Asia

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

April 9, 2019 @ 8:19 am By JD Alois  |  

OurCrowd portfolio company, Hong Kong-based Klook, has raised $425 million in funding in a Series D round led by Softbank Vision Fund. Klook is a travel activity and services booking platform. Klook said it raised $225 million in Series D+ funding increasing the company’s total… Read More

April 8, 2019 @ 11:02 pm By Cali Haan  |  

North Korea has added to its standard program of hacking banks in the developing world by launching computer-borne attacks against cryptocurrency exchanges, Wired reports. To further complicate matters, at least part of the billions of dollars so far garnered in these hacks is being used… Read More

April 8, 2019 @ 6:26 am By JD Alois  |  

Online lending company Robocash Group has moved into the Islamic finance sector via a partnership in Indonesia with Reliance Finance. Robocash has launched a new Fintech service providing personal financing in full compliance with the Shariah law. Robocash said the new service has been labeled… Read More

April 7, 2019 @ 8:13 pm By Cali Haan  |  

An on-the-ground investigation by London news outlet Financial Times has shown that several payment referral partnerships maintained by German payments giant Wirecard in the Philippines are either insubstantial or dubious. On Friday, it was revealed that a top accounting executive with the firm had departed…. Read More

April 6, 2019 @ 12:37 pm By JD Alois  |  

Late last month, the Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) announced the issuance of the very first virtual banking licenses. While many jurisdictions around the world are pursuing policies that encourage Fintech innovation and digital banking what was unique about the HKMA’s announcement was the rapidity… Read More

April 5, 2019 @ 7:19 am By Cali Haan  |  

Amit Bhardwaj, accused of masterminding an elaborate Bitcoin-based $300 million Ponzi scam that spanned 90 countries, has been granted interim bail in India, Inc42 reports. Bhardwaj’s lawyer, Deepak Prakash told the outlet, “… Amit Bhardwaj has been granted interim bail based on…health ground(s).” The accused reportedly… Read More

April 4, 2019 @ 6:28 am By Cali Haan  |  

In a reportedly very brief session, the Supreme Court of India ruled in recent days to delay making a decision in cases challenging the Reserve Bank of India’s ban on cryptocurrency trading,  Asia Times reports. In February, the Supreme Court ordered the Indian government to draft… Read More

April 3, 2019 @ 7:24 pm By Cali Haan  |  

Pakistan legislators introduced proposed laws to regulate Electronic Money Institutions (EMIs) at a ceremony held at State Bank of Pakistan offices Monday in Islamabad, The Tribune reports. The rules were reportedly created at the behest of the country’s Financial Action Task Force and are intended to… Read More

April 3, 2019 @ 7:16 am By Samantha Hurst  |  

Global cryptocurrency exchange Liquid announced on Wednesday it completed its Series C funding round, which brought the Japan-based company’s valuation to more than $1 billion. According to Liquid, the investment round was led by IDG Capital with participation from Bitmain. Founded in 2014, Liquid by… Read More

April 2, 2019 @ 1:23 pm By Samantha Hurst  |  

Cryptocurrency exchange platform CoinAll announced on Tuesday the listing RSK Infrastructure Framework token (RIF) and RBTC. CoinAll will now hold a 7-day celebration to give away 333,850 RIF tokens for depositing, trading and a community promotion event. According to CoinAll, RSK is a two-way pegged sidechain to Bitcoin… Read More

April 2, 2019 @ 10:26 am By Samantha Hurst  |  

Global cryptocurrency platform Liquid announced on Tuesday it has launched its own leveraged Bitcoin Contract-for-Difference (CFD) product, known as Liquid Infinity. According to Liquid, Liquid Infinity is a highly leveraged Bitcoin CFD that will allow traders to speculate on the price movements of Bitcoin against… Read More

April 1, 2019 @ 10:31 pm By JD Alois  |  

Singapore-based Fintech Koku has raised $2 million in a pre-series A round backed by Jason Zeng, co-founder of Tencent Holdings and founder of Chinese angel investment company Decent Capital. Kokue said it expects to raise USD $10 million in a series A round during the… Read More

April 1, 2019 @ 3:25 pm By Samantha Hurst  |  

Japanese cryptocurrency exchange Coincheck announced on Monday the launch of its new OTC trading service. According to Coindesk, the new service will be for large-scale customers and is a service that allows users to buy and sell virtual currencies at an “attractive” price. It also allows… Read More