Germany’s largest bank reportedly plans to expand its digital asset custody services to Asian financial centers due to the growth of the digital asset economy. Deutsche Bank reportedly intends to debut its crypto custody services in Germany and plans to expand them across Asian financial centers in 2027. The rapid growth of the digital asset economy, including hundreds of billions of dollars held in stablecoins, is driving the bank’s plans, Gerald Podobnik, co-head of Deutsche Bank’s corporate bank, told Reuters in a Friday report. Podobnik added that the move is part of Deutsche Bank’s goals to achieve compound annual growth of 8% in corporate banking by 2028. Read more
Singapore’s crypto economy grows 55%, South Korea set to make crypto market makers legal, and Chinese spy ministry warns would-be foreign spies it’s watching the blockchain. CHINA China’s Ministry of State Security has toughened its rhetoric on the risks of cryptocurrencies, highlighting their role in crime and stressing transactions are not really anonymous. According to the South China Morning Post the spooks published an article on social media stating cryptocurrencies are used to facilitate money laundering and cyberattacks and serve as “accomplices” in espionage. Read more
The APAC region accounts for half of the Global Crypto Adoption Index. Bitget suffers massive $351M loss and OpenAI forgets to mention its agents hacked the Australian Government. Almost half of the top 20 nations in terms of grassroots crypto adoption are in the Asia Pacific region. According to Chainalysis’s newly released 2026 Global Crypto Adoption Index, Japan ranks at number 4, followed by South Korea (5), India (6), Thailand (8), China (12), Indonesia (14), Australia (15), Vietnam (18) and the Philippines (19), which totals nine countries out of 20 on the index. A big growth area in the APAC region is cross border stablecoin transfers. Tianwei Liu, co-founder and CEO of StraitsX, told Cointelegraph that in Asia, fragmented currencies and payment systems have created demand for stablecoin settlement. Read more
Shareholders of Bitcoin treasury company Metaplanet are seething over equity allocations for insiders, while new figures cement Singapore’s role as the top Asian crypto hub. JAPAN Japanese Bitcoin treasury company Metaplanet’s executive stock pool continues to draw shareholder backlash over stock dilution concerns. Multiple shareholders objected across social media to Metaplanet’s 10th Series executive option pool, which was designed as 20% of fully diluted shares and automatically expanded as the company issued new shares to fund its Bitcoin (BTC) accumulation. Read more
Ripple was among the latest blockchain companies to sign a strategic partnership to build more custody and tokenized asset management solutions for Asian institutional participants. Blockchain enterprise solutions provider Ripple has partnered with digital asset infrastructure company SettleMint to offer financial institutions solutions for custody, issuance and management of tokenized assets across their full lifecycle. The strategic partnership will integrate Ripple’s institutional digital asset custody infrastructure, Ripple Custody, and SettleMint’s Digital Asset Lifecycle Platform (DALP) to offer institutions a less complex way to secure digital assets, Ripple announced on Tuesday. A day earlier, digital asset service provider Coincheck Group partnered with wallet infrastructure provider DFNS to build digital asset wallet technology and custody services in Japan. Read more
Bitcoin saw fresh downside pressure as US stocks tracked sideways into the end of the month, diverging from the relief bounce seen in Asia. Bitcoin (BTC) fell to its lowest levels in over two weeks on Friday as US stocks saw pressure into the monthly close. Key points: Data from TradingView showed BTC/USD falling 3.5% to reach $62,369 on Bitstamp, a level last seen on July 14. Read more
Bitcoin price downside returned to send BTC to one-week lows thanks to renewed concerns over global oil supplies focused on the Strait of Hormuz blockade. Bitcoin (BTC) headed to weekly lows after Tuesday’s Wall Street open as oil-supply woes panicked global markets. Key points: Read more
The Web3 company will provide capital, advisory support and business development to help Avalanche projects scale, with a focus on real-world assets and digital identity. Animoca Brands has made a strategic investment in Ava Labs and entered a partnership to support projects building on the Avalanche blockchain, focusing on capital deployment, advisory support and expansion in Asia and the Middle East. According to Thursday’s announcement by the Hong Kong-based Web3 company, the collaboration will target sectors including real-world assets, digital identity and entertainment, with Animoca providing business development support and access to regional networks to help Avalanche-based projects scale and reach institutional users. Projects pursued under the partnership may also tap into the broader ecosystem of portfolio companies, Animoca said. Read more