Asia's weekly TOP 10 crypto news (Nov 28 to Dec 4)

Author：Lily

Editor：Colin Wu

1. FTX’s weekly summary

1.1 Singapore government faces parliament grilling over FTX fallout link

Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong and Deputy Prime Minster Lawrence Wong face a raft of parliamentary questions this week over the losses incurred by retail investors and the due diligence undertaken by state-owned investor Temasek Holdings Pte, which wrote down its entire $275 million investment in FTX.

1.2 FTX’s Japan unit drafts plan to return client funds link

FTX Japan has put together a draft plan for clients to withdraw funds, in what would be one of the rare cases of investors getting money back from the collapsed exchange. The proposal, which has yet to be finalized, centers on using a platform called Liquid to facilitate the return of assets starting in January, according to people familiar with the matter.

1.3 Suji Yan will form a DAO to defend the interests of Asian FTX users link

Suji Yan, founder of Mask Network, tweeted that Asians represent a significant number of global customers, but are underrepresented by means of voice and legal support. Therefore, the team is gathering a warship of law firms from Singapore, Korea, Japan, HK, Taiwan, Mainland China and the US to help the community, and is going to form FixDAO to stand up for their interests and be a strong and unified voice in FTX’s legal proceedings. The organization will be ready to start working by mid-Dec.

2. Huobi’s weekly summary

2.1 Tron, Huobi and DMC Labs issue first national token DMC with Dominica government endorsement link

Huobi has partnered with Tron Network and DMC Labs to jointly launch the world’s first national token DMC (Dominica Coin) under the authorization of the government of the Commonwealth of Dominica. The parties involved here will also roll out the Dominica DID, also a first to a nation, in proper time. Both Dominica DID and DMC were originally issued on Tron Network. Later on, they will support cross-chain interaction with Ethereum, BSC, and other public chains via the BitTorrent Chain protocol. DMC will be issued on Huobi Prime in due time.Meanwhile, Huobi will airdrop DMC tokens and enable the Dominica DID application to each registered user. Users can complete identity verification on Huobi with their Dominica DIDs. Users who have already completed identity verification will also acquire the Dominica DIDs.

2.2 Huobi makes announcement on HT application scenarios link

Huobi announced that HT will be granted as the only token in accessing and using the Huobi ecosystem. HT will make its debut as the sole certificate of Huobi ecosystem in the upcoming Prime event to list DMC (Dominica Coin), where HT is the only acceptable asset for subscribing to DMC.

2.3 Huobi announces “HT Deduction” campaign link

Huobi announced a campaign where users can save 25% on the spot trading fee rates by enabling HT Deduction. The event starts at 03:00 (UTC) on November 30, 2022, and remains valid until further notice of the end date.

2.4 Du Jun serves as CEO of New Huo Technology link

New Huo Technology Holdings Limited announces the resignation of Wu Shupeng as an executive director and chief executive officer. Du Jun was appointed as an executive director and chief executive officer of the company. New Huo Technology is the former Hong Kong-listed company of Huobi Technology. After Li Lin sold the Huobi exchange to Justin Sun, Firecoin Technology is not sold yet.

2.5 Huobi will be establishing a strategic partnership with Poloniex link

Huobi will be establishing a strategic partnership with Poloniex. The two exchanges will progressively cooperate in multiple business aspects including HT ecosystem development, project connectivity, liquidity sharing, and global compliance.

3. Singapore no longer plans to become a cryptocurrency hub link

Singapore’s Deputy Prime Minister and next successor, Wong Choon Choy, said that blockchain technology attracted strong interest a few months ago, and even some MPs criticized the authorities for acting too slowly. Now it seems people were overly optimistic. Singapore has no plans to become a hub for cryptocurrency activity, but instead focuses on being an innovative and responsible player in digital assets.

4. Binance acquires JFSA registered Sakura exchange BitCoin, committed to enter Japan under regulatory compliance link

Binance announced it has acquired 100% of Sakura Exchange BitCoin (SEBC), the Japanese-registered crypto exchange service provider. Through this acquisition, Binance enters the Japanese market, as a Japan Financial Services Agency (JFSA) regulated entity. SEBC is a JFSA-registered crypto exchange that offers its customers consultation services in addition to its brokerage service. Meanwhile, Binance announced that new users in Japan will not be able to register with Binance. com as of November 30; existing users will not be affected by the changes.

5. Terra’s weekly summary

5.1 The Seoul prosecutors have requested prior arrest warrants for eight people, including Terra co-founder Daniel Shin link

The Seoul prosecutors have requested prior arrest warrants for eight people, including Terra co-founder Daniel Shin, on suspicion of fraud and malfeasance and violation of capital markets laws. Four of them were early investors in Terra Luna, and four others were key personnel in the development of Terra and Luna technology, all of whom are in Korea. Prosecutors found that the design of the 20% interest deposit to Anchor was inherently fraudulent, and that the original CEO made an improper profit by selling Luna for 140 billion won when the price spiked.

5.2 Prosecution’s arrest warrant for Terra co-founder Daniel Shin and others dismissed by court link

The Seoul South District Court rejected an arrest warrant issued by the prosecution against eight people, including Terra co-creator Daniel Shin, saying that “considering the attitude, statements, process, and content of the investigation, it is difficult to see the risk of destroying evidence or fleeing beyond the scope of the right of self-defense.”

6. Crypto bank Seba opens office in Hong Kong, as the city aims to reclaim crypto hub status link

Switzerland-headquartered Seba Bank has opened an office in Hong Kong to drive its APAC growth. Seba Hong Kong plans to initially focus on market research and consultancy services. “With a considerable pedigree as an international financial center, as well as a supportive regulatory approach to cryptocurrencies, Hong Kong is cementing its position as a global leader in cryptocurrencies,” Seba Bank CEO Franz Bergmueller said in the statement.

7. Cryptocurrency exchange Bitfront to close link

Bitfront, the exchange created by LINE, one of the largest social media companies in East Asia, has announced its closure and will shut down user withdrawals and gradually delete user information after March 31, 2023. In 2020, LINE announced the establishment of Bitfront, a cryptocurrency exchange in the United States.

8. Cryptocurrency holdings of OKG Tech increased significantly from March 31 link

Hong Kong-listed OKG Technology Holdings Limited released its interim results announcement for the six months ended September 30, 2022, showing a significant increase in cryptocurrency holdings from March 31; stable coins held increased from $32.89 million to $99.41 million; Bitcoin held increased from 171 to 1,512; but the previously shown 3,516 ETH are no longer held.

9. VP of Hong Kong-based exchange AAX resigns link

BEN, the VP of Hong Kong-based exchange AAX, said on social media that he has resigned. A screenshot from the community shows the head of HR at AAX saying that the company has decided to dissolve (liquidate) and that employees will only be guaranteed salaries for November and that the platform’s assets will be “refunded at least half or in parts”.

10. Upbit parent Dunamu reports $124M in profit on $205M in revenue in Q3 link

Dunamu, the parent company of South Korea’s largest crypto exchange Upbit, reported third quarter revenue of $205 million and profit of $124 million, down 66% and 76% year-over-year respectively, and down 24.1% and 39.3% from the second quarter.