Author：Lily

Editor：Colin Wu

1. HongKong’s weekly summary

1.1 Work on legislation related to the issuance of security-based tokens has begun in Hong Kong Link

The Head of Financial Technology of Hong Kong Investment Promotion Department, Mr. John Leung, said that the draft amendment to the Anti-Money Laundering and Counter-Terrorist Financing Ordinance (Cap. 615) is expected to be passed by the Legislative Council in the first quarter of 2023, when more virtual asset service providers will apply for licenses from the regulator, and virtual asset trading in Hong Kong will flourish.

1.2 Hong Kong plans to legalize retail crypto trading to become hub Link

A planned mandatory licensing program for crypto platforms set to be enforced in March next year will allow retail trading in Hong Kong. The upcoming regime for listing tokens on retail exchanges is likely to include criteria such as their market value, liquidity and membership of third-party crypto indexes. However, it remains unclear if mainland Chinese investors would be able to trade in tokens via Hong Kong.

1.3 Hong Kong fintech startup reap raises $40M for Web3 payments Link

Reap, a digital payment company based in Hong Kong, has netted $40 million in a funding round aimed at developing infrastructure to help facilitate payments between Web3 projects and traditional businesses. The financing is led by Acorn Pacific Ventures, Arcadia Funds and HashKey Capital. Reap said the proceeds will be used to set up regional hubs throughout Asia, North American and Europe, and double its team by the end of next year.

2. Huobi’s weekly summary

2.1 Huobi Global to delist HUSD and convert HUSD assets to USDT assets Link

Huobi Global publishes an announcement that the service termination and delisting of HUSD will start at 08:00 (UTC) on October 28, 2022. In the meantime, users’ HUSD assets will be converted to USDT assets at a 1:1 ratio. Previously HUSD has delisted 21 HUSD-related pairs, including USDC/HUSD, BTC/HUSD, ETH/HUSD, etc.

2.2 Justin Sun’s team has fully taken over Huobi Global and will carry out staff optimization Link

The original CEO of Huobi, Zhu Hua, CFO Zhang Li and other executives have proposed to leave voluntarily (will hand over to leave around November 8), Justin Sun’s team has fully taken over the main departments of Huobi. The current number of Huobi staff reached 1,600 people, Justin Sun considers the number too big, and will probably carry out large-scale layoffs. In addition, the recent high-profile external actions have also triggered some employees’ fear of regulation.

3. South Korea’s weekly summary

3.1 The Korean Financial Committee plans to monitor users holding virtual assets of more than 100 million won Link

The Korea Financial Services Commission (FSC) argued that the weight of single-listed tokens and stablecoins on crypto exchanges should be investigated, and the higher the weight, the higher the risk of money laundering. It is also advocated that customers who deposit high amounts of virtual assets should be monitored to know the size and trend of the virtual assets held by users.

3.2 Busan signed business agreements with virtual asset exchanges Crypto.com and Gate.io Link

On October 26, Crypto.com and Gate.io announced the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding with the city of Busan, South Korea. This partnership will see Busan receive technology and infrastructure support from both to develop the city’s blockchain ecosystem and promote the Busan Digital Asset Exchange, as well as to establish a Korean branch in Busan. This follows similar agreements signed by Coinan, FTX and Huobi with Busan.

3.3 Blockchain venture firms to invest $100M in Busan for ecosystem development Link

EOS Network Foundation, OKX Blockdream Ventures, AlphaNonce and others signed a memorandum of understanding and agreed to invest $100 million over three years to establish a blockchain ecosystem in South Korea’s second-largest city, Busan. Busan will aim to provide a favorable administrative regime to enable investments to run smoothly. It has signed agreements with some of the world’s largest crypto exchanges including Binance, FTX and Huobi to help develop the blockchain infrastructure.

4. Singapore’s weekly summary

4.1 Singapore High Court Judge rules that NFTs can be property Link

The Singapore High Court has ruled that NFTs can be considered a form of property, having an owner capable of being recognised by third parties. This ruling came after The Singapore High Court issued an injunction on May 13 to stop the sale and ownership transfer of a Bored Ape #2162 previously owned by a Singaporean man named Janesh Rajkumar. The injunction is said to be the first one issued in Asia to protect an NFT, meaning that the high court recognises the NFT as an asset.

