Asian | Crypto

Hashkey joined the DTCC’s working group on tokenization innovation as the first Asian crypto service provider to join with over 100 financial institutions, including Goldman Sachs and JPMorgan. Hashkey joined the Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation’s (DTCC) Digital Assets Advisory Services Industry Working Group as its first Asian digital asset service provider.  Hashkey joins over 100 other global financial institutions and asset managers to help define how tokenized assets are issued, settled and safeguarded at an institutional scale. Other participants include JPMorgan Chase, Goldman Sachs, Nasdaq and the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE), the company revealed in a Wednesday announcement. DTCC is a core post-trade infrastructure provider in traditional financial markets. Its working group was formed to connect traditional finance with decentralized finance (DeFi) infrastructure. DTCC plans to launch access to tokenized securities in October, in conjunction with the working group. DTCC custodies $114 trill...

Industry figures warned that continued legislative limbo could slow institutional adoption, revive regulation by enforcement and push innovation offshore. The US Senate’s delay of a vote on crypto market structure legislation could give Hong Kong and Singapore more time to strengthen their positions as digital asset hubs, according to First Digital founder and CEO Vincent Chok. On Friday, Thune’s office confirmed to Cointelegraph that the Senate would not vote on the legislation before the August recess. Thune cited Democratic opposition and said the bill would be a priority when senators return in September. Chok, whose company issues the FDUSD stablecoin, said the delay could give jurisdictions with clearer regulatory frameworks an advantage in attracting capital and talent as US uncertainty weighs on institutional adoption.  Read more

Seoul’s historic two-day crash and widening hyperscaler credit spreads suggest the AI trade’s leverage is starting to bite — in equities and in bonds. Key points: Korean equities saw the second day of a historic sell-off on Wednesday with market-wide circuit breakers again halting trading. Combined with Tuesday’s drop, the KOSPI has now shed nearly 17%, wiping out $620 billion in market capitalization. This has prompted the government to convene an emergency meeting of its financial authorities. The initial trigger for the sell-off was SK Hynix’s Q2 earnings miss. The stock was down another 4% today, extending Tuesday’s 15% drop. Taken together with Samsung Electronics, the company makes up nearly half of the Korean index.  Read more

Japan's SBI Crypto shuts down 12th largest Bitcoin mining pool in the world, Russia gears up to launch digital ruble despite EU sanctions, and more: Asia Express. The Indian central bank reportedly urged lawmakers to keep banks insulated from crypto and private stablecoins while preserving room for regulated tokenization. According to a report by The Economic Times, RBI Deputy Governor Rohit Jain and Executive Director P. Vasudevan presented the central bank’s position to the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Finance on Thursday. In a background note submitted to the panel, the RBI reportedly said prohibition remained a recognized policy option and recommended preventing the use of crypto in payments and settlements while restricting banking-sector exposure. Read more

Oil’s 5% drop on potential Strait of Hormuz reopening boosted Asian equities and supported crypto sentiment.

Crypto scammers face the death sentence in Myanmar. Australia’s new crypto taxes may push startups and investors to Asian hubs: Asia Express.

Prediction markets are expanding into Asia’s largest economies, but unclear legal definitions and strict gambling laws may limit how far they can go. Prediction markets are pushing into Asia’s largest economies, even as local gambling laws place strict limits on betting activities. Asia represents a combination of scale, active retail participation and limited local alternatives, making it too large to ignore despite regulatory risks. That’s a similar pattern seen in crypto, where technology moved faster than regulation and licensing frameworks, prompting exchanges to enter markets before clear rules were in place.  Read more

Japan is advancing custody rules, Hong Kong is standardizing digitally native bond issuance, and Singapore has approved the first retail tokenized fund. The sequence is rules, issuance, and cash-like instruments. The link to crypto is not narrative but plumbing that reduces friction for collateral and settlement near BTC and ETH venues. Japan’s Financial Services Agency […] The post These 3 Asian markets have switched on tokenized finance faster than the US appeared first on CryptoSlate.

The largest Bitcoin ATM operator in North America is expanding to Hong Kong, citing growing global demand for cash-to-crypto access. Bitcoin Depot (Nasdaq: BTM), the largest Bitcoin ATM operator in North America, is entering the Asian market with a new launch in Hong Kong, marking the company’s first international expansion into the region. According to an announcement on Wednesday, the expansion reflects a strategy to reach markets with strong demand for easy cash-to-crypto conversion. Bitcoin Depot aims to be among the top five Bitcoin ATM operators in Hong Kong, it said. “Hong Kong is quickly becoming a global center for crypto, with the right mix of regulation, demand, and momentum,” said Scott Buchana, Bitcoin Depot’s president and chief operating officer. Read more

Dubai deploys oil wealth and Islamic finance to challenge Asian crypto dominance, but Hong Kong’s liquidity firepower and Beijing backing maintain supremacy. Opinion by: Joshua Chu, co-chair of the Hong Kong Web3 Association It is no secret that Dubai has been aggressively challenging its Asian counterparts for the crown of becoming the world’s next crypto capital. Beneath the gleaming air-conditioned skyscrapers, where supermodels are everywhere at crypto events and pilot blockchain programs, a complex grand strategy is unfolding. Read more

The following is a guest post and opinion from  Dr. Jae S. Jeong, Co-Founder and CTO, Gurufin. Today’s stablecoins are an extension of the U.S. financial system. Backed by the U.S. Dollar, they are tied to its monetary policy and indirectly answerable to its policy goals. This allegiance is useful to some, but not all. […] The post Asian stablecoins: The myth of dollar dominance appeared first on CryptoSlate.

Japan and South Korea are moving quickly to create clearer rules for stablecoins as global interest in digital currencies grows. Stablecoins are cryptocurrencies designed to hold steady value by linking to fiat currencies, commodities, or other assets. Their use in payments, trading, and DeFi has expanded rapidly, with forecasts suggesting the market could grow into […] The post Asian powerhouses Japan and South Korea advance stablecoin regulatory efforts appeared first on CryptoSlate.