Asia's weekly TOP10 crypto news (Dec 26 to Jan 1)

Author：Lily

Editor：Colin Wu

1. Huobi’s weekly summary

1.1 Huobi releases announcement on the potential mainnet launch of Pi (Pi Network) link

Huobi said it will follow up closely with Pi Network’s updates, once the main network is upgraded successfully, Pi will be reviewed for listing at the soonest. Pi is mainly promoted by MLM organizations in China.

1.2 Huobi to open trading for Pi (Pi Network) at 09:00 (UTC) on December 29 link

Huobi will open the spot trading of Pi tokens (PI/USDT) on December 29th. Until the mainnet is successfully launched, the recharge and withdrawal functions will remain closed. This means that Justin Sun will operate a PI that is only on the exchange.

1.3 Pi Network released a statement saying that Pi is currently in the Enclosed Network link

Pi announcement: It is important to reiterate that Pi is currently in the Enclosed Network and is not approved by Pi Network for listing on any exchange or for trading, and Pi Network was not involved with any of these purported postings or listings.

1.4 Huobi plans massive layoffs and will eliminate year-end bonuses for all employees link

Justin Sun’s Huobi exchange will cancel all year-end bonuses, and will prepare to lay off the team of 1,200 people to 600–800 people, and cut the salaries of senior employees, according to several insiders.

2. New Huo Tech releases annual report link

New Huo Tech released its annual report, the Group recorded total revenue of approximately RMB 9.453 billion, up 1447.8% year-on-year, with revenue from virtual asset OTC business reaching RMB 8.939 billion. Plans to launch Sinohope, a new centralized and decentralized hybrid service platform, in the near future.

3. Yu Jianing left Huobi University to start new business in Singapore link

Yu Jianing, the founder of Huobi University, is leaving to start his own business to establish Uweb (University of Web3), an international Web3 education brand based in Singapore. Yu has established cooperation with top educational institutions in Singapore and Hong Kong, China.

4. Japan’s weekly summary

4.1 Japan’s Financial Services Agency may lift stable coins issued overseas in 2023 link

According to coinpost, in 2023, the Japanese Financial Services Agency may lift the ban on the circulation of stablecoins issued overseas (such as USDC USDT, etc.) in Japan, and the remittance limit will be set at 1 million yen ($7,500) per transaction.

4.2 Kraken to withdraw from the Japanese market by the end of January 2023 link

According to nikkei, Kraken announced that it will withdraw from Japan market at the end of January 2023. On December 1, Kraken announced that it would lay off 1,100 people worldwide, accounting for about 30% of its total workforce.

4.3 Japan moves to ease crypto token listings after FTX collapse link

Japan will make it easier for cryptocurrency exchanges to list tokens, pressing ahead with plans to liberalize the industry even after the epic failure of Sam Bankman-Fried’s digital empire. The body that governs crypto exchanges informed member companies on Wednesday of the new rule which takes effect immediately, enabling them to list coins without going through a lengthy pre-screening unless the tokens are new to Japan’s market.

5. FTX Japan plans to return customer assets by mid-February next year link

FTX Liquid announced that it plans to return FTX Japan and Liquid Japan customer assets in mid-February next year. FTX Turkey has returned client assets. Turkey and Japan may be the first FTX regions to return client assets.

6. Medvedev sees active use of digital fiat currencies in 2023 link

Russia’s Deputy Chairman of the Russian Federation’s Security Council Dmitry Medvedev tweeted that the Bretton Woods system of monetary management will collapse, leading to the IMF and World Bank crash. Euro and Dollar will stop circulating as the global reserve currencies. Digital fiat currencies will be actively used instead.

7. Mainland China’s weekly summary

7.1 Fifteen people were sentenced in an exchange virtual coin fraud case prosecuted by Shenzhen Procuratorate, involving 220 million yuan link

The first trial of the H Digital Exchange virtual coin fraud series prosecuted by the Shenzhen Procuratorate resulted in 15 defendants being sentenced to prison terms ranging from 3 to 13 years. The series of cases involved nearly 1,500 victims, who were defrauded to the tune of RMB 220 million. The defendants illegally set up the H digital exchange platform through servers set up outside of China and went online to trade their self-made U coins in order to defraud investors of their money.

7.2 China’s Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security explores including blockchain in title review link

The General Office of China’s Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security recently issued a notice on further improving the review of titles, proposing dynamic adjustment of title review professions and exploring the inclusion of new professions such as big data, blockchain, cloud computing, integrated circuits, artificial intelligence, technology brokerage and creative design into the scope of title review.

7.3 China’s first national compliant digital asset secondary trading platform to be launched soon link

The Chinese government-backed institution is preparing to establish a national-level digital collection exchange, and it is currently uncertain whether it will include NFT, or only digital collections built on alliance chains.

7.4 Hangzhou Intermediate People’s Court of Zhejiang Province heard the case of Xiao Yi’s bribery and abuse of power in a public hearing in the first instance link

The Hangzhou Intermediate People’s Court in Zhejiang Province heard the case of Xiao Yi, former member of the party group and vice chairman of the Jiangxi Provincial Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), who took bribes and abused his power in a public hearing in the first instance. The Hangzhou Municipal People’s Procuratorate indicted Xiao Yi for allegedly providing assistance to enterprises engaged in virtual currency calculation and production business in violation of the law.

7.5 Bit Jungle assists local police to successfully solve the theft of ¥10M digital assets link

On September 21, 2022 the suspects Zhang, Hu, Sun and Lin formed a gang somewhere in Zhengzhou to steal digital assets worth 10 million RMB by hacking into the BXH project server and implanting a Trojan horse. on December 29, 2022, Bit Jungle assisted the police to successfully solve the case and now all four suspects have confessed to the crime and the suspects have returned some of the stolen digital assets.

7.6 China’s Supreme People’s Court issues 36th batch of guiding cases link

Guiding Case №199 clarifies that an arbitration award ruling that the respondent compensates the equivalent value of U.S. dollars with bitcoins and then converts the U.S. dollars to RMB is a disguised support for a redemption transaction between bitcoin and legal tender, which violates the national regulations on financial regulation of virtual currencies, and the People’s Court should rule to set aside the arbitration award.

8. VP of Vidente, Bithumb’s largest shareholder, commits suicide link

The vice president of Vidente, the largest shareholder of South Korean cryptocurrency exchange Bithumb, committed suicide by jumping off a building while being investigated by South Korean prosecutors, suspected of corruption and price manipulation.

9. Korean exchange Korbit makes predictions for 2023 link

South Korean exchange Korbit’s forecast for 2023: The Fed’s shift will lead to a recovery in the crypto market in the 2023 H1; more sovereign countries accept Bitcoin as legal tender or include it as an investment asset of government agencies (pensions, central banks, etc.); the market cap of USDC will surpass that of USDT in 2023.

10. CoinDCX Ventures to deploy ₹50 crore in 2023, looks at new investment themes link

CoinDCX Ventures, the investment arm of the Indian cryptocurrency exchange CoinDCX, plans to deploy ₹50 crore in 2023. The fund is eyeing investments in scalable platforms, developer tools, and decentralised finance (Defi) among other existing investment themes, said its MD Rohit Jain.