As the volume of Bitcoin (BTC) derivatives trading continues to rise, the cryptocurrency industry keeps tapping more crypto markets, like stablecoin Tether (USDT), for futures trading. KuMEX, a derivatives arm of IDG-backed crypto exchange, KuCoin, is planning to roll out USDT-margined Bitcoin perpetual contracts on March 30, 2020, the firm officially announced on March 27. KuMEX currently supports only Bitcoin and USDT While the new type of futures contract will be launched next week, KuMEX users are already able to deposit USDT via the web or public API starting from March 26, the company said. KuMEX offers crypto derivatives trading …

While Singapore recently adopted specific cryptocurrency legislation — the Payment Services Act (PSA) — in January 2020, it turns out that some crypto firms like Ripple, Coinbase and Binance have been exempt from the law since the beginning of the year. The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS), the country’s central bank and major financial regulatory authority, exempted a number of major payment services from holding a financial license under the PSA. According to a statement released on March 24, the listed companies are allowed to continue to provide specific payment services without holding a PSA license for a limited period …

Tech Mahindra, the IT subsidiary of Indian conglomerate Mahindra Group, has become the first Indian business to use R3’s blockchain-based Marco Polo Network for conducting cross-border transactions. It said the platform had resulted in faster reconciliation and ambiguity resolution, as well as the significant reduction of paperwork and time required for the entire transaction cycle. Tech Mahindra partnered with Singapore’s DBS Bank, which facilitated the transactions and acted as the company’s leading trade bank. The parties used the Marco Polo Receivables Discounting product which is designed to help companies optimise their working capital, improve liquidity and mitigate credit risk. Marco …

Some countries have been late to the party when it comes to recognizing and regulating digital assets. The first time that Singapore’s central bank issued a framework for the regulation of payment-related activities was on Jan. 28 with the Payment Services Act. However, the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) still saw the potential risks that digital assets could pose to the economy, such as money laundering and financing terrorism. As part of the effort to address this, the MAS issued a notice on Dec. 5 regarding the ”Prevention of Money Laundering and Countering the Financing of Terrorism”. The notice detailed …

Despite the ongoing global crisis fueled by intensifying coronavirus fears, Singapore-based cryptocurrency exchange KuCoin takes action to expand its services and restructure business. Backed by major venture capital firm IDG Capital, KuCoin exchange has established KuGroup, a core division of the company that will manage all KuCoin products. KuCoin announces two new appointments alongside company restructuring According to a March 17 announcement, KuGroup encompasses three business divisions in the company, including KuCoin Global, KuCloud and KuChain & KCS Business Group. As part of the strategy and company structure upgrade, KuGroup has carried out some restructuring in its team, appointing KuCoin …

OKCoin, one of the world’s oldest cryptocurrency exchanges, is continuing to expand its fiat-to-crypto onramps by adding support of the Singapore dollar (SGD). Starting March 12, OKCoin users can deposit and withdraw Singapore’s official fiat currency — the Singapore dollar — for major cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin (BTC) and Ether (ETH). As the Singapore dollar is also officially accepted in its neighbor country Brunei, individuals and institutions in both jurisdictions are able to start trading their Singapore dollars for crypto, OKCoin announced to Cointelegraph. The Singapore dollar is the third fiat currency supported by OKCoin after the United States dollar and …

Indonesia’s Commodity Futures Trading Regulatory Agency, also known as Bappebti, has given the green light to crypto exchange provider Zipmex. The approval is the latest in Zipmex’s series of applications to regulators in the Asia-Pacific region, where it has already secured a go-ahead from Thai and Australian authorities. Regulated operations across Asia-Pacific Speaking to Cointelegraph on March 10, Zipmex’s chief legal officer Bank Yimwilai explained the exchange’s approach to navigating different regulatory regimes across the region: “Even though each jurisdiction has its own sets of rules and regulations, they are rooted in core principles of good corporate governance, strong custody …

A blockchain trade finance platform developed by eight major banks, among them HSBC, BNP Paribas, and Citi, is now ready for commercial launch in Singapore in Q2 2020. Named Contour, the launch follows a successful trial of the platform involving over $30 million in letter-of-credit transactions last year, South China Morning Post reported on March 5. Letter-of-credit transactions are a payment mechanism widely used in international trade, in which a bank provides a seller with an economic guarantee for a buyer’s payment. As the coronavirus continues to shake global markets, a regional executive told reporters that the platform can ensure …

Bitmain cofounder-backed crypto trading platform Matrixport has announced a new funding round aiming to raise as much as $140 million at a post-investment valuation of $300 million. Singapore-based Matrixport revealed its fundraising plans to investors in recent weeks, according to people familiar with the issue, BNN Bloomberg reported on March 4. In 2019, Matrixport’s revenue reportedly accounted for $7 million to $8 million, with the company expecting to double its earnings this year. In the previous funding round, Matrixport was reportedly valued at $114 million. Backed by Wu Jihan Matrixport was launched by Wu Jihan, the former CEO of one …

Japanese messaging giant Line has shuttered its Singapore-based crypto exchange and relaunched it as a global, rebranded United States-based platform. On Feb. 27, the team of the exchange — which first launched as BitBox in Singapore back in 2018 — revealed that the new U.S. platform will take the new name BitFront. All changes to take immediate effect BitFront is operated by LVC USA, the U.S. subsidiary of LVC Corporation, Line’s digital asset- and blockchain-focused arm. As of today, users are automatically redirected from BitBox to the BitFront URL, where a series of notices informs them of the platform’s changes, …

Recently, financial regulators around the world have been growing concerned about the role of cryptocurrency in money laundering and financing of various illicit activities. The first two months of 2020 saw many governments acting on these concerns and introducing a variety of legal measures designed to bolster their defenses against financial cybercrime allegedly facilitated by the use of digital money. Russia has become the latest of the major jurisdictions to make a move in this direction, as the Central Bank of Russia unveiled last week a revised set of indicators by which financial institutions are advised to recognize suspicious transactions …

In the country’s first legal dispute involving cryptocurrency, the Singapore Court of Appeals has ruled that virtual currency exchange Quoine must pay damages to electronic market maker B2C2. The damages are for seven transactions that were wrongfully reversed on the platform during April 2017. According to The Straits Times on Feb. 24, the court dismissed Quoine’s appeal, in which the exchange argued that it was entitled to unilaterally cancel the orders due to such comprising a mistake. The exchange argued that the parties who fulfilled B2C2’s orders to sell Ether (ETH) for Bitcoin (BTC) at the price of 10 BTC …