Asia-Pacific

The Chinese University of Hong Kong and Ethereum software company ConsenSys today announced the launch of a Covid-19 digital health passport.

Thailand’s securities regulator has announced new rules for cryptocurrency exchanges in the country, including a ban on utility tokens and meme tokens.

Ant Group, Ping An Group and Tencent Cloud ranked as the top three among 50 leading Chinese industrial blockchain enterprises in 2020.

China’s crypto mining crackdown continues while Indian finance authorities probe one of the nation’s largest exchange WazirX.

China’s central bank has unveiled four specifications of digital wallets for the country’s state-issued digital currency, the e-CNY.

Four people have been arrested and more than 400 Bitcoin mining machines seized by police in the Malaysian city of George Town.

India’s central bank has clarified that cryptocurrencies are not illegal, but that does little to prevent lenders from refusing to provide crypto-related services.

South Korean government is holding on-site visits to help crypto exchanges get regulated while an Aussie business wants crypto for rent.

India’s Enforcement Directorate has issued a show cause notice to cryptocurrency exchange WazirX for alleged foreign exchange violations involving 27.9 billion rupees (US$382 million).

Despite regulatory uncertainty over cryptocurrency trading in India, some of the world’s largest crypto exchanges are looking to enter the market.

Australian serviced office firm Business Hub will accept cryptocurrency as payment for rent on serviced office space and other business services as of July 1.

GIC, Singapore’s sovereign wealth fund, is investing in BC Group—the parent company of OSL, Hong Kong’s first licensed cryptocurrency exchange.

El Salvador’s adoption of Bitcoin has the world buzzing. Can Singapore be next? China mining crackdown continues.

Cryptocurrency mining prohibition in Xinjiang and Qinghai follows Inner Mongolia ban.

South Korea’s main finance sector regulator has launched an investigation of accounts operated by crypto exchanges under false or third-party names.

Ravi Menon, managing director of the Monetary Authority of Singapore, says technologies such as blockchain will help Asian nations to reduce carbon emissions.

Beijing-based Red Date Technology — the face of China’s ambitious nationwide blockchain service network — receives a big investment boost.

Kikitrade today announced a US$12 million fund raise with investment from British hedge fund billionaire Alan Howard to accelerate its growth.

Huobi, OKEx and Binance have been blocked by the country’s most popular internet search engines and social media platforms.

Xinjiang and Qinghai regions in China are now banning cryptocurrency mining, after Inner Mongolia tightened its crypto mining ban last month.

Hong Kong looks to explore CBDC feasibility as Australian millennials favor investing in crypto over traditional assets.

Bitcoin investors in China saw greater returns in 2020 than almost any other nation — second only to the US.

UNICEF Venture Fund is awarding up to $100,000 to blockchain startups, including India’s GovBlocks, in its latest funding round. Here are the other projects.

Hong Kong will be initiating a study on a digital Hong Kong dollar as part of its plans to “future proof” the city for central bank digital currencies.

Regulatory uncertainty pushes India’s crypto industry towards self regulation as a secret Ethereum miner gets busted in Seoul Arts Center.

From Phillips auction house in Hong Kong to Art Fair Philippines, non-fungible tokens are redefining how Asia appreciates, buys and profits from art.

California-born singer looks to rekindle relationship with his fans as he pledges to donate the proceeds from his NFT sale to a Taiwan-based NGO.

Crypto exchanges in India have partnered with the Internet and Mobile Association of India to form a self-regulatory body.

Millions of dollars worth of Bitcoin paid to ransomware hackers who shut down the main fuel pipeline on the U.S. East Coast last month has been recovered.

As 50,000 Bitcoiners and crypto superstars whoop it up at Miami’s Bitcoin 2021 fest, a smaller group of BTC fans hold their own at the Fringe in Hong Kong.

Cryptocurrency exchange Fasset has received three licenses from the Labuan Financial Services Authority in Malaysia for business operations in the country.

Canaan, one of the largest crypto mining rig makers in the world, is opening its first-ever service center outside China—in Kazakhstan.

Chinese social media Weibo bans crypto accounts as employees of South Korean crypto exchanges can no longer trade on their own platforms.

Following blockchain’s mention as a next-wave technology in China’s five-year plan, Huawei unveils applications for government and in-house services.

South Korea’s Financial Services Commission has announced plans to ban executive employees and exchange operators from trading on their own platforms, prompting a chorus of complaints. Fast Facts: The FSC’s Financial Intelligence Unit recently met with officials from cryptocurrency exchanges to explain upcoming amendments to the Act on Reporting and Use of Certain Financial Transaction Information, […]

Following a digital yuan giveaway announced for Beijing last week, Shanghai will distribute 350,000 red envelopes to people across the city during next week’s Dragon Boat Festival.

Crypto mining equipment manufacturer Goldshell has announced that it will launch a new line of mining rigs designed specifically for home use in Asian markets.

Microblog platform Weibo has blocked more than 30 influential Chinese cryptocurrency-related accounts amid a series of actions by Beijing against crypto mining and trading.

Australia’s first capital growth fund to offer institutional exposure to BTC has announced its received inquiries from some of the country’s largest companies.

Global crypto exchange Luno is in talks with conglomerate Lippo Group to launch operations in Indonesia in order to enter the Southeast Asian market.

It is important to distinguish between developing a digital currency for currency digitalization and digitalization of assets or cryptocurrencies so that China can be more focused on preventing risks in the financial sector, said Fan Gang, a Peking University professor and a prominent advocate in China for economic reform. Fast Facts: In a keynote speech […]

Regulators Hainan province have issued a warning against illegal fundraising schemes using crypto or blockchain..

S. Korea residents with accounts in foreign crypto exchanges may have to report their crypto holdings starting in 2022. Above what amount is taxable?

BitFlyer announced today that it is launching a Bitcoin-to-Japanese yen pair for currency traders in the U.S.

Governments meet up with the crypto industry to discuss how to regulate the booming industry as BC Group’s OSL ties up with SC Ventures.

From digital bonds to real estate, blockchain-enabled security token offerings and tokenization are redefining corporate fundraising and investing.

Eleven users of Upbit have filed a class action lawsuit against its owner, Dunamu Inc., seeking damages over a suspected technical failure.

Chinese Bitcoin mining hardware maker Canaan says overseas sales accounted for almost four-fifths of its revenue during the first quarter of 2021.

Green crypto mining operations should be spared China’s recent crackdown on the sector, according to the CEO of Canaan Inc.

Other top blockchain and crypto news: Thailand’s SEC tries to rein in DeFi via regulation. Will China’s future DCEP digital yuan offer smart contracts?

WazirX launched the country’s first NFT marketplace on Tuesday, featuring artists from India and other South Asian nations.

China is set to hand out 200,000 virtual red envelopes, each containing 200 yuan (US$31.30) of the country’s prototype digital currency, to Beijing residents.

Illegal gambling in Asia is on the rise, facilitated in part by sites accepting bets in cryptocurrency.

ATO will contact 400,000 Australian crypto holders over concerns that they may not be fully aware of their crypto tax obligations. Tax cheats beware!

Thailand becomes one of the first governments to attempt DeFi regulation as India’s RBI clarifies that banking ban no longer exists.

South Korean banks processed over 64 trillion won (US$57 billion) of deposits and withdrawals linked to crypto exchanges in the first quarter.

China-based trading apps Futu and Tiger Brokers have announced plans to move into crypto to compete outside China with apps such as Robinhood and eToro.

Thailand’s Securities regulator has announced that digital tokens issued and offered for transactions must have its approval.

Singapore’s DBS Bank has announced its first security token offering on the DBS Digital Exchange.

India’s central bank has said that banks and other finance sector businesses should not adhere to a prohibition it imposed on lenders dealing in cryptocurrencies.

Tax season is here and the ATO wants to make sure Aussies pay their taxes for crypto earnings. Also, Privacy coins have surged over the past weeks.

Privacy-centric coins like Monero, ZCash and Dash are seeing big price rises as the IRS and ATO issue warnings on taxable crypto transactions.

South Korea is in the process of tasking a branch of the Financial Services Commission with regulating cryptocurrency exchanges.

Former People’s Bank of China Director Yao Qian says that the country’s digital yuan is not a surveillance tool for the government.

Since Beijing’s announcement of tighter restrictions on cryptocurrency trading earlier this month, investors have found a workaround in over-the-counter and peer-to-peer transactions.

The latest Bitcoin mining difficulty adjustment, made at 1 a.m. UTC on May 30, saw the difficulty of Bitcoin mining drop 15.97%.

Banks in India, including some of the country’s largest lenders, are notifying their customers not to engage in cryptocurrencies, adhering to a central bank rule from 2018 that bans them from dealing in cryptos — despite the fact the ban was overturned by the Supreme Court more than a year ago.

Crypto crime is surging in Asia while Bitcoin is being blamed for splitting up married couples in South Korea.

Police in South Korea have arrested 14 individuals in a cryptocurrency fraud case estimated to have cost 69,000 investors a total of US$3.85 billion, taking the country’s losses to US$5 billion over the past five years.

Hong Kong-based cryptocurrency exchange Crypto.com has announced that it is committed to becoming carbon-negative within 18 months, following carbon-neutral initiatives launched by other Hong Kong-based cryptocurrency exchanges FTX and BitMEX.

Energy regulators in the southwestern Chinese province of Sichuan, which has abundant hydropower resources, will hold a seminar on June 2 to assess the province’s cryptocurrency mining industry, fanning hopes among miners that the beleaguered sector may be given a reprieve from its recent hardships in China.

The power of tokenization can fundamentally transform the fabric of the financial system, Singapore’s DBS Bank CEO Piyush Gupta told the Consensus by CoinDesk 2021 conference taking place this week.