Asia

September 21, 2026 @ 12:40 am By Michael Wong  |  

The number of merchants using artificial intelligence to integrate payment services with Ant International has quadrupled over the past year, as the fintech company expands AI into payments, foreign exchange, treasury, and credit operations. Ant International said it expects 95% of merchants to be able… Read More

September 20, 2026 @ 9:45 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

Vietnam and Austria are deepening practical cooperation on financial-market supervision, with digital assets at the center of the conversation. On September 15 in Vienna, Vietnamese Deputy Minister of Finance Nguyen Duc Chi met Mariana Kühnel, the newly appointed executive director of Austria’s Financial Market Authority… Read More

September 20, 2026 @ 1:42 pm By Michael Wong  |  

Philippine and regional financial authorities are looking to strengthen cross-border payment cooperation and regional emergency financing as ASEAN+3 economies work to improve their resilience to future financial shocks. The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP), the Philippines’ Department of Finance, Japan’s Ministry of Finance, and the… Read More

September 19, 2026 @ 6:37 pm By Michael Wong  |  

Hong Kong has unveiled a five-year economic plan aimed at strengthening its role as an international financial, maritime, and trade centre while expanding its position as an innovation and technology hub and a centre for high-calibre talent. Chief Executive John Lee announced the First Five-Year… Read More

September 19, 2026 @ 6:32 pm By Michael Wong  |  

Xora, a Temasek-backed investment fund, has led an additional $53 million seed round in enterprise AI services company Hang Ten Systems, bringing the startup’s total funding to $85 million. Mayfield, which led Hang Ten’s first seed round, and Aramco Ventures also participated in the latest… Read More

September 19, 2026 @ 10:32 am By Michael Wong  |  

Singapore and China are expanding cooperation on sustainable finance, including transition activities, climate adaptation, and resilience, as regulators seek to develop financing mechanisms for projects exposed to climate risks. The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) and the People’s Bank of China (PBC) held their fourth… Read More

September 18, 2026 @ 6:39 am By Omar Faridi  |  

Singapore-based stablecoin payments company dtcpay has completed its Series A financing at US$25 million after bringing Japan’s SBI Group in as a strategic investor. The round was first led earlier in 2026 by Vertex Ventures Southeast Asia & India. SBI Group is participating through SBI… Read More

September 18, 2026 @ 12:44 am By Omar Faridi  |  

North Korea has expanded a covert campaign to place information-technology staff inside American firms by recruiting people in third countries to help hide the true origin of job applicants, according to US officials and cybersecurity researchers. The effort previously relied heavily on stolen US identities… Read More

September 17, 2026 @ 8:53 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

South Korea’s police have advanced a months-long inquiry into domestic use of Polymarket from investigation into formal charging. Twenty-six local participants on the crypto prediction platform have been booked on suspicion of illegal gambling, and 18 of those cases have already been sent to prosecutors…. Read More

September 17, 2026 @ 2:48 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

Grab Holdings (NASDAQ: GRAB) has agreed to take a controlling interest in Atome Financial, a Singapore-based digital lending platform owned by Advance Intelligence Group, in a two-stage transaction that would significantly expand Grab’s consumer-credit business across Southeast Asia. Under definitive agreements announced on 15 September… Read More

September 16, 2026 @ 9:22 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

Saudi Arabia–based fintech Tabby has closed a $233 million Series F equity raise that values the company at $6.5 billion, marking another step up for one of the Middle East’s consumer finance platforms. The round was led by existing backer Blue Pool Capital, the Hong… Read More

September 15, 2026 @ 9:30 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

The National Bank of the Kyrgyz Republic has signed a memorandum of understanding with blockchain security firm CertiK, creating a long-term framework for cooperation on the country’s planned central bank digital currency and on broader digital asset supervision. The Digital Som is Kyrgyzstan’s official CBDC… Read More

September 15, 2026 @ 11:18 am By JD Alois  |  

With a cloture vote scheduled for today and market participants hopeful the bill will move forward, the CLARITY Act, crypto market infrastructure legislation, continues to have a dim outlook on prediction markets that the bill will be approved. Kalshi currently has just a 33% expectation that… Read More

September 15, 2026 @ 5:54 am By Michael Wong  |  

Southeast Asian education officials have endorsed an expanded ASEAN Foundation program that aims to equip more than 1.7 million students, teachers and university staff with practical artificial intelligence skills by the end of 2028. The ASEAN Foundation said on Friday that the program, AI Ready… Read More

September 14, 2026 @ 8:04 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

South Korea‘s crypto investors have again pressed lawmakers to postpone a long-delayed tax on virtual-asset profits, after a National Assembly petition calling for a two-year grace period cleared the 50,000-signature threshold needed for committee review. Regulatory and finance officials, however, have given little indication that they… Read More

September 14, 2026 @ 8:18 am By Michael Wong  |  

Hong Kong and Dubai financial authorities and exchanges have established a Strategic Working Group to strengthen ties between the financial markets of Hong Kong and the Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC), according to a joint announcement. The move comes as the two financial centres seek to… Read More

September 14, 2026 @ 1:20 am By Michael Wong  |  

The Philippine Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has proposed amendments to the country’s crowdfunding rules that would raise the amount companies can raise through online platforms while introducing additional safeguards for retail investors. The proposed framework would allow issuers to offer up to 25 million… Read More

September 13, 2026 @ 11:44 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

Bitcoin Suisse, a digital assets focused firm currently based in Zug, is preparing a far-reaching reorganization that would transfer a large share of its Swiss workforce to operations in other countries. The company, founded in 2013, currently employs about 120 people in Switzerland and roughly… Read More

September 13, 2026 @ 3:10 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

Metaplanet (TYO: 3350) has reversed a large part of its executive equity package after investors objected to how much dilution the awards could create. The Tokyo-listed bitcoin treasury company said its board approved another rewrite of the Series 10 stock acquisition rights, shrinking the pool… Read More

September 13, 2026 @ 3:08 pm By Michael Wong  |  

Shenzhen Xunce Technology Co Ltd plans to secure syndicated loans of up to 10 billion yuan ($1.4 billion) to finance the development of an artificial intelligence inference and computing centre, underscoring the growing capital requirements for China’s expanding AI infrastructure. The company, which provides real-time… Read More