Southeast Asia | Crypto

Blockchain investment in Southeast Asia in 2026 has been led by crypto financial services, though funding remains heavily concentrated in Singapore and a handful of companies.

Pencil Finance said that its first-of-a-kind loan offered financing to 6,600 students in Southeast Asia who were underserved by traditional lenders. Student loan real-world asset (RWA) protocol Pencil Finance completed a $1 million onchain student loan cycle, offering financing to thousands of students in Southeast Asia who were underserved by traditional lenders. Pencil said it completed its first fully onchain student loan cycle on the blockchain, where the platform deployed $1 million in capital as a lender that was repaid by borrowers to the bundle’s funders with yield, the company revealed in a Thursday announcement shared with Cointelegraph. The bundle was funded in July 2025 by Animoca Brands, Open Campus and New Campus, structured as a senior tranche with fixed returns and a junior tranche with variable returns and first-loss risk. Read more

Authorities around the world have been heavily targeting scam infrastructure this year, with joint actions involving the US, UAE, China, Austria and Albania. Crypto exchange Coinbase said it froze more than $3 million in cryptocurrency tied to a global operation targeting cyber-enabled crypto scam networks in Southeast Asia.  The operation was part of Disruption Week led by the US Department of Justice’s Scam Center Strike Force, which brought together government entities and private industries to tackle crypto fraud targeting Americans.  “This operation is proof that scammers can't be stopped by any single company or agency acting alone,” said Coinbase.  Read more