4.2 Monetary Authority of Singapore proposes new encryption regulatory measures Link

The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) published two consultation papers proposing regulatory measures to reduce the risk of consumer harm from cryptocurrency trading. The proposed measures cover three broad areas: consumer access, business conduct, and technology risks. Specifics also include a requirement for stablecoins pegged to a single currency to hold reserve assets in cash, cash equivalents or short-dated sovereign debt securities if their value exceeds S$5 million. In addition, MAS is seeking public comment on measures such as prohibiting retail investors from taking out loans to purchase cryptocurrencies.

4.3 Singapore receives 631 reports of cryptocurrency scams in 2021, with the vast majority perpetrated by offshore scammers Link

Singapore’s Ministry of Home Affairs said police received 125 reports related to cryptocurrency scams in 2019, increasing to 397 in 2020 and 631 by 2021. The vast majority of cryptocurrency scams are perpetrated by scammers outside of Singapore, making recovery more difficult as funds are transferred overseas, and the ability to resolve cases depends on the level of cooperation with overseas law enforcement agencies.

5. Japan’s weekly summary

5.1 Japanese media giant GREE to build Web3 games and run nodes on Avalanche Link

BLRD, a subsidiary of the Japanese gaming house and internet media company GREE, and Ava Labs, the software company providing support to the Avalanche blockchain and its ecosystem, have formed a strategic partnership aimed at accelerating BLRD’s growth in blockchain gaming as it plans to launch its first Web3 game in 2023. Further, BLRD plans to collaborate with Ava Labs and the Avalanche Foundation on other projects, including joint investments with Blizzard the Avalanche Fund.

5.2 Crypto exchange Coincheck plans to list on Nasdaq in July 2023 Link

Japanese crypto exchange Coincheck is planning to complete its listing on Nasdaq via a merger with special purpose acquisition company (SPAC) Thunder Bridge Capital Partners IV on July 2, 2023. The merger was first slated for March of this year and was valued at around $1.25 billion at the time. Coincheck is among Japan’s largest crypto exchange with a 27% market share, according to the SEC filing, and currently serves 1.75 million account holders and offers trading of 18 different coins.

6. Vietnam’s Prime Minister calls for regulation of crypto assets Link

The Vietnamese government does not officially recognize cryptocurrencies at the moment, but in practice trading of such currencies is so common that its Prime Minister Pham Minh Triet sees the need for legal regulation. According to the previous 2022 Geography of Cryptocurrency Report released by Chainalysis, Vietnam ranks first in crypto adoption.

7. National Bank of Kazakhstan (NKB) will integrate their CBDC on BNB Chain Link

CZ, the founder of Binance, announced in a tweet that the National Bank of Kazakhstan would integrate its CBDC on BNB Chain. NKB recently launched a CBDC pilot in a controlled environment and with real consumers and merchants. About two weeks ago, Binance got a license in Kazakhstan Previously to operate as a digital asset platform and provide custody services.

8. Do Kwon faces a $57 Million fraud lawsuit in Singapore Link

Fugitive crypto developer Do Kwon faces another legal threat that’s largely gone under the radar: a lawsuit filed in Singapore on behalf of more than 350 investors who lost nearly $57 million in the collapse of the TerraUSD cryptocurrency. The lawsuit was filed September 23 but until now has drawn little notice. It alleges that Mr. Kwon made “fraudulent misrepresentations” about the stability of TerraUSD.

9. Azuki auctioned off eight PBT golden skateboard NFTs Link

Background: Azuki released the open source token standard PBT (Physical Backed Token) to bind real objects to the Ethereum blockchain.

News：Azuki garnered attention with the auction of eight golden skateboard NFTs, which raised $2.5 million ETH in sales volume. Holders can burn the NFTs to redeem a real-life, gold-plated skateboard. The Azuki stewards told CoinDesk the auction had 145 bids in total, with the lowest winning bid being 200 ETH (approx. $267,000) placed by darklady.eth and the highest winning bid being 309 ETH (approx. $413,000) set by dingaling.eth, a prominent NFT collector who owns 102 Azuki NFTs.

10. MIMIC SHHANS to create Mimic NFT trading platform based on Encentive Link

MIMIC SHHANS and Web3 SaaS platform Encentive reached a cooperation. MIMIC SHHANS will be based on Encentive to create Mimic NFT trading platform, including customized royalty function, extended support for ERC-1155 contracts. Previously, MIMIC SHHANS officially opened asset protocol migration from ERC-1155 protocol to ERC-721 protocol on October 14. Up to now, 73% (7333/10020) of NFT assets have been migrated.

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