No civil protection for crypto in China, $300K to list coins in Hong Kong? Asia Express

Our weekly East Asia news roundup looks at the most important developments in the industry.

Hot week for Hong Kong exchanges

Hashkey Exchange, one of the first regulated crypto exchanges in Hong Kong, has Announced Insurance coverage for clients' assets stored in their hot and cold wallets. accounts. The policy will cover 50% of Hashkey's digital assets in cold wallets and 100% of digital assets in hot wallets and will pay between $50 million and $400 million in the event of a claim.

Hashkey's partnership with fintech OneDegree will also allow the two to jointly develop novel cryptographic security solutions for the exchange to manage server downtime, data backup, and load control. "Obtaining OneInfinity insurance coverage from OneDegree not only meets the requirements of the Securities and Futures Commission, but we believe the collaboration can also improve our financial, technical and service infrastructure to provide our clients with comprehensive protection. "said Livio Wang, COO of Hashkey Group. .

Wang also revealed that the exchange plans to submit four major altcoins for approval to the Hong Kong Securities and Futures Commission. Since its license was approved in August, Hashkey has grown to more than 120,000 clients with cumulative trading volume exceeding $10 billion.

BC Technology Group, owner of another licensed exchange called OSL, has announced a strategic investment of $91 million from crypto group BGX. BGX CEO Patrick Pan called the investment “a strategic move that reflects our belief in the immense potential of the digital asset market.” Last month, Bloomberg reported that BC Technology Group was looking to split the OSL exchange for $128 million, which the company denied at the time.

While Hong Kong crypto exchanges are gaining traction, the barrier to entry for both users and token developers seems to be tall. in a advertisement On November 15, Hashkey stated that token developers must pay a non-refundable application fee of $10,000 for listing their coins or tokens on the exchange.

Hashkey also warned that developers should expect a total cost of $50,000 to $300,000 for the listing process, if approved, when combined with due diligence or advisory fees.

The Block has a new beginning

Crypto media publication The Block has received a $60 million investment for 80% of its equity from Singapore venture capital firm Foresight Ventures, but will continue to operate as a separate company.

As said According to CEO Larry Cermak on Nov. 13, the deal “gives The Block a fresh start ahead of the bull market and provides us with more capital to develop exciting new products and expand our presence in Asia and the Middle East.”

Forrest Bai, CEO of Foresight Ventures, told Cointelegraph that "the purchase of The Block marks a crucial milestone, substantially strengthening Foresight Ventures' position in the cryptocurrency sector."

The Block became embroiled in the FTX scandal last year when it emerged that former CEO Mike McCaffrey took millions of dollars in loans from FTX founder and convicted felon Sam Bankman-Fried. Much of the capital was used to buy his shares. The Bloc reportedly laid off 33% of its staff due to the overall market decline and fallout from the incident.

There is no civil protection for cryptocurrencies in China

A third Chinese court voided a cryptocurrency investment contract on the grounds that cryptocurrencies contravene the spirit of its cryptocurrency ban and are therefore not protected by law, at least in civil disputes.

As narrated According to the Liaoning Zhuanhe People's Court on November 14, the plaintiff, Wang Ping, lent the equivalent of $552,300 Tether (USDT) to a friend, Zhao Bin, for the purpose of investing in altcoins in 2022. The transaction resulted in large losses to Wang., which led them to later file a lawsuit demanding the return of the capital. The defendant, Zhao, refused.

At trial, the presiding judge ruled that the plaintiff was not entitled to judicial relief since transactions between cryptocurrencies are classified as "illegal activity." Therefore, all “virtual currency and related derivatives violate public order and good customs, and corresponding civil legal actions are invalid, and the resulting losses will be borne by them.”

“Virtual currency does not have the same legal status as legal currency. Commercial activities related to virtual currency are illegal financial activities. “It is also an illegal financial activity for overseas virtual currency exchanges to provide services to residents in my country over the Internet.”

The failure continues other precedents established by Chinese civil courts earlier this year. However, recently, the Chinese government has clarified that certain criminal acts related to virtual currencies, such as the theft of non-fungible tokens, are prosecutable according to the penal code. The Chinese have enforced their cryptocurrency ban since 2021.

Philippines to issue tokenized bonds

The Philippine Treasury Bureau (BTr) seeks to raise the equivalent of $180 million from its domestic capital market through the issuance of tokenized bonds.

As Announced On Nov. 16, tokenized bonds are one-year fixed-rate government securities that pay semiannual coupons offered to institutional investors starting next week. The bonds will be issued in the form of digital tokens and will be held on BTr's Distributed Ledger Technology (DLT) Registry. "As part of the national government's government securities digitization roadmap, the first TTB issuance aims to provide a proof of concept for broader use of DLT in the government bond market," the institution said.

In July, Cointelegraph reported That non-profit organization, the Blockchain Council of the Philippines, partnered with the Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) to encourage Web3 adoption in the Southeast Asian country. The organizations will work to educate and collaborate with local stakeholders within the Philippine blockchain ecosystem, including government agencies, Web3 developers, and civil societies.