exchange QuadrigaCX appears to have alerted regulators across the globe to additional complexities affecting the safe storage of cryptocurrencies at relevant businesses. Quadriga has claimed it lost access to the funds following the… Read More

April 18, 2019 @ 11:40 pm By JD Alois  |  

Smart Valor, a Swiss blockchain based startup, has listed its native crypto “Valor” on South Korea based Bithumb. Earlier this week, Bithumb apparently hosted an Airdrop for Valor and distributed 1 Valor per 2,000,000 KRW to its most active traders. Smart Valor announced last fall… Read More

April 18, 2019 @ 10:56 pm By Cali Haan  |  

A libertarian “seasteading” venture launched by a Bitcoin-rich American and his Thai wife off the coast of Phuket has induced a national security response from the Thai Navy, Bangkok Post reports. Chad Andrew Elwartowski and Supranee Thepdet (aka “Nadia Summergirl”) have reportedly established “a living… Read More

April 17, 2019 @ 2:34 pm By Samantha Hurst  |  

MetLife Korea announced on Wednesday the seven finalists selected for its open innovation program, collab 5.0. The program is looking for insurtech companies globally to scale their business with MetLife while solving some of the insurer’s biggest innovation challenges across its Korean business. According to… Read More

April 17, 2019 @ 12:00 pm By JD Alois  |  

AlphaPoint, a blockchain company focused on enabling asset tokenization and trading in a compliant manner, has partnered with Elevated Returns to launch a “secondary market for $1 billion USD tokenized real estate shares.” The exchange will focus on the Southeast Asian property markets. Elevated Returns… Read More

April 17, 2019 @ 1:29 am By Cali Haan  |  

Ongoing regulatory uncertainty in India regarding the use and trading of cryptocurrencies has caused a number of related firms there to close or relocate. Most recently, reports Economic Times, Indian crypto trading platform Unocoin has made additional staff cuts, and it’s total workforce now sits… Read More

April 16, 2019 @ 11:00 pm By JD Alois  |  

Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group (MUFG), via MUFG Innovation Partners (MUIP), has invested in Chainalysis – a provider of cryptocurrency compliance solutions. MUIP invested $6 million into Chainanalysis as part of a $36 million Series B funding round. The Series B was announced in February. Mitsubishi… Read More

April 16, 2019 @ 8:44 am By JD Alois  |  

Welendus (PTP Funding Limited), a peer to peer lending platform, has received an investment from the Unicorn Ascension Fund (UAF) for an undisclosed amount. The investment was said to be used for future expansion into India. Other early-stage investors in the company include Pontaq, a… Read More

April 13, 2019 @ 4:00 pm By Xu Gao  |  

China Implements First National Standard for Insurance Sector On April 11th, China has implemented its first national standard for the insurance industry. The national standard incorporates 817 entries of professional terms, serving as a fundamental standard for various terms in the insurance sector, according to… Read More

April 12, 2019 @ 12:27 pm By Cali Haan  |  

In the wake of increasing Chinese state reticence towards a once supported industry, the biggest Chinese crypto mining firms have been steadily expanding or relocating to Canada, the US and Iceland, Chinese crypto news outlet 8BTC reports. But small and mid-size Chinese crypto miners have… Read More

April 12, 2019 @ 7:59 am By JD Alois  |  

International Telecommunication Union (ITU), a United Nations’ specialized agency for information and communication technologies, has signed an agreement to work with South Korean blockchain firm ICONLOOP. According to a release, the goal is to establish a high-level framework of cooperation in the area of the… Read More

April 11, 2019 @ 9:06 pm By Samantha Hurst  |  

gini, a Hong Kong-based fintech that specializes in smart spending-tracking, announced on Thursday it raised $1.6 million through its seed funding round, which involved participation from Mountain Partners, Treuenburg Group, Global Technology Alliance (GTA), Dr. Cornelius Boersch, the European Investment Fund (backed by EIB), and Hong Kong-based… Read More

April 11, 2019 @ 3:27 pm By Cali Haan  |  

China’s National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) has reportedly added cryptocurrency mining to, “a revised list of industries it wants to encourage, restrict or eliminate,” Reuters reports. Cryptocurrency mining appears on the list along with 450 other industrial activities the NDRC says should be, “phased out… Read More

April 11, 2019 @ 3:14 pm By Cali Haan  |  

Two unnamed individuals were charged with fraud April 10th for their involvement with OneCoin, a multibillion-dollar global cryptocurrency pyramid scheme of  started by a brother and sister team in Bulgaria. Business Times reports that an investigation by the Singapore Commercial Affairs Department and the Singapore Police… Read More

April 11, 2019 @ 6:41 am By Samantha Hurst  |  

Singapore based online lender Validus announced this week that following its $15.2 million fundraise the lending platform has formally launched in Indonesia through its domestic business entity, Batumbu, in partnership with Indonesia’s Triputra Group. As previously reported, Validus was launched in 2015 and claims to… Read More

April 10, 2019 @ 10:40 am By JD Alois  |  

Welab Digital Limited (WDL) has been approved by the Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) to receive a virtual banking license. This is the 4th license for a virtual bank which is now approved to operate in Hong Kong since a consultation on digital banking took… Read More

April 9, 2019 @ 8:20 am By Samantha Hurst  |  

Pintec Technology Holdings Ltd. (PINTEC; Nasdaq: PT), an independent platform enabling financial services in China, announced on Monday PT. Avatec Services Indonesia (Avatec Indonesia), a wholly-owned subsidiary of Avatec.ai (S) Pte. Ltd (Avatec), has been approved by the Indonesian regulator to be a credit scoring… Read More