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The ‘Asian MicroStrategy’ exits crypto
Chinese language selfie app developer Meitu has cashed out all of its cryptocurrency holdings, incomes roughly an 80% revenue. The corporate started promoting its crypto belongings in November.
In a Dec. 4 assertion, Meitu confirmed that it now not holds any cryptocurrencies.
Meitu invested in 31,000 Ether and 940 Bitcoin within the spring of 2021, incomes the nickname Asia’s MicroStrategy.
The corporate invested an mixture of $100 million within the cryptocurrencies and in the end bought them for $180 million, not a foul little return for 3 years of hodling.
The corporate acknowledged that the proceeds from the sale could be allotted to working capital, enterprise enlargement, and the distribution of particular dividends, which will be seen as a bonus to its shareholders.
Headquartered in Xiamen, a port metropolis in southeastern China, Meitu additionally operates branches in Hong Kong, Taiwan, and america. It’s listed on the Hong Kong Inventory Trade, with its funding arm, Meitu Investments, registered within the British Virgin Islands.
Meitu’s choice to liquidate its cryptocurrency holdings runs counter to the broader development in Asia.
Japan’s Metaplanet, which might now be mentioned to carry the “Asian MicroStrategy” nickname with its aggressive Bitcoin accumulation, now holds over 1,100 BTC. In the meantime, Hong Kong-based Booya Interactive not too long ago exchanged its $49 million Ether holdings for Bitcoin.
Metaplanet additionally introduced a partnership with SBI VC Commerce, a subsidiary of monetary providers big SBI Holdings, to host a Bitcoin giveaway lottery for two,350 eligible shareholders, additional cementing its dedication to cryptocurrency.
Coinbase’s SEA stablecoins
Coinbase Pockets and Base are serving to builders in Southeast Asia create apps designed to assist future stablecoins tied to Thai and Philippine currencies, Nikkei Asia reported.
Thailand’s oldest financial institution, Siam Business Financial institution, demonstrated ForEx fee-less dollar-to-baht stablecoin conversions by way of its crypto pockets on Coinbase’s Ethereum layer 2 Base for attendants on the current Devcon occasion.
A full rollout for such a product would first require the financial institution to evaluate a pilot program with regulators for approval, mentioned Base creator Jesse Pollak.
The report added that Coinbase’s alternate itself doesn’t have plans to enter Southeast Asian jurisdictions. Nevertheless, its Singapore arm secured the Lion Metropolis’s crypto license in October 2023.
Blockchain forensics agency Chainalysis ranks each Thailand and the Philippines among the many prime 20 nations in crypto adoption. Amongst Southeast Asian nations in that checklist, the 2 stand out as the one ones which have transaction volumes in centralized alternate above the worldwide common.
In the meantime, they’re the one ones with a decrease share of DEX transaction quantity when in comparison with the worldwide common, and different DeFi actions.
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Japan DMM Bitcoin shuts down
Japanese cryptocurrency alternate DMM Bitcoin has ditched efforts to revamp operations and can liquidate. DMM will switch its remaining buyer belongings to SBI VC Commerce.
In Might, DMM Bitcoin suffered a $320 million hack in a cyberattack the place North Korean state hacking group Lazarus has been accused of conducting a personal key exploit.
The perpetrators stole 4,502 Bitcoin on the assault, value greater than $450 million at the moment.
The hermit kingdom’s cyber brokers have been listed as prime suspects in among the main assaults in opposition to crypto companies not too long ago, together with a flurry of hacks on Asia-based exchanges like WazirX, BingX and Indodax.
In line with cyber sleuth ZachXBT, among the stolen funds from the DMM Bitcoin incident handed by way of Huione Assure, a Cambodian market that has allegedly risen as a cash laundering scorching spot for scammers.
Not too long ago, Cambodia’s web regulator reportedly blocked entry to 102 web sites, together with 16 cryptocurrency exchanges, together with Binance and OKX.
In August, Chainalysis mentioned that Huione Assure processed greater than $49 billion value of crypto transactions since 2021.
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South Korea’s company Bitcoin account rumors
Media outlet Korea Financial Every day experiences that the Monetary Providers Fee is anticipated to publish a roadmap for company crypto accounts by the top of the 12 months.
The native outlet reported unnamed sources as saying that the roadmap is anticipated to incorporate phases of permissions, beginning with native governments and universities, with firms and monetary establishments pushed down the precedence checklist.
Nevertheless, the FSC denied that it has make a decision on the problem associated to company crypto accounts, and intends to carry extra discussions
The nation’s crypto market is fueled primarily by retail buyers on account of native buying and selling guidelines. To open an account in an area cryptocurrency alternate, the investor should first open a real-name checking account with the alternate’s companion financial institution. Solely exchanges which have paired with companion banks are capable of present on and off-ramp providers and solely 5 within the nation have met these necessities up to now.
Nevertheless, companies are at the moment prohibited from opening this explicit checking account, successfully prohibiting them from investing in crypto.
Retail buyers have pushed South Korea as a key crypto market with the native foreign money rising because the world’s prime fiat buying and selling pair earlier this 12 months.
South Korea’s crypto transactions reportedly topped $35 billion within the 24 hours that had a six-hour martial regulation earlier this week, greater than Indonesia’s $30 billion buying and selling quantity from January to October.
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Yohan Yun
Yohan Yun is a multimedia journalist masking blockchain since 2017. He has contributed to crypto media outlet Forkast as an editor and has coated Asian tech tales as an assistant reporter for Bloomberg BNA and Forbes. He spends his free time cooking, and experimenting with new recipes.