When most people hear about buying Bitcoin (BTC) or other cryptocurrencies, they immediately think of the largest exchanges, most of which are located in Asia. Today, countries such as China and South Korea have become epicenters of blockchain innovation. However, in many countries, it’s still unclear whether cryptocurrencies are allowed, and if they are, what their status is. So, here’s how the regulation of the cryptocurrency market in Asia is shaping up and what should be expected from governments in the near future. China goes digital with the yuan Today, China is home to many cryptocurrency projects and exchanges, and …

A major suspect in a high-profile theft case related to Bitcoin (BTC) trading has pleaded guilty in a Singaporean court. Syed Mokhtar Syed Yusope, an accomplice in a $360,000 robbery, pleaded guilty in a district court to a robbery charge on Sept. 9, Singeporean news agency The Straits Times reports. Mokhtar, alongside his two accomplices, Jaromel Gee Ming Li and Mohd Abdul Rahman Mohamad, stole hundreds of thousands of dollars in cash from a Malaysian man in Singapore. Pretending to represent a Bitcoin broker, the group duped the victim into believing that they wanted to sell him Bitcoin for cash. …

Singapore Exchange (SGX), a major investment holding company in Singapore, has issued its first digital bond powered by blockchain technology. As officially announced on Sept. 1, SGX deployed its digital asset issuance platform to conduct a 400 million Singapore dollar ($294 million) 5.5-year public bond issuance for major local food and agri-business company, Olam International. Focused on Asia bond markets, the new digital bond was enabled by cooperation with SGX’s established blockchain partners like HSBC Singapore and investment firm Temasek. As part of the joint initiative, HSBC provided its on-chain payments solution allowing instant settlement in multiple currencies to handle …

Sygnum, a major cryptocurrency bank in Switzerland, is preparing to finally introduce digital asset trading after receiving regulatory approval. On Sept. 1, Sygnum announced that it received regulatory approval from the Financial Market Supervisory Authority, allowing the company to expand its services to a digital asset trading facility. The new approval enables Sygnum to “cover the complete life-cycle of a security,” starting from services such as primary issuance, settlement and custody to secondary trading. As part of Sygnum’s new capabilities, users now have access to instant settlement via the Sygnum-issued stablecoin Digital Swiss franc (DCHF). In conjunction with the news …

The Vienna Stock Exchange, or Wiener Börse, has become just the third “official regulated market” worldwide to list a Bitcoin (BTC) product. The exchange listed 21 Shares AG’s Bitcoin and Ethereum (ETH) exchange-traded products (ETPs), ‘ABTC’ and ‘AETH’, on September 1. Exciting news today, our #Bitcoin and #Ethereum ETPs — ABTC and AETH are the first crypto-centric ETPs admitted on @wiener_boerse, the Vienna Stock Exchange, one of the most established exchanges in Central, Eastern, and Southeastern Europe! https://t.co/jX3UOnsytA — 21Shares (@21Shares_) September 1, 2020 Thomas Rainer, Wiener Börse’s head of development, emphasized that the listing allows “experienced, local investors” to …

Having recently set up shop on Polkadot, an EOS-based decentralized finance project called Equilibrium is launching a new governance token called EQ. EQ works like the next generation of Equilibrium’s NUT, the platform’s first governance token specifically for use on EOS. As interoperability is a rising issue for blockchain adoption, the new EQ token will work across other blockchains, including EOS. NUT will remain a valid way to participate in Equilbrium’s decentralized governance, but for EOS only. Those who want to use the EQ token can exchange their NUT for it August 31 to September 29. They can then use …

Cryptocurrency firms in Singapore can now draw upon detailed guidance for their license applications to offer regulated services in the city-state. On Aug. 13, the Association of Cryptocurrency Enterprises and Startups, Singapore (ACCESS), rolled out its new Code of Practice to help these firms in their applications for a payments service license. The license has been mandatory for any entity looking to provide specified payment services — including digital payments and the trading of digital tokens — since Singapore’s Payment Services Act came into force in January of this year. ACCESS had the support of the Monetary Authority of Singapore …

Seychelles-based exchange Huobi Global is rolling out cryptocurrency savings accounts tomorrow. The new product will go live at 7:00 a.m. UTC on Aug. 20, with availability restricted to certain jurisdictions. Residents of China, Hong Kong Japan, Singapore, the United States, Germany, and the United Kingdom are, for now, not eligible for the offering. All others who wish to apply for a crypto savings account will need to first clear Know Your Customer checks. In total, Huobi’s new crypto savings product will be available to roughly 1,000 users. Each individual account will have a 3,000 Tether (USDT) limit — or the …

Japanese cryptocurrency exchange Liquid is reportedly delisting privacy-focused coin Zcash (ZEC) in order to apply for a license to operate in Singapore. The Electric Coin Company, which develops the Zcash cryptocurrency, announced the news in a July 22 tweet. They elaborated that Zcash will be delisted from Liquid alongside 28 other tokens. Liquid, which recently ranked #6 among top tier exchanges on CryptoCompare, has not yet posted an official statement on whether they plan to delist Zcash. Cointelegraph reached out to the exchange with more queries and will update the article pending any new information. Zcash is entirely compatible with …

With cross-border interoperable blockchain systems gaining traction across the globe, it comes as no surprise that an increasing number of government agencies are looking to explore the full potential of this technology to make international transactions hassle-free in addition to ensuring the process is streamlined and transparent for users. In this regard, the Monetary Authority of Singapore, or MAS, announced on July 13 that its much-talked-about blockchain payments project, Project Ubin, was finally ready for mainstream commercial deployment. The project’s roots can be traced all the way back to 2017, a time when the Singaporean government was seeking to develop …

The Singapore Fintech Association and R3 have entered a partnership to provide startups in the SFA network with access to R3’s Corda blockchain. In an announcement on July 14, the SFA said that startups would receive support from R3’s Venture Development program, which provides a gateway into R3’s ecosystem for all pre-series A companies that are building on Corda. Corda is an open-source enterprise blockchain platform that is used by an expanding network of over 350 participants who build distributed applications (CorDapp) on the platform for a range of industries, such as financial services, insurance and healthcare. Access to the …

Singapore authorities announced today that their blockchain payments project, Project Ubin, is complete and ready for commercial launch. The Monetary Authority of Singapore, or MAS, first undertook Project Ubin in 2017 with plans to first develop a digitized Singapore dollar (SGD). The next steps involved exploring blockchain and distributed ledger technology to build a system for the clearing and settlement of payments and securities using digital SGD. For the final phase of the project, MAS worked in collaboration with the Singapore-based investment company Temasek and the American investment bank JPMorgan. MAS had successfully completed the development of the payments network …