Asia's weekly TOP10 crypto news (Jan 2 to Jan 8)

Author：Lily

Editor：Colin Wu

1. Gopax’s weekly summary

1.1 Binance has completed due diligence on the Gopax exchange acquisition link

According to Decenter, Binance has recently completed due diligence on the acquisition of Gopax. Gopax is one of the five major South Korean exchanges (Upbit, Bitsum, Coinone, Korbit, Gopax). Binance previously announced the acquisition of exchanges in Japan and Indonesia.

1.2 Binance: the acquisition of Gopax has not been decided link

According to Chosun, an employee of Binance said that the acquisition of Gopax has not been decided. Gopax needs to repay about $47m to its wealth management product customers. Failure to obtain funds from Binance may cause investors to suffer losses.

2. Huobi’s weekly summary

2.1 Huobi has initiated a communication process with employees link

Justin Sun’s HR is communicating with all Huobi employees to change the salary form from fiat currency to USDT/USDC; employees who cannot accept it may be dismissed. The move sparked protests from some employees.

2.2 Huobi will list KRRX (Kyrrex) on January 17, 2023 link

Huobi is scheduled to list KRRX (Kyrrex), which is from a Tron ecosystem project, on January 17, 2023. KRRX deposits will open at 06:00 (UTC) on Jan 13. Coingecko shows that the token has only $200,000 in 24-hour trading volume.

2.3 Justin Sun tweeted in response to the recent layoffs link

Justin Sun tweeted in response to the recent layoffs: Huobi will adhere to and accelerate the pace of global compliance. We will protect the legitimate rights and interests of practitioners in accordance with local regulations and policies, fully respect the legitimate aspirations of local employees, and continue to provide industry-competitive incentives and treatment for outstanding talent. In addition, he emphasized that “the core business data and technical architecture do not rely on any centralized human resources and have the ability to operate on their own”.

2.4 Pionex has withdrawn all Huobi’s market-making funds link

Pionex stated that due to the gradual decline in trading activity on the Huobi Exchange in recent months, the security team has withdrawn all Huobi’s market-making funds.

2.5 Huobi urgently replaces HR head and carries out promotion and salary increase link

In order to calm the anger of employees, Huobi urgently announced the replacement of the head of HR with Ryan Wang, an old employee of the company, and said that some employees would be promoted and raised.

2.6 Justin Sun moves $100 million of crypto to support his exchange Huobi link

Digital-asset entrepreneur Justin Sun transferred about $100 million worth of stablecoins to his crypto exchange Huobi Global, which has been hit by a wave of withdrawals. “It just shows the confidence to Huobi exchange,” Sun said of the transfers in a Telegram message. “It’s just my personal funds.”

3. New Huo HK exchange website is a trial run and has not been officially launched link

New Huo Tech responded that the website of New Huo HK exchange rumored on the internet is a trial run website during the license application process and has not officially launched its business to the public. Sinohope, a new