Hong Kong Archives

Singapore starts two token pilots with Standard Chartered, HSBC

The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) is starting two new pilot projects to explore the use of tokens in trade finance and wealth management. Standard Chartered will lead the first pilot to explore tokens for trade finance. The other pilot will look at tokenisation of wealth management products. The wealth management pilot involves HSBC and UOB working with Marketnode, a digital asset platform built by the Singapore Exchange (SGX) & Temasek.

Crypto prices today: Bitcoin falls 1.1%, ETH down 2%

Bitcoin is currently trading at $20,391.03, a decline of 1.13% over the previous day. Ethereum fell 2% over the last 24 hours to $1,561.09. Solana is down 4.36% to $31.64, while Cardano is trading lower by 4.6% at $0.392. Avalanche (AVAX) fell 7.2% to $18. The global crypto market cap stands at $1.01 trillion, a 1.54% decline over the previous day.

Crypto is the ‘only stable thing’ amid financial turmoil: Binance CEO

Despite a crypto crash that has seen Bitcoin crash over 70% from $69,000 to its current value of around $20,000, Binance CEO Changpeng ‘CZ’ Zhao argued that cryptocurrency is “probably the only stable thing in this very dynamic environment.” He said that while crypto prices are volatile, “if you look at the technology, if if you look at the fundamentals of cryptos, limited supply, nothing has changed.”

Talos onboards Amber Group for liquidity

Institutional crypto trading platform Talos has onboarded Amber Group as its newest liquidity provider amid increased demand for crypto trading and investing in the Asia Pacific region. The partnership will allow Talos’ users to source liquidity for their trades from Amber Group’s WhaleFin platform. It would help drive the institutional adoption of cryptos as large trades are matched or sold in a short period using Talos’s infrastructure.

GameStop NFT marketplace goes live on ImmutableX

Game retailer GameStop’s non-fungible token (NFT) marketplace is officially live on the blockchain platform ImmutableX. The partnership was initially announced in February, and the NFT platform has been operating as a public beta since July. The marketplace users can access Web3 games currently being built on ImmutableX and other NFT gaming assets.

Crypto prices today: Bitcoin up 0.7%, ETH rises 0.9%

Bitcoin is currently trading at $20,645.71, an increase of 0.7% over the previous day. Ethereum rose 0.89% over the last 24 hours to $1,598.38. Solana is down 0.2% to $33.14, while Cardano is trading higher by 2.76% at $0.412. Avalanche (AVAX) rose 4.86% to $19.44. The global crypto market cap stands at $1.03 trillion, a 1.44% increase over the previous day.

India’s tax authority asks crypto exchanges for details of coins traded on their platforms

According to a Business Standard report, India’s Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs (CBIC) has asked major Indian crypto exchanges to provide details about the cryptos traded on their platforms. The CBIC is also evaluating the taxability of crypto transactions to determine if Goods & Services Tax (GST) can be applied to them. The tax authority is also working on the definition and classification of crypto assets.

Hong Kong to conduct public consultation on retail crypto trading

Hong Kong’s Securities & Futures Commission is set to conduct a public consultation on how to give retail investors access to digital assets. Though crypto exchanges are allowed to operate in the territory under current rules, access is limited to investors with portfolios of at least HK$8 million ($1 million). The regulator said it is open to future reviews on property rights for tokenized assets and the legality of smart contracts.

Apollo Global to hold crypto for clients via Anchorage partnership

Apollo Global Management is making an entry into crypto custody through a partnership with digital asset platform Anchorage Digital. Crypto unicorn Anchorage is the first federally chartered crypto bank. It will custody a “significant portion” of Apollo’s crypto portfolio.

The move marks another entrance into crypto from a national leader in asset management after BlackRock’s partnership with Coinbase.