Asia

March 18, 2019 @ 10:50 pm By JD Alois  |  

InstaReM, a payments platform operating in over 50 countries, has closed on a USD $ 41 million Series C funding round led by Vertex Growth Fund, their first investment in Southeast Asia. James Lee, MD of Vertex Growth Fund, will be joining the Board of… Read More

March 18, 2019 @ 3:38 pm By Samantha Hurst  |  

CoinNess, an Asian cryptocurrency and blockchain information provider, announced on Monday it closed its Series A round funding calculated in millions of dollars, led by Chinese leading venture capital ShunWei Capital, QF Capital, and FreesFund. Speaking about the investment, Peter TAN, CEO of CoinNess, stated:… Read More

March 18, 2019 @ 10:05 am By Samantha Hurst  |  

Singel announced on Monday its Asian cross-border payment alliance, VIA, has expanded its footprint to Japan. According to Singel, NETSTARS, a Tokyo-based mobile payment technology company, will join VIA, adding its 100,000 stores to the network’s current 1.6 million merchant partners. Singel reported that users… Read More

March 16, 2019 @ 11:25 am By Cali Haan  |  

Citing a “growing interest” amongst the public in “blockchain-based digital assets,” the Malaysia Securities Commission has issued a proposed regulatory framework for the issuance of ICO’s (initial coin offerings) and is asking for the public’s feedback. The proposal actually contains many cogent suggestions that improve… Read More

March 16, 2019 @ 11:01 am By JD Alois  |  

The Securities Commission Malaysia (SC) has published a consultation on a framework for Initial Coin Offerings (ICOs). The SC is one of many financial regulators that are seeking to better understand digital assets while investigating potential regulatory environments to create an effective ecosystem. The SC… Read More

March 16, 2019 @ 10:24 am By Xu Gao  |  

AI Startup Tigerobo Receives $33 Million in Series A Financing Early this week, intelligent financial search engine Tigerobo announced the completion of $33 million Series A financing, which was funded by PAC, CreditEase New Finance Industry Investment Fund and Gaorong Capital. Chen Bo, founder and… Read More

March 16, 2019 @ 9:31 am By Cali Haan  |  

An 18-year-old young man in Japan has been turned over to prosecutors to face allegations he hacked 15 million yen ($134 ooo USD) worth of Mona cryptocurrency from a “digital currency storage website,” Japan Today reports. Police claim this is the first time charges have… Read More

March 15, 2019 @ 5:53 pm By Cali Haan  |  

The disgraced former CEO of the Mt Gox bitcoin exchange, Mark Karpeles, has defeated overwhelming odds by being found not guilty of all but one charge leveled against him by Japan prosecutors, who typically enjoy a 99% conviction rate. The charges, which, according to CNN,… Read More

March 15, 2019 @ 9:35 am By Samantha Hurst  |  

Upbit, a digital asset exchange based in South Korea, announced on Friday it is now listing Crypto.com Chain Token (CRO). According to Upbit, the Crypto.com Chain is a high-performing public blockchain powering Crypto.com Pay, which allows customers to pay for goods and services with cryptocurrency… Read More

March 15, 2019 @ 9:00 am By Samantha Hurst  |  

Chinese fintech Pintec Technology Holdings Limited (PINTEC) announced on Friday it has formed a partnership with China UnionPay Merchant Services Co., Ltd. (China UMS) to develop customized and efficient digital lending solutions to serve small and micro-sized enterprises (SMEs).  PINTEC reported that it will cooperate… Read More

March 15, 2019 @ 7:05 am By JD Alois  |  

HealthNet Global (HNG), part of the Apollo Hospitals Group, India and Zebra Medical Vision, an AI Imaging software company, have announced a new collaboration that will focus on validating and deploying AI-based tools at scale across India. The Apollo Hospitals Group is Asia’s largest and… Read More

March 14, 2019 @ 2:47 pm By JD Alois  |  

Katipult Technology Corp. (TSXV:FUND and FRA:K10) a software provider for online investment platforms has helped to launch a new crowdfunding platform Carrington RHT Wealth. The platform is a joint venture (JV) between Singapore based RHT Wealth, an advisory firm, and US-based Carrington Group. RHT Group offers professional… Read More

March 14, 2019 @ 2:34 pm By Cali Haan  |  

The Singapore International Commercial Court (SICC) has ruled that cryptocurrency trade platform Quoine must compensate “electronic market maker” B2C2 for reversing highly advantageous trades that resulted from a software glitch, Business Times reports. The decision was issued Thursday in what is reportedly the first legal… Read More

March 14, 2019 @ 2:24 pm By Samantha Hurst  |  

Barclaycard, which processes nearly half of the UK’s credit and debit card transactions, announced on Thursday it has formed a new partnership with Alipay, a global payment and lifestyle platform, to allow retailers to accept Alipay transactions in stores across the UK. Barclaycard reported that… Read More

March 14, 2019 @ 10:00 am By Erin Hobey  |  

According to the Securities Commission Malaysia in conjunction with the release of its 2018 Annual Report, the Malaysian capital market continued to play a key role in financing the economy against a backdrop of challenging global market conditions. “Though occasionally tempered by uncertainties stemming from rising… Read More

March 14, 2019 @ 5:56 am By Erin Hobey  |  

Taiwan-based blockchain security company CoolBitX, creator of the Bluetooth mobile hardware wallet for digital assets, the CoolWallet S, has created a tech partnership with the Asia Blockchain and Crypto Association (ABACA), the appointed Self-Regulatory Organization (SRO) of the Philippine government agency Cagayan Economic Zone Authority… Read More

March 13, 2019 @ 2:21 pm By Samantha Hurst  |  

Following its Series C funding round, which secured $1.3 million, Chinese peer-to-peer lending platform Lufax Holding has reportedly increased its total estimated valuation to $39.4 billion. Launched in 2012, Lufax provides professional investment and financial services for SMEs and individual customers. The platform is also… Read More

March 13, 2019 @ 8:55 am By JD Alois  |  

Deutsche Börse, Swisscom and Sygnum are partnering on the creation of a “trusted digital asset ecosystem” to build a platform to provide digital asset issuance, liquidity and banking services. The partnership is indicative of the growing acceptance by mainstream finance regarding the potential of distributed… Read More

March 13, 2019 @ 5:36 am By Cali Haan  |  

A lawyer for a company that raised $3.5 million in three ICO (initial coin offerings) fundraises for a crypto product called “AlibabaCoin” has told the Reuters news agency that his clients have agreed to stop using the Alibaba name. The case borough against the firm… Read More

March 12, 2019 @ 9:53 pm By Cali Haan  |  

EY’s Global Innovation Leader says the deployment of distributed ledger tech will be important but relatively slow and unremarkable, Forbes India reports. As well, Paul R Brody says he does not see much practical use for public cryptocurrencies (“Bitcoin or nearly any other cryptocurrency”) in… Read More