Asia

August 13, 2018 @ 10:22 pm By JD Alois  |  

Singapore based Funding Societies, a leading peer-to-peer (P2P) lending platform in Southeast Asia, has topped S$ 200 million mark in total crowdfunded SME loans. Funding Societies notes that this accomplishment arrives just 6 months after crossing S$ 100 million in January of this year. The… Read More

August 13, 2018 @ 2:42 pm By Samantha Hurst  |  

Singapore-based multi-currency wallet and blockchain solutions provider Ethos announced last week it has integrated with digital bitcoin and other blockchain tokens marketplace, Shapeshift. The integration news comes less than six months after Shapeshift secured $10.4 million through its Series A funding round, which was led by… Read More

August 13, 2018 @ 11:00 am By Cali Haan  |  

Onsite inspections of 16 licensed cryptocurrency exchanges and 7 with licenses pending in Japan has revealed generally loose business practices and controls, according to a report released last Friday by the Japanese Financial Services Agency (FSA). The inspections were conducted by the FSA in cooperation with… Read More

August 13, 2018 @ 9:53 am By JD Alois  |  

Aarni Otava Saarimaa, a 22 year old crypto investor based in Finland, used to be crypto rich. Today, perhaps he is less so after following afoul of a scam apparently hatched in Thailand. In a sordid saga shared by the Bangkok Post, a crypto investor… Read More

August 13, 2018 @ 9:25 am By Samantha Hurst  |  

Asian cryptocurrency exchange KuCoin recently announced the launch of its new institutional investor program. According to KuCoin, the program was created in order to encourage institutional investors on its platform participate more actively in trading activities. The exchange describes institutional investors as those that participate in… Read More

August 12, 2018 @ 2:25 pm By JD Alois  |  

  Enecuum, a blockchain platform with a capability of mobile mining, and iCapital based in Israel, have established a long term cooperation agreement, according to the firms. Hong Kong based Enecuum explains on their site: “Every smartphone on the network will participate in the publication… Read More

August 11, 2018 @ 4:24 pm By Xu Gao  |  

China Issues its First Blockchain-based Electronic Invoice in Shenzhen This week, a restaurant in Shenzhen issued a blockchain-based electronic invoice, making it the first case in China. This invoice innovation is led by Shenzhen Municipal Taxation Bureau, technically supported by Tencent, and approved by the… Read More

August 11, 2018 @ 11:16 am By JD Alois  |  

Ning Tang, founder and CEO of CreditEase – a huge Chinese Fintech that started as just a peer to peer lending platform, recently spoke to Bloomberg in Asia. CreditEase is also the majority shareholder of US listed online lender Yirendai (NYSE:YRD) Tang provided an interesting… Read More

August 10, 2018 @ 9:21 pm By Samantha Hurst  |  

Scottish crowdfunded brewery BrewDog announced earlier this week it has continued its global expansion with the launch of its first bar in Seoul, South Korea. According to the brewery, this new bar is located in the Itaewon region of the city. BrewDog reported that the Itaewon bar will… Read More

August 10, 2018 @ 9:19 am By JD Alois  |  

Zilliqa has landed former Head of Marketing APAC for Google Pay Yiling Ding as their new Chief Marketing Officer (CMO). Ding, who is said to be fluent in English, Japanese, and Chinese Mandarin, has spent the past four years with Google. During her stint with Google she… Read More

August 10, 2018 @ 8:59 am By Samantha Hurst  |  

InstaReM, a Southeast Asia’s digital cross-border money transfer service provider, announced on Friday it has appointed Nilesh Pathak as its new Chief Technology Officer. Pathak will reportedly lead the company’s technology team, divided between India and Lithuania, driving the firm’s technology strategy, architecture, development as… Read More

August 10, 2018 @ 8:51 am By Samantha Hurst  |  

Hexindai (NASDAQ:HX), a China-based peer to peer lender, announced on Friday it has further strengthened its risk control system to better protect investors throughout the entire process of borrower acquisition, risk-based pricing, post-loan management, and default risk coverage through its new comprehensive, stable and efficient asset… Read More

August 9, 2018 @ 11:56 am By JD Alois  |  

Another day, another crypto hack. About two weeks ago, KICKICO revealed that 70 million KICK tokens had been pilfered by a hacker at a value of around $7.7 million – peanuts in the ICO hacking space. On July 26th, KICKICO said the security breach had… Read More

August 9, 2018 @ 8:56 am By Samantha Hurst  |  

India-based mobile wallet service provider Paytm announced on Wednesday it has acquired management startup Balance.Tech. Founded in 2010, Paytm claims to be India’s largest mobile payment and commerce platform. It offers a full marketplace for consumers through its mobile apps. The company’s investors include investors include… Read More

August 8, 2018 @ 9:33 am By Cali Haan  |  

Relatively loose Japanese laws designed to facilitate the use of cryptocurrencies at the retail level will soon be revised to reflect their actual use as speculative investments, Japan Times reports. Initial laws enshrined in April 2017 made Japan was one of the first powerhouse economies… Read More

August 7, 2018 @ 10:22 pm By Cali Haan  |  

A Japanese bank that allegedly allowed notorious failing cryptocurrency exchange Mt Gox to continue accepting deposits while simultaneously freezing withdrawals is once again appealing a ruling that allowed a class action suit to proceed against the bank in the US, Finance Feeds reports. The bank,… Read More

August 7, 2018 @ 1:30 pm By JD Alois  |  

Klook, short for “Keep Looking,” has raised $200 million in a Series D funding round led by big name global VCs. Klook is a travel activity and services booking firm that is reportedly on track to generate over $1 billion in bookings during 2018. The… Read More

August 6, 2018 @ 10:24 pm By Cali Haan  |  

Investors alleging that the CEO of Sky Mining, Le Minh Tam, defrauded them of $36 million dollars are continuing their fight for restitution, this time in the form of a petition at Change.org. The petition lists Tam’s passport number and claims he solicited contributions of… Read More

August 6, 2018 @ 12:13 pm By Cali Haan  |  

Bitmain, the world’s largest manufacturer of crypto mining equipment and its biggest producer of bitcoins has announced the launch of a $500-million data centre in Rockdale, Texas. The company says it will deploy the sum over 7 years and will create 400 local jobs in the… Read More

August 6, 2018 @ 10:34 am By JD Alois  |  

Last Friday, OKEx blogged about a failed whale that posted a huge long position on Bitcoin. The unnamed whale booked an order for 4,168,515 contracts. The Hong Kong digital asset exchange explained the predicament and ensuing action: “The client with user ID 2051247 initiated an… Read More