India seeks crypto advice; K-drama joins NFT bandwagon

Transcript

Welcome to The Daily Forkast, July 15th, 2021. I’m Angie Lau, Editor-in-chief of Forkast.News, covering all things blockchain.

Coming up, Indian High Court seeks advice on crypto advertising disclaimers. Hong Kong Customs makes its first crypto related money laundering bust and K-drama Vincenzo joins the NFT bandwagon.

Let’s get you up to speed from Asia to the world.

In India, yet another move that could offer an indication over the future of crypto in the country.

Delhi’s High Court has sent a notice to various government agencies and crypto exchanges seeking advice on guidelines for crypto related advertising. That’s after a plea was submitted to the court by two lawyers requesting that a standard disclaimer be added to all such advertising.

Now the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, and the Securities and Exchange Board of India, as well as several crypto exchanges, have been asked what form any such disclaimer should take. That includes everything from the size of the text, to how fast it’s read.

One of those exchanges, WazirX, said that while this specific petition is not all that important, as the Advertising Standards Council of India already has guidelines in place for all investment adverts, it’s good for crypto visibility.

“It has created a conversation around the whole crypto space which we see as a positive development for the industry, because you know, now more and more people will be talking about it. Media will cover this and people will have some understanding of the space in general”

Still, the status of crypto remains murky in India. That’s after the Reserve Bank of India issued a circular banning crypto in 2018. Despite the ban being overturned by the Supreme Court a year later, lawmakers are now considering legislation that could ban crypto in the country altogether.

Over in Hong Kong, customs authorities have made their first ever crypto related money laundering bust.

The operation, codenamed “Coin Breaker”, centered around a known money laundering syndicate. Authorities found suspicious transactions totalling HK$1.2 billion, that’s about US$155 million. And they have found that these transactions had taken place via a virtual currency exchange between February of last year and May this year. The suspects had opened accounts at various banks in Hong Kong, then made the transactions via a crypto exchange, reportedly using stablecoin Tether to do so.

Four people were arrested but are now out on bail. Authorities seized items including computers, mobile phones and documents as part of the ongoing investigation. And police say we could see more arrests.

Meanwhile, financial services giant Visa has partnered up with Australian fin-tech app CryptoSpend to offer the first debit card in the country to allow Bitcoin spending.

According to a report from the Australian Financial Review, Australians will be able to use the card to make payments in Bitcoin with the equivalent amount in fiat currency being received by any account in the country’s banking system.

The card is known as a “Zero Balance Card”, as the balance in Australian dollars is variable and it draws from the value of the Bitcoin in its wallet to pay vendors in fiat.

Now, Visa has already partnered with over 50 crypto platforms to offer such cards in other countries.

And on the markets now: Bitcoin was up 1.5% at just under US$32,500. That’s as of 4 p.m. Hong Kong time at the end of the Asian trading day.
And in the top 10 for crypto currencies, Ethereum up 3% and Binance coin up 2.5%.

And finally, K-dramas are the latest to join the ever growing NFT bandwagon.

Korean crypto exchange, Korbit has partnered with the country’s biggest TV drama producer, Studio Dragon, to release NFT related to the hugely popular K-drama Vincenzo.

Unlike many NFT sales where items are auctioned off to the highest bidder in this case, a limited edition of just 100 pieces of artwork based on the show are to be sold at a set price.

Korbit told Forkast.News the twist is that anyone who wants a chance of buying one must pre-register by July 20th. Then, when the sale opens on July 21st, the first 100 people who click buy will actually get the opportunity to make a purchase.

Well, you got to be in it to win it, as they say.

And that’s The Daily Forkast from our vantage point right here in Asia. For more, visit Forkast.News. I’m Editor-in-Chief Angie Lau. Until the next time.