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A weekly roundup of news from the East Asia region, highlighting the most important trends in the industry.
SGX CEO Says Singapore ‘Not Ready’ for Bitcoin ETF
While several countries have approved the listing of cryptocurrency-based exchange-traded funds (ETFs), Singapore, a major financial hub in Asia, appears to be unprepared.
Singapore Exchange (SGX) CEO Loh Boon Chye said at a conference hosted by Reuters on July 9 that SGX does not currently allow cryptocurrency listings.
“I don’t think the Singapore ecosystem is ready for such a product right now,” Law said.
Singapore is seen as a rival to Hong Kong, as both cities are global financial centers that strive to provide the most favorable business environment through regulations and tax incentives.
Hong Kong has launched Asia’s first bitcoin and ethereum ETF, just months after a spot bitcoin ETF debuted in the United States, the world’s largest economy.
Like Hong Kong, Singapore has also expressed ambitions to become a hub for cryptocurrency business and has issued more licenses than its competitors.
Currently, Singapore has approved 24 digital payment token licenses, which allow companies to provide cryptocurrency services, including trading and custody.
Philippines: 2 Charged in $6 Million Cryptocurrency Exchange XRP Theft
The Philippine Department of Justice has filed criminal charges against two former Coins.ph consultants for allegedly hacking the cryptocurrency exchange in October last year and stealing $6 million worth of XRP from its hot wallets.
Two men, Vladimir Yevgenyevich Abzeev and Sergey Yashk, worked as consultants at Coins.ph.
The exchange has been licensed by the Central Bank of the Philippines to provide cryptocurrency trading and custody services to its 16 million users.
According to the DOJ, during their tenures, the two had access to Coins.ph’s network infrastructure, including secure access key protocols and server systems. When their tenures ended, prosecutors explained, they retained their access and used it without authorization.
The alleged hack was discovered when Coins.ph discovered a 12.2 million XRP hole in one of the hot wallets. The stolen assets were later traced to a separate external wallet, which was eventually linked to Yashk’s account.
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The two former consultants were charged with violating the country’s cybercrime prevention law. Avdeev faces 23 charges and Yaschuck faces three.
Vladimir Yevgenyevich Abzeev and Sergei Yashuk are reported to have already left the country before being indicted.
Importer caught trying to smuggle expensive equipment into Korean customs
South Korea’s airport customs authorities have reportedly caught an importer on charges of tax evasion after he tried to smuggle in high-tech cryptocurrency mining equipment disguised as obsolete, second-hand models.
The importer reportedly reported that the unit was an older model worth $290 (400,000 won) per unit. In fact, the unit was one of the newest mining rigs on the market, worth a whopping $14,000 each.
Incheon Airport Customs said that a 44-year-old importer who requested anonymity was indicted on charges of violating the Customs Act by importing approximately 700 units of high-end cryptocurrency mining equipment in 45 cases since November 2022.
They claimed that the imports evaded duties worth about $144,000.
During customs inspection, customs officials found discrepancies between the declared model and the actual model. After disassembling the mining machine, they found that it had high-performance components such as GPUs (graphics processing units).
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The defendant was referred to the prosecution for further legal proceedings, but was not detained or remanded in custody.
According to local media, customs officials said they expect to see an increase in undervalued declarations as demand for domestic cryptocurrency mining equipment grows.
Suspicious Seven – Hong Kong Securities Regulatory Authority, Access Denied
The Hong Kong Securities and Futures Commission (SFC) issued a statement last week listing seven companies suspected of being involved in cryptocurrency fraud: XTCQT, CEG, BTEPRO, Bitones.org, Yomaex, Bstor, and Taurusemex.
The SFC said that customers of the trading platform had reported withdrawal issues. In several cases, the platform claimed that the accounts were linked to money laundering activities, which was the reason for the suspension.
This has left some people paying “enormous” fees to unfreeze their accounts.
In response to these claims, local law enforcement began blocking access to websites associated with the named businesses at the request of the city’s financial regulator. However, many of these sites were already offline by the time the action was taken.
Taurusemex is accused of falsely advertising that investors’ accounts were regulated by the city’s financial authorities, which the SFC condemned as false.
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Hong Kong has unveiled a licensing regime aimed at providing regulated cryptocurrency trading access to both retail and institutional investors, signaling its ambition to establish itself as a cryptocurrency hub.
Local businesses were required to obtain a license or at least be “deemed licensed” by June 1, 2024.
As of July 10, 2024, there are only two entities on the SFC’s list of licensed trading platforms: HashKey and OSL. Meanwhile, 12 applications have been withdrawn or rejected.
Bitget expects the number of Japanese cryptocurrency users to continue to grow.
According to a new report published by Bitget Research, Japan will have the sixth-highest number of centralized exchange visitors in the world from November 2023 to April 2024.
The research arm expects that cryptocurrency adoption in Japan will continue to grow.
Bitget’s research found a unique trend among Japanese users: a preference for older dog-themed memecoins like Dogecoin (DOGE) and Shiba Inu (SHIB). In contrast, newer memecoins like Book of Meme (BOME) and Slerfsol (SLERF) did not show up in trend searches among Japanese Internet users.
Investors in the country also maintained a strong interest in early “blue chip” tokens such as XRP and Cardano’s ADA, which were mostly absent from trending searches in other countries, according to Bitget.
In 2022, Prime Minister Fumio Kishida’s cabinet formed its own Web3 Project team to highlight blockchain technology as a key element in achieving its vision of a sustainable and technologically advanced society.
Bitget projects that the number of daily active cryptocurrency traders in Japan will increase from 350,000 in 2024 to around 500,000 by the end of the year.
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Yoon Yohan
Yohan Yoon is a multimedia journalist covering blockchain since 2017. He has contributed as an editor to Forkast, a cryptocurrency media outlet, and has covered Asian technology stories as an assistant reporter for Bloomberg BNA and Forbes. In his free time, he enjoys cooking and experimenting with new recipes.