There is no civil protection for cryptocurrencies in China, so you need $300,000 to list a coin in Hong Kong? Asia Express – Cointelegraph Magazine

Our weekly news roundup from East Asia selects the most important developments in the industry.

Hot week for Hong Kong exchanges

Hashkey Exchange, one of Hong Kong’s first regulated cryptocurrency exchanges, has announced insurance coverage for customer assets stored in hot and cold wallets. account. The policy covers 50% of digital assets in Hashkey’s cold wallets and 100% of digital assets in hot wallets and will pay out between $50 million and $400 million in the event of a claim.

Hashkey’s partnership with fintech OneDegree will see the two co-develop a new cryptographic security solution for exchanges to manage server downtime, data backup and load control. “Receiving insurance coverage from OneInfinity through OneDegree not only meets Securities and Futures Commission requirements, but this collaboration strengthens our financial, technology and service infrastructure to provide customers with comprehensive protection,” said Livio Wang, Chief Operating Officer. “I believe we can do it,” he said. Hashiki Group.

Wang also revealed that the exchange plans to submit four major altcoins to the Hong Kong Securities and Futures Commission for listing approval. Since its license was approved last August, Hashkey has grown to over 120,000 customers with cumulative transaction volume of over $10 billion.

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

While Hong Kong cryptocurrency exchanges are gaining popularity, the barriers to entry for both users and token developers appear to be high. Hashkey said in a November 15 announcement that token developers would have to pay a non-refundable application fee of $10,000 to list 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, in addition to due diligence or advisory fees, if approved.

The Block welcomes a new beginning.

Crypto media publisher The Block has received a $60 million investment from Singapore venture capital firm Foresight Ventures for an 80% stake, but will still operate as a separate company.

like said CEO Larry Cermak said on November 13 that the deal “gives The Block a fresh start ahead of the bull market and provides more capital to develop new and exciting products and expand our presence in Asia and the Middle East.” He said.

“The Block acquisition marks an important milestone that substantially strengthens Foresight Ventures’ position in the cryptocurrency space,” Forrest Bai, CEO of Foresight Ventures, told Cointelegraph.

The Block was embroiled in the FTX scandal last year when it was revealed that former CEO Mike McCaffrey had taken out millions of dollars in loans from FTX founders and convicted felon Sam Bankman-Fried. Most of the capital was used to purchase his shares. The Block reportedly laid off 33% of its staff due to the overall market downturn and fallout from the incident.

There is no civil protection for cryptocurrencies in China.

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

According to a statement from Liaoning Zhuanhe People’s Court on November 14, plaintiff Wang Ping sent $552,300 in Tether (USDT) to his friend Zhao Bin for the purpose of investing in altcoins in 2022. lent the amount. Mr. Wang suffered a loss and later filed a lawsuit demanding a return of the principal. Defendant Zhao refused.

The judge ruled that trading between cryptocurrencies was classified as an ‘illegal act’ and that the plaintiff had no right to receive judicial relief. Therefore, all “virtual currencies and related derivatives are acts that violate public order and morals, and the relevant civil lawsuits are invalid, and the resulting damages must be borne by the person himself.”

“Virtual currency does not have the same legal status as fiat currency. Virtual currency-related business activities are illegal financial activities. He said, “It is also an illegal financial activity for overseas virtual currency exchanges to provide services to Korean residents through the Internet.”

The ruling follows another precedent set by a Chinese civil court earlier this year. However, the Chinese government recently made it clear that certain criminal acts related to digital currencies, including theft of non-fungible tokens, can be prosecuted under criminal law. China has implemented a cryptocurrency ban starting in 2021.

Philippines issues tokenized bonds

The Philippine Board of Finance (BTr) seeks to raise $180 million worth of funds from the domestic capital market through the issuance of tokenized bonds.

The tokenized bond, as announced on November 16, is a one-year fixed-rate government bond paying semi-annual coupons that will be available to institutional investors starting next week. The bonds will be issued in the form of digital tokens and maintained in BTr’s Distributed Ledger Technology (DLT) registry. “As part of the government’s roadmap to digitize government securities, TTB’s first issuance aims to provide a proof of concept for the widespread use of DLT in government bond markets,” the agency said.

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

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Jiyuan Line

Zhiyuan Sun is a journalist at Cointelegraph specializing in technology news. He has years of experience writing for major financial outlets such as The Motley Fool, Nasdaq.com, and Seeking Alpha.