Our weekly roundup of East Asia news selects the most important developments in the industry.
Hong Kong moves bullish
On February 20, the Hong Kong Securities and Futures Commission (SFC) launched a consultation on proposed regulatory requirements for digital asset trading platforms.
The SFC requires the license by June of all cryptocurrency exchanges operating in Hong Kong or requesting services from Hong Kong investors.
Additionally, the SFC said it would seek feedback on whether licensed platform operators should be able to provide services to retail investors and what measures should be put in place to ensure the adequacy and inclusion of tokens when establishing business relationships with clients.
Currently, retail cryptocurrency trading is prohibited in Hong Kong. The announcement that China's special administrative region was dipping back into crypto immediately triggered bullish reactions from regular users and executives alike. Brian Armstrong, CEO of cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase, wrote:
“The United States risks losing its status as a financial center in the long term, with no clear rules on cryptocurrencies and a hostile environment from regulators. Congress must act soon to pass clear legislation. Crypto is open to everyone in the world and others are leading. The EU, the UK and now HK”.
To be fair, he wrote that in response to a tweet suggesting retail would be allowed from June 1, which is not the case, but the sentiment remains. At the same time, Cameron Winklevoss, co-founder of the Gemini cryptocurrency exchange, said in a tweet:
“My atm working thesis is that the next bullfight will start in the east. It will be a sobering reminder that cryptocurrencies are a global asset class and that the West, really the US, always had only two choices: adopt it or be left behind. It can't be stopped. We know that.
Soon after, cryptocurrency exchanges Gate.io and Huobi Global fixed that they apply for crypto exchange licenses in Hong Kong. Both exchanges it said it would comply with relevant regulations in order to offer services to Hong Kong customers. Both cryptocurrency users and interested parties have until March 31 to participate in the SFC consultation.
FTX Japan Clients Withdraw $49 Million
On February 21, FTX Japan, the Japanese subsidiary of troubled cryptocurrency exchange FTX, resumed withdrawals for his clients after assets were frozen for approximately three months as part of international bankruptcy proceedings.
The client funds, which were managed separately in accordance with Japanese laws and regulations, were disclosed worth 5.6 billion Japanese yen ($41.58 million) in digital currencies and 1 billion yen ($7.43 million ) in fiat currencies as of February 20.
The company also reported that its own net assets were around 10 billion yen ($74.3 million) as of September 2022, which increased to 17.8 billion yen ($132.2 million) in the latest update on 21 September. November.
Since withdrawals reopened, more than 6.6 billion yen ($49 million) worth of crypto and fiat money have left the exchange. To make withdrawals, users were required to check their account balance and transfer their assets to Liquid Japan, another cryptocurrency exchange previously acquired by FTX.
According to the FTX Japan tabulation, 3,453 individual and 94 corporate accounts were eligible to withdraw their balances. There were 1,947 fiat withdrawals and 5,697 crypto withdrawals in total. A total of 7,026 accounts were transferred from FTX Japan to Liquid Japan. They were the lucky ones, as due to bankruptcy proceedings, the vast majority of FTX clients, including FTX US users, are still unable to withdraw your assets.
NBA China wants to coin more NFTs
On February 21, the Chinese branch of the National Basketball Association Announced a partnership with Ant Financial, owned by Alibaba. Among many elements, the two entities will carry out comprehensive cooperation regarding NBA video content, broadcasting of programs, joint membership and the creation of a miniseries.
Furthermore, both NBA China and Ant Financial want to go ahead with the joint development of non-fungible tokens and launch “multimedia NFT drops for fans”. Since last year, NBA China has coined a series of Chinese New Year basketball-themed NFTs using the latter's Ant Chain.
The great leap of Tencent Cloud towards Web3
Tencent Cloud, the cloud trademark of Chinese internet giant Tencent, Announced on February 22 that it would support the development of the Web3 ecosystem and provide technical support to developers to promote their digitization.
First of all, Tencent Cloud introduced a new product, dubbed "Metaverse-in-a-Box", which the internet giant says will act as a comprehensive solution that integrates infrastructure, products, SDKs and code solutions. low to be used. mainly in games and multimedia entertainment.
Additionally, the firm signed a memorandum of cooperation with Ankr, Avalanche, Scroll, and Sui to further those goals. For Ankr, this means co-deploying a number of blockchain API services for remote procedure call nodes on the Tencent Cloud. As for Avalanche, it will join forces with Tencent Cloud to provide developers with efficient and fast node setups. Finally, Tencent Cloud will help developers build practical projects on Scroll and create cloud game development tools with Sui. Tommy Li, Vice President of Tencent Cloud, said:
“Tencent Cloud Metaverse-in-a-Box meets the needs of customers and developers for different scenarios, helping them get better real-time interactive experience, larger-scale communication and more secure access services, and quickly build online and virtualized and virtualized video. Metaverse scene apps.
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DeFi Token Jumps 550% After Huawei Pleasures It
In a 30 second video aware by Huawei on February 21, the Chinese telecommunications conglomerate showed the DeFi Defactor protocol. During the video, co-founder Alejandro Gutierrez said that the project is about creating a bridge between traditional finance with DeFi, exploring the tokenization of real-world assets, and building partnerships with startups and large corporations.
In the eyes of crypto investors, the statements Gutiérrez made were anything but ordinary. Immediately after the video was published, Defactor tokens (FACTR) Recordeda gain of more than 550% in less than three days, trading at $0.14 each at press time. Defactor is currently part of Huawei's international expansion program in Ireland.
