China expands CBDC net, Malaysia is Hong Kong’s new crypto rival: Asia Express

Chinese President condemns CBDC

On July 4, China’s state broadcaster Xinhua News Agency published a copy President Xi Jinping’s address at the 2023 Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) summit. SCO is one of the world’s largest regional organizations for political, economic and security cooperation and was founded in 2001 by China and Russia.

During the speech, President Xi welcomed Iran as a full member of the organization and appreciated Belarus’ move to join. He also spoke on the importance of central bank digital currencies (CBDCs):

“The Chinese side proposes to expand the share of local currency settlements of SCO countries, expand sovereign digital currency cooperation, and promote the establishment of SCO development banks.”

In January, the People’s Bank of China reported that there were 13.61 billion digital yuan CBDCs in circulation, which is approximately 0.13% of the monetary supply. Since then, the use of CBDCs has expanded to include the country’s Belt and Road Initiative, various consumer airdrops, and as a means of payment for everyday transportation. However, experts warn that despite continued encouragement, the currency has struggled to gain hold.

On July 10, local news outlet East Money informed of A SIM card linked to the Digital Yuan CBDC will soon be available to Chinese consumers. Because the digital yuan CBDC digital wallet is embedded in the SIM card itself, individuals can pay their phone bills through point-of-sale machines, even when their phones are out of power.

Hong Kong Crypto Licensing Costs Soar to HK$100M

as of July 5 reports According to Tencent News, the combined labor, material and technical costs associated with obtaining a Hong Kong crypto exchange license have soared to 100 million Hong Kong dollars ($12.77 million) since its inception on June 1.

However, even if the infrastructure is in place, insiders note that the license application may still be rejected or the business opportunity will disappear once the license is approved. Tencent News wrote:

“The teams that left Hong Kong settled in Malaysia last month. They can rent a large floor space in the local city center for a monthly rent of 60,000 RMB ($8,296), and there are very cheap IT technicians in the local area. These expatriate teams believe that it is even more profitable to do crypto projects in Southeast Asia, compared to Hong Kong.

All crypto exchanges in Hong Kong must obtain regulatory licenses or cease operations in the administrative region by the middle of next year. Since the announcement, exchanges such as Huobi, OKEx, BitgateX, HashKey Pro and Gate.io have applied for a license in Hong Kong.

Chinese cross-chain protocol hacked again

On July 7, the developers of Chinese cross-chain bridge protocol MultiChain shared a worrying message, stating: “The MultiChain service is currently down, and all bridge transactions will be stuck on source chains. There is no fixed time for resume. Please do not use the Multichain Bridging Service anymore.” On the same day, blockchain security firm PeckShield warning Over $126 million in funds were withdrawn from Multichain.

Circle immediately froze $63 million in USD Coin (USDC) in suspected stolen funds, while Tether froze $2.5 million in USDT. Changpeng Zhao, CEO of cryptocurrency exchange Binance, said that the hack has not affected his users as the firm had withdrawn all funds some time back.

It appears that the malicious actor Violation The protocol’s private keys and subsequently the protocol assets were moved elsewhere, although it took until July 10 for the funds to be seconded step, whose wallet address has been identified as “Fake_Phishing183873”, received an astonishing 10.2 million USDT and 67.76 Wrapped Bitcoin (wBTC) from a multichain address. Soon after the hack, the price of the Multichain token dropped 20% from its high and is now trading at $2.62.

Multichain was previously hacked for $7.9 million in July 2021 due to another private key exploit. Interestingly, Multichain CEO Zhao Jun has been missing for nearly two months, with rumors claiming that he was arrested by Chinese police in May. Around the same time, users reported unusually long transaction times for on-chain transactions following a recent backend node upgrade. The total value of the protocol is currently locked at $1.26 billion.

Singapore cracks down on crypto activities

The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) will require Digital Payment Token (DPT) providers will hold customers’ assets in a statutory trust until the end of the year. Furthermore, the DPT will be prohibited from issuing crypto loans and staking services to retail investors. MAS wrote:

“These measures have been introduced following the October 2022 public consultation on regulatory measures to enhance investor protection and market integrity in DPT services. The consultation received significant interest from a wide range of respondents, with widespread support.

Crypto loans and staking services will still be allowed for institutional and accredited investors. Despite the new rules, MAS warned that “although the segregation and custody requirements will reduce the risk of loss of customers’ assets, consumers will still face significant delays in recovering their assets in the event of service providers’ insolvency.” may have to.” The regulator is seeking public feedback on the proposed rule changes by August 3.

Thai crypto exchange raises $17.1 million

according to a recent news AdmissionThai cryptocurrency exchange Bitcube has sold 9.22% of its equity, amounting to 600 million baht ($17.1 million), to Thai conglomerate Asphere Innovation Plc. During the transaction, it was revealed that Bitcube had 31.9 billion baht ($910 million) in assets and customer deposits, as well as 31.4 billion baht ($890 million) in liabilities. The company reported a total gross profit of 314.87 million baht ($8.97 million) in the first quarter of 2023.

Bitkub is the largest cryptocurrency exchange in Thailand with a market share of around 90% in 2021. Thai-based Siam Commercial Bank had earlier that year signed a deal to acquire 51% of the company for 17.85 billion baht ($510 million). However, the bank canceled the deal in August 2022. Bitkub’s total assets decreased by 64% from December 31, 2021 to December 31, 2022.

Japanese video game group moves into blockchain gaming

On July 10, South Korean non-fungible token firm LineNext revealed It had signed an MoU with Japanese video game giant Sega to remake one of Sega’s classic games on its Web3 gaming platform, Game Dosi.

Games Dosi currently has six titles, including its in-house game, Project GD, which launched in May. Through the platform, players can buy and sell NFT heroes and challenge other players.

Founded in 1960, Sega is one of the largest video game conglomerates in Japan, with annual video game sales of approximately $2 billion. Its most iconic franchise is Sonic the Hedgehog, whose title protagonist also serves as the company’s mascot.

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Zhiyuan Sun

Zhiyuan Sun is a reporter at Cointelegraph who focuses on technology-related news. He has many years of experience writing for major financial media outlets such as The Motley Fool, Nasdaq.com and Seeking Alpha.