Asia

April 23, 2020 @ 8:47 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

Chennai-based YAP, an established API Fintech platform, has secured $4.5 million in capital through a Series A investment round, which was led by BEENEXT, a Singapore-based venture capital company. Other individuals and organizations that took part in YAP’s latest round include: 8i Ventures Fund, The… Read More

April 23, 2020 @ 10:49 am By JD Alois  |  

The Blockchain-based Service Network (BSN) in China aims to change the existing problem of the high cost of developing and deploying blockchain applications by providing public blockchain resource environments to developers. According to BSN, just like the internet, the ubiquity of access can greatly reduce… Read More

April 23, 2020 @ 1:30 am By Omar Faridi  |  

Over 70 Chinese financial services companies, including all state-managed banking institutions and the nation’s largest technology firms, are currently using some type of blockchain or distributed ledger technology (DLT)-enabled financial applications. This, according to the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC), a multinational Chinese… Read More

April 21, 2020 @ 10:30 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

  The Japan Security Token Offering Association (JSTOA) recently published self-regulatory guidelines which cover how to separately manage client assets and digital record transfer rights and obligations. The guidelines may now be accessed through JSTOA’s official website. The security token management association said that the… Read More

April 21, 2020 @ 9:34 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

Transcorp International, an established foreign exchange (Forex) and payment services provider, has received approval from the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to enter co-branding arrangements for performing prepaid transactions. The prepaid payment services will be available at thousands of Indian stores and digital commerce websites…. Read More

April 21, 2020 @ 10:12 am By JD Alois  |  

On April 19th, Mindao Yang, founder of dForce, confessed that $25 million crypto had been stolen from his platform. In a blog post, Yang said Lendf.Me, the lending protocol of dForce, was attacked and a vulnerability was exploited to steal the digital assets. Today, it… Read More

April 21, 2020 @ 8:38 am By JD Alois  |  

  SoFi, one of the largest Fintechs in the US, has entered the Asian market with the acquisition of 8 Securities in Hong Kong. The acquisition follows another purchase by SoFi earlier this month when the Fintech acquired Galileo Financial Technologies for $1.2 billion in… Read More

April 21, 2020 @ 2:37 am By Omar Faridi  |  

The Bank of China’s somewhat secretive digital currency pilot program has made many people quite curious. The bank recently provided an official explanation of how the virtual yuan or renminbi was being tested and how it might work if and when it is launched. A… Read More

April 21, 2020 @ 1:35 am By Omar Faridi  |  

Singapore-based remittance firm TranSwap is reportedly holding discussions to secure $5-10 million in capital. Benjamin Wong, co-founder and CEO at TranSwap, confirmed that the cross-border payments company is planning to close its investment round “quite soon”. As reported by e27, the Fintech firm has acquired… Read More

April 21, 2020 @ 12:32 am By Omar Faridi  |  

Economic activity in Indonesia has slowed down significantly following the deadly Coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak. According to local reports, some businesses in the trillion-dollar economy have shut down completely. Peer to peer (P2P) lending platforms are also experiencing major challenges, which include having to deal with… Read More

April 20, 2020 @ 11:45 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

Earlier this month, Pakistan’s Easypaisa, a local provider of online financial services, teamed up with Zakat and Ushr department of the Government of (the province of) Punjab, in order to distribute funds to locals who have been impacted by the Coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak and resulting… Read More

April 20, 2020 @ 11:26 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

Filecoin, a highly-anticipated decentralized storage network (under development), announced that there will be more delays before its mainnet can be officially launched. Filecoin’s developers have postponed the release date for their mainnet to between late July and late August 2020. As mentioned in a recent… Read More

April 20, 2020 @ 11:16 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

Curv, a company that provides crypto asset custody services to institutional investors, has established a business office in the Asia-Pacific (APAC) area. The office has been set up through a partnership with Crypto Garage, a firm that offers various financial instruments based on Bitcoin (BTC)… Read More

April 20, 2020 @ 2:40 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

  Authorities in Malaysia have arrested 14 Chinese citizens because of their alleged involvement in a Bitcoin-related scam, which reportedly targeted unsuspecting investors in their home country. Dzulkhairi Mukhatar, the assistant commander in Malaysia, confirmed that the men were taken into police custody on April… Read More

April 20, 2020 @ 12:40 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

  Venture Smart Asia, a company licensed by Hong Kong’s Securities and Futures Commission (SFC), has introduced the territory’s first approved crypto asset fund with a target of $100 million under management during the first year of its launch. As reported by Bloomberg on April… Read More

April 20, 2020 @ 10:27 am By JD Alois  |  

The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) has launched a new lending facility to make certain SMEs have access to capital to mitigate the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. The MAS SGD Facility for ESG Loans is in partnership with Enterprise Singapore (ESG). The goal is… Read More

April 20, 2020 @ 7:58 am By Omar Faridi  |  

Singapore’s tax authority, the Inland Revenue Authority of Singapore (IRAS), confirmed that it will not be collecting taxes on airdropped cryptocurrency, provided that the recipients get them  for free. As noted in an income tax treatment guide, released on April 17, 2020, the IRAS clarified… Read More

April 20, 2020 @ 7:35 am By Omar Faridi  |  

The Saudi Arabian Monetary Authority (SAMA), the nation’s reserve bank which is also responsible for ensuring the growth and soundness of the Kingdom’s financial system, confirmed on April 19, 2020 that it will allow nine more Fintech firms to provide services through a regulatory sandbox… Read More

April 19, 2020 @ 10:15 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

South Korea’s government has argued that the blockchain or distributed ledger technology (DLT) sector represents a “golden opportunity” for the $1.6 trillion economy. The nation’s authorities are calling on private sector firms to take advantage of the potential of DLT-based platforms. As reported by local… Read More

April 19, 2020 @ 9:48 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

Tokyo-based Mizuho Bank, the integrated corporate and retail banking division of Mizuho Financial Group (TYO: 8411; NYSE: MFG), the third largest financial services company in Japan, has initiated proof-of-concept (PoC) trials and testing of digital IDs that are based on device location and facial recognition…. Read More