Asia

February 27, 2020 @ 3:28 pm By Samantha Hurst  |  

Hong Kong-based cryptocurrency platform Crypto.com announced on Thursday it is teaming up with hotel booking platform Travala. Through the partnership, Travala will now accept CRO, the Crypto.com Coin, along with BTC, LTC, ETH and XRP through Crypto.com Pay. “Over 1 million users of the Crypto.com… Read More

February 27, 2020 @ 12:38 pm By Xu Gao  |  

PBC Releases “Financial Distributed Ledgers Technology Security Specification” On February 5th, the People’s Bank of China has released the “Financial Distributed Ledgers Technology Security Specification” (JR / T 0184-2020). The document specifies the financial DLT security system, including basic hardware, basic software, cryptographic algorithms, node… Read More

February 26, 2020 @ 11:07 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

South Korea’s tax authorities have advised the nation’s government to impose a low-level trading tax on capital gains made from digital currency trading before requiring Korean residents to pay a transfer income tax.  South Korea’s government will be introducing its new tax reform plan later… Read More

February 26, 2020 @ 10:26 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

Unified Payments Interface (UPI), which is an instant and real-time payment system created by India’s National Payments Corporation for handling inter-bank transfers, is the most widely-used  loan repayment method, with 50% of such transactions using UPI.  ECS payments, which handle bulk transfer of funds from… Read More

February 26, 2020 @ 9:17 pm By Samantha Hurst  |  

KuCoin, a Singapore-based global cryptocurrency exchange, announced on Wednesday the launch of its Instant Exchange service, which allows instant crypto transaction service for BTC, ETH, LTC, XRP, BCHABC, and USDT. The service was developed by KuCoin and a market maker of the Chicago Mercantile Exchange… Read More

February 26, 2020 @ 8:59 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

The South Korean government reportedly set up a help desk in Singapore in January 2020, in order to support Korean Fintech firms, as they continue to expand their business operations into Southeast Asia. This, according to Korea’s financial regulator, the Financial Services Commission (FSC). The… Read More

February 26, 2020 @ 3:18 pm By JD Alois  |  

LuxTag has closed on a $360,000 token offering according to a note from the company. The crowdfunding round saw 51% of the funds denominated in Bitcoin and XEM (NEM).  LuxTag claims to be Malaysia’s very first successful token offering. The securities offering was hosted on… Read More

February 26, 2020 @ 7:29 am By JD Alois  |  

Robo.cash, a peer to peer lender and part of the Robocash Group, is reporting a rapid increase in the percentage of P2P loans financed by Singapore based investors. According to a release, in just 2 months €2.1 million of loans or a 5th of the… Read More

February 25, 2020 @ 12:28 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

Singapore-headquartered Fintech Hoolah has revealed that it will be introducing its interest-free installment plan in Malaysian markets. Established in 2018, Hoolah lets customers pay for their purchases in three easy monthly installments without having to pay any interest or extra fees. Hoolah has teamed up… Read More

February 25, 2020 @ 11:19 am By Omar Faridi  |  

Asia-based CoolBitX, a leading blockchain or distributed ledger tech (DLT) security firm, has acquired $16.75 million in capital through a Series B investment round from several large investors. CoolBitX’s funding round was led by Japan-based financial services company SBI Holdings. Monex Group, South Korean crypto-asset… Read More

February 25, 2020 @ 11:11 am By Samantha Hurst  |  

Just days after Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group Inc. (MUFJ) was reportedly set to invest more than $700 million in Grab, the Southeast Asian ride-hailing giant announced it secured more than $800 million from Japanese investors, which includes MUFJ and also  TIS Inc. As previously reported,… Read More

February 25, 2020 @ 7:56 am By Samantha Hurst  |  

Hong Kong-based cryptocurrency platform Crypto.com announced on Tuesday the launch of its new onboarding platform for merchants to sign up for the Crypto.com Pay Checkout service. Crypto.com reported that through the Crypto.com Pay Checkout, online merchants may offer their customers the option to pay with… Read More

February 25, 2020 @ 7:25 am By JD Alois  |  

Singapore based peer to peer finance platform Funding Societies has announced a new partnership with Singapore E-Business Pte Ltd (SGeBIZ). The arrangement seeks to “provide quick financing solutions to local SME suppliers and their buyers.” Funding Societies offers a diverse range of loan products, that… Read More

February 25, 2020 @ 7:08 am By Omar Faridi  |  

WeChat Pay is planning to expand its operations and services in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), after an agreement was finalized between Tencent Holdings and UAE-headquartered solutions developer Network International. Merchants that use Network International in the UAE will soon have the option to set… Read More

February 24, 2020 @ 2:25 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

Central bank heads and finance ministers recently held discussions regarding crypto-asset regulations at the G-20 summit.  Japanese officials working at the Bank of Japan (BOJ), the nation’s Ministry of Finance (MOF), and Financial Services Agency (FSA) have held talks in order to determine whether the… Read More

February 24, 2020 @ 10:12 am By Omar Faridi  |  

Large banks based in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), one of the Middle East’s leading financial hubs, have been investing in digital transformation projects to compete in an industry with rapidly changing consumer requirements – according to analysis performed by Bloomberg Intelligence. The analysis revealed… Read More

February 24, 2020 @ 7:55 am By Omar Faridi  |  

India-based digital payment giant Paytm says it hopes to become profitable in the coming years  as it plans to develop a new business strategy. Vijay Shekhar Sharma, the 41-year-old billionaire founder and CEO at Paytm, who leads One 97 Communications, the parent firm of Paytm,… Read More

February 23, 2020 @ 6:33 pm By JD Alois  |  

Stranger Pictures has launched the first equity crowdfunding offering for a film in Southeast Asia according to a note from the issuer. The securities offering is listed on global platform FundedByMe in Malaysia. FundedByMe is based in Sweden and is a publicly-traded company. The company… Read More

February 23, 2020 @ 8:10 am By Omar Faridi  |  

United Arab Emirates (UAE)-based aafaq Islamic Finance has officially launched its core banking, Islamic banking and payments platforms, which have been developed by Infosys. aafaq’s management confirmed that the financial institution has upgraded its digital, payments and Islamic banking with software designed by Infosys, an… Read More

February 22, 2020 @ 8:00 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

Malaysia-based Axiata Group, a major telecommunications company, has reportedly been holding discussions with around 11 different potential business partners in order to acquire a digital banking license in the Asian nation. Mohd Izzaddin Idris, Axiata’s deputy chief executive, confirmed that the firm was also talking… Read More