Asia

January 25, 2018 @ 12:36 am By JD Alois  |  

SelfKey, a blockchain-based digital identity firm, has obtained a Mauritius’ Regulatory Sandbox License (RSL), according to information provided by the company. This license will allow SelfKey to develop their self-sovereign digital identity wallet and financial services marketplace under supervision and scrutiny of the Board of… Read More

January 24, 2018 @ 12:22 pm By JD Alois  |  

Bitcoin Receives Average C+ Grade (Fair). Ethereum Does Better with B Rating (Good). Weiss Ratings has released their first-ever grades on cryptocurrencies by a financial rating agency, The ratings took place despite a reported massive Korean cyberattack on its website. (While not clarified, we assume… Read More

January 24, 2018 @ 10:36 am By Samantha Hurst  |  

Chinese peer-to-peer lending platform Dianrong announced on Tuesday it secured $70 million during its Series D funding round, which was led by ORIX Asia Capital with participation from CLSA, the overseas platform of CITIC Securities. While sharing details about the latest investment, Soul Htite, Founder and… Read More

January 24, 2018 @ 8:54 am By JD Alois  |  

Swiss Federal Councillor Ueli Maurer and Carrie Lam, Chief Executive of Hong Kong SAR, had a meeting in Bern, Switzerland this week to discuss bilateral cooperation regarding financial markets – including the development of Fintech. The outcome of the meeting was the signing of several… Read More

January 23, 2018 @ 11:06 am By Erin Hobey  |  

Waves Lab, a Moscow-based incubator for new projects on the Waves platform, has announced a total budget of 1 million WAVES for future participants, as the first tranche of entrants launch their applications. The commitment, reportedly worth approximately $9 million after the recent cryptocurrency sell-off… Read More

January 23, 2018 @ 10:51 am By Samantha Hurst  |  

China-based fintech Yirendai announced on Tuesday it has connected to the Internet Finance Industry Credit Information Sharing Platform, which was established by the National Internet Finance Association of China (NIFA). Yirendai has also been selected by NIFA to participate in a pilot project to enable automatic queries and… Read More

January 22, 2018 @ 11:09 pm By JD Alois  |  

Funding Societies, a leading peer-to-peer lending platform based in Singapore, has crossed the S$ 100 million mark in total crowdfunded SME loans. The financing was provided to SMEs across Singapore, Indonesia and Malaysia. According to the company, Funding Societies has expanded its crowdfunding book by… Read More

January 22, 2018 @ 10:38 am By Samantha Hurst  |  

Invest Hong Kong (InvestHK) announced on Monday details of its UK Fintech Awards 2018, which is organized in conjunction with the UK’s Department for International Trade. According to InvestHK, the Awards are open for submissions from January 22nd (today) and will close on February 23rd…. Read More

January 21, 2018 @ 1:35 pm By JD Alois  |  

Malaysia has not only been forward thinking when it comes to Fintech but it has also pursued a path of corporate diversity. Last April, public officials updated the Malaysia Code on Corporate Governence (MCCG) to require gender diversity policy along with targets and specific corporate… Read More

January 20, 2018 @ 6:58 pm By Xu Gao  |  

China’s first online centralized personal credit database is on the way Earlier this month, People’s Bank of China formally accepted the license application of Baihang Credit Investigation Ltd. Led by the National Internet Finance Association of China, Baihang will be China’s first online centralized personal… Read More

January 19, 2018 @ 11:53 am By JD Alois  |  

The Securities Commission Malaysia (SC), along with Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM), has issued a new “cautoinary statement” regarding investor interest in initial coin offerings (ICOs). This is not the first time SC has warned the public against dubious crypto offerings. Today’s statement affirms that ICOs… Read More

January 18, 2018 @ 8:54 am By Samantha Hurst  |  

CoAssets Limited (ASX: CA8), an online crowdfunding platform based in Singapore, announced on Thursday it has signed a strategic cooperate agreement with EC Technology & Innovations Limited (ECTI), a wholly owned subsidiary of Shaing Economy International, Inc. (NASDAQ: SEII).  According to CoAssets, Sharing Economy International is currently… Read More

January 17, 2018 @ 4:14 pm By Samantha Hurst  |  

Earlier this week, AngelList announced the launch of Syndicates for India, which is described as a new way for investors in India to invest alongside experienced angels and VC funds that invest in the country’s tech industry. AngelList stated: “Syndicates are a private single-deal investment… Read More

January 17, 2018 @ 12:02 am By JD Alois  |  

Goldbell Financial Services (GBFS), a subsidiary of Singapore’s largest commercial vehicle and industrial equipment distribution and leasing company Goldbell Group, has inked a new partnership with crowdfunding platform “New Union. Goldbell wants to provide SME clients new, innovative and alternative financial solutions, and crowdfunding is the… Read More

January 16, 2018 @ 11:32 pm By JD Alois  |  

South Korea has veered off track in allowing digital currencies to grow and evolve. Frightened by the rapid rise in Bitcoin trading and speculation, public officials have been raiding exchanges, banning anonymous accounts, and threatening to ban cryptocurrencies altogether. As the South Korean government moved… Read More

January 16, 2018 @ 11:00 am By Erin Hobey  |  

Finastra, a Vista Equity Partners portfolio company, has newly established its Future of Banking Center of Excellence at Cyberport in Hong Kong. This strategic move is part of the worldwide program at Finastra to continue to build its innovation ecosystem and collaborate with strategic partners… Read More

January 15, 2018 @ 8:46 am By JD Alois  |  

Last week, a Singapore Member of Parliament, Foo Mee Har, posed some questions to the Singapore Prime Minister regarding enforcement of anti-money laundering (AML) and counter-terrorism financing and Bitcoin utilization where “conventional oversight mechanisms of the real money market do not apply.” Singapore Deputy Prime… Read More

January 14, 2018 @ 10:00 am By JD Alois  |  

A few days ago we reported that South Korean government authorities had initiated a ban on all anonymous transactions in cryptocurrencies. Today, according to a report in Yonhap, officials will fine anyone who had not migrated a virtual account to a real name account. Account… Read More

January 14, 2018 @ 9:20 am By JD Alois  |  

This should come as no surprise but SelfKey’s public token sale closed in just 11 minutes.  According to the company, the public portion of the initial coin offering (ICO) hit its cap of $5.94 million in mere minutes. SelfKey’s pre-sale easily raised its cap of… Read More

January 14, 2018 @ 8:45 am By JD Alois  |  

Bank Indonesia has issued a statement affirming that using Bitcoin, and any other cryptocurrency, is not allowed in Indonesia. Bank Indonesia has previously issued proclamations sharing their stance on digital currencies – most recently in December when the bank said usage would be banned in… Read More