Emerging markets dominate crypto adoption
Blockchain & Crypto Asia #31
Hi, Coco again. In this issue I recommend two research reports. In the section of Country Rundowns, Singapore and South Korea obviously have the most going on.
Market Intelligence
1. Before publishing the full report of the 2022 Geography of Cryptocurrency Report in October, Chainalysis releases some teaser data, for example, the top 20 global cryptocurrency adoption index. China is back in the top 10, despite the central government’s anti-crypto measures. Out of the top 20 only 2 countries, the U.S. and the U.K. are developed economies, other than that, crypto is a developing and frontier markets’ play. It helps address some challenges these countries are facing. Here are the top 10 countries on the Index:
2. Huobi Research Institute, partnering with 20 institutional investors including Animoca Brands and HaskKey Capital, composed a report on investment opportunities lying ahead.
Country Rundowns
Singapore
The city-state is turning out to be a place more friendly to large institutions and less so towards small business and retail investors.
An increasing number of companies and talents in crypto are moving to Singapore from Mainland China and Hong Kong due to the Chinese government’s continuous crackdown on crypto and China’s “Zero-Covid Policy”.
1. Singapore’s central bank MAS has a problem with cryptocurrency:
Cryptocurrencies are actively traded and heavily speculated upon, with prices that have nothing to do with any underlying economic value related to their use on a distributed ledger.
The extreme price volatility of cryptocurrencies rules them out as a viable form of money or investment asset.
On the other hand, MAS lists cross-border payment and settlement, trade finance, and pre-and post-trade capital market activities as the most promising use cases of digital assets in financial services.
2. Despite the crypto winter and MAS’s increasing concerns regarding retail investors getting hurt by crypto’s volatility, Singapore’s largest bank DBS wants to grow its crypto exchange for more institutional and accredited investors in Asia through its mobile app.
3. SBI Digital Markets, a subsidiary of Japanese financial services institution SBI Holdings, was granted a Capital Markets Services license to operate a digital asset securities platform serving institutions in Singapore.
4. Singapore’s sovereign wealth fund Temasek led the investment of $110M in Animoca Brands shortly after its $75M raise in July.
5. Singapore’s multi-family office Whampoa Group is raising $50M to set up a crypto hedge fund and $100M for a crypto-related VC fund.
6. Algorand Foundation confirms a $35M USDC exposure to Singapore company Hodlnaut.
7. KNN3, a startup that helps developers make sense of relational data across blockchains completed its Seed round of $2.4M led by HashGlobal, a fund that invests in Chinese projects that bridge Web 2 and Web 3.
8. SolanaFM, a Singapore-based startup that indexes Solana blockchain system, raised $6.3M of Seed fund led by SBI Group’s Digital Asset Opportunity Fund.
9. One of FileCoin’s largest miners RRMine decamped from China to Singapore.
South Korea
1. South Korea is considering deregulating the crypto industry including lifting the ban on ICOs and adopting the EU’s Markets in Crypto Assets Act (MiCA).
2. One of the largest telecom operators SK Telecom in South Korea, part of SK Group, figures out a way to engage users on its Metaverse ifland and monetize it.
SK Telecom has also developed its own digital wallet through partnership. SK Square, the investment arm of SK Group, is going to launch its own cryptocurrency.
3. LG Electronics and Samsung now offer TVs that support buying, selling and displaying NFTs.
4. South Korea exchanges formed an industry alliance in response to the crisis caused by Luna’s crash.
5. 7 large traditional brokerage firms are looking to launch their own crypto exchanges sometime next year.
6. South Korea works on guidelines for security tokens.
7. A court in South Korea has issued an arrest warrant for Do Kwan.
Hong Kong
1. HashKey Capital Limited, part of HashKey Capital, the investment arm of the HashKey Group, secures SFC’s Consent to manage 100% Virtual Asset Portfolio. HashKey is among the few companies which have received the license from Hong Kong’s SFC.
2. The two Chinese entrepreneurs behind Australia-based move-to-earn NFT app Stepn were persuaded by a Hong Kong official to set up a regional office in Hong Kong to help develop Hong Kong’s Web 3 ecosystem.
3. The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology launched HKUST Web 3.0 Labs.
Thailand
1. Thailand plans to give more power to its central bank to tighten its control over digital assets by changing its laws. Besides, measures are being taken or considered, including a proposal by the Thai SEC to ban crypto businesses from staking and lending.
2. Two of the potential investors SCBx and PRONE decided to call off the acquisition of a majority stake in the Thai crypto exchange BitKub.
Indonesia
Indonesia’s crypto exchange Reku, founded in 2017, raised $11 million in Series A from two Indonesian VCs AC Ventures (ACV) and Skystar Capital and Coinbase Ventures.
Thank you for reading.
Coco
In the innovative blockchain/crypto & digital asset ecosystem, Asia is the other side of the coin. Blockchain & Crypto Asia, which covers exclusively blockchain and crypto & digital asset developments in Asia, including regulation, investments, and company highlights, helps you stay on top of what is going on in the Far East. The content is selective and curated and serves as information only, not investment advice.
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