Asia

November 14, 2023 @ 8:36 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

Crypto.com announced that its Dubai entity, CRO DAX Middle East FZE, has been granted a Virtual Assets Service Provider (VASP) License “for specified virtual asset service activities by Dubai’s Virtual Assets Regulatory Authority (VARA).” Crypto.com’s VASP License is “subject to the Company fully satisfying select… Read More

November 13, 2023 @ 10:59 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

EduFi has launched the digital student loan platform in Pakistan, on a mission “to empower more students to achieve their academic pursuits.” Education is a lever of economic growth and social development “in any country but poor quality state school provision often drives many families… Read More

November 13, 2023 @ 10:06 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

dtcpay is pleased to announce their partnership with PlatON, a firm focused on privacy-preserving digital public infrastructure, and Tonghua International’s Allinpay International, a global Fintech payments solution. dtcpay, PlatON, and Allinpay International announce collaboration will “launch an innovative digital currency payment system based on smart… Read More

November 12, 2023 @ 7:42 pm By Michael Wong  |  

Arab Financial Services (AFS), a digital payment solutions provider in the Middle East and Africa, recently hosted a high-level economic delegation from Brussels and discussed potential partnerships within the fintech and financial services sector, highlighting a significant move towards international collaboration in this rapidly evolving… Read More

November 12, 2023 @ 5:28 pm By Michael Wong  |  

A landmark agreement has been reached between the Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA), the People’s Bank of China (PBoC), and the Monetary Authority of Macao (AMCM), promising to revolutionize fintech cooperation in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area (GBA). The “Memorandum of Understanding on Deepening… Read More

November 12, 2023 @ 12:13 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

MNT-Halan has reportedly closed a $130 million securitization. As Egypt’s “first” unicorn and “fastest-growing” fintech, they’ve now “raised over US$ 400m in 2023, and target US$ 550 by the year’s end.” MNT-Halan has closed five tranches of securitized bond issuances “through its microfinance and consumer… Read More

November 11, 2023 @ 9:19 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

Bakkt Holdings, Inc. (NYSE: BKKT) announced today its planned expansion of crypto capabilities into numerous international markets “with both existing and newly-signed clients by year end.” Latin America: Bakkt and long-standing client Hapi, a stock trading platform, recently furthered their Latin American crypto trading capabilities,… Read More

November 11, 2023 @ 6:22 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

Maybank announced the expansion of its cross-border QR Pay service to China, one of the first in the market for a Malaysian bank, amplifying Maybank’s existing cross-border payment capabilities and enhancing the ease and efficiency of financial transactions. This initiative aims to benefit over 8… Read More

November 11, 2023 @ 5:40 pm By Michael Wong  |  

BonEvalue Pte Ltd (BondbloX), a Singapore-based fintech startup that provides easy access to bonds for investors, has secured $6 million in a Series B round. The funding round was backed by Beacon Venture Capital, the corporate venture arm of Thailand’s Kasikornbank. Existing shareholders MassMutual Ventures… Read More

November 11, 2023 @ 11:09 am By Omar Faridi  |  

Cryptocurrency lender Hodlnaut has started its liquidation in Singapore. As widely reported, Hodlnaut is to be liquidated in Singapore following a failed attempt to restructure the firm’s business operations. The company reportedly lost funds during the Terra/Luna collapse and the demise of FTX in late… Read More

November 11, 2023 @ 8:49 am By Michael Wong  |  

SEBA Bank, a digital assets bank regulated in Switzerland, has announced that its subsidiary has been granted a license by the Securities and Futures Commission (SFC) in Hong Kong. The development marks the first regulated foray of the SEBA Group into the Asia Pacific market,… Read More

November 10, 2023 @ 5:36 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

Copper, an institutional digital asset infrastructure provider, has acquired Securrency Capital Limited, a full-service, regulated blockchain-enabled brokerage firm offering digital securities trading based in the Abu Dhabi Global Market (ADGM). Securrency Capital’s platform, “powered by Securrency’s digital asset infrastructure and compliance aware solutions, provides investors… Read More

November 10, 2023 @ 3:04 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

Binance, which is being sued by US regulatory authorities for a wide range of issues while also facing major operational challenges globally, says that it is pleased to be promoting the safety of the virtual-asset ecosystem. Following a law enforcement training workshop in collaboration with… Read More

November 9, 2023 @ 10:50 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

PhonePe recently announced that it has crossed 500 million lifetime registered users on its platform. With this milestone, 1 in 3 Indians are now on PhonePe, the Fintech firm claims. The company is the first Indian Internet company to “have reached this scale globally.” This… Read More

November 9, 2023 @ 11:18 am By Omar Faridi  |  

Following a “strong” year of growth, global fintech platform Airwallex has recently  announced business highlights in Singapore. In the first half of 2023, Airwallex Singapore “saw 13x growth (1213%) in year-on-year revenue and more than 11x growth (1015%) in total transaction volume as businesses in… Read More

November 7, 2023 @ 9:36 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

Liv, UAE’s digital bank launched by Emirates NBD, a banking group in the MENAT region, has launched a new digital offering. Till the end of 2023, eligible Liv customers can benefit from instant personal loans without any fees via the Liv app. The digital bank… Read More

November 7, 2023 @ 7:25 am By Omar Faridi  |  

Terazo, a private market investment platform in India, has joined forces with Tokeny, the leading tokenization platform, “to spearhead the first regulated tokenized real estate asset in India under the regulatory sandbox framework established by the International Financial Services Centres Authority (IFSCA).” Tokeny is a… Read More

November 6, 2023 @ 11:53 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

Singapore small business owners are dipping into their personal savings, increasing their prices, and not paying themselves to mitigate rising costs and make a profit, according to a new report from global small business platform Xero. The report titled “Money matters: navigating the impact of… Read More

November 5, 2023 @ 11:26 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

DigiFT, the regulatory-compliant real-world asset (RWA) exchange, and OKLink, a global provider of Web3 on-chain data and compliance solutions, announced strategic partnership to empower the accessibility of regulatory-compliant RWA on-chain. The two-fold partnership will see DigiFT offering OKLink Trust’s clients “the option to subscribe to… Read More

November 5, 2023 @ 10:29 pm By Michael Wong  |  

The Philippine Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) now allows crowdfunding platforms to register as official gatekeepers of qualified institutional and individual investors, a move that forms part of the government’s efforts to bolster the capital market. This development stems from the SEC’s latest issuance, Memorandum… Read More