Asia

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

April 1, 2019 @ 8:02 am By JD Alois  |  

Invest Hong Kong (InvestHK) has announced a “significant expansion” of its annual Hong Kong Fintech Week. Hong Kong has emerged as a leading center for financial innovation. Supported by government officials, Fintech disruption has gained velocity.  Just recently, Hong Kong announced the approval of the… Read More

March 30, 2019 @ 6:34 pm By JD Alois  |  

Tapatalk, a mobile forum app, will now allow its users to earn Kin tokens, according to a note from from the company. That partnership was originally announced in November 2018. Kin, part of Kik, raised over $100 million in an initial coin offering in 2017…. Read More

March 30, 2019 @ 5:43 pm By Cali Haan  |  

A man who secretly mined cryptocurrencies on the computers of people visiting his websites has been acquitted by a judge in Japan, Japan Today reports. The man was arrested last year and charged with violating Japanese laws that prohibit the dissemination of computer viruses. But… Read More

March 30, 2019 @ 6:08 am By Cali Haan  |  

Prosecutors in Japan have decided not to appeal a Tokyo court’s decision to acquit disgraced former Mt Gox Bitcoin exchange CEO Mark Karpeles on charges of embezzlement, Mainichi reports. Carpeles was, however, found guilty of manipulating Mt. Gox bitcoin trade data between February and September… Read More

March 30, 2019 @ 4:07 am By Cali Haan  |  

The Hong Kong Securities and Futures Commission (SFC) has issued a statement intended to guide issuers, intermediaries and investors engaging with security token offerings (STOs). In short, STO issuers and intermediaries: must be Type 1 licensed or registered to deal securities in Hong Kong or… Read More

March 30, 2019 @ 4:01 am By Xu Gao  |  

Parent Company of Shuidi Crowdfunding Receives nearly ¥500 million B-round Funding led by Tencent Shuidi, the parent company of Shuidi Crowdfunding and Shuidi Mutual Insurance, announced this week that it had received a nearly ¥500 million B-round financing. This investment was led by Tencent, and… Read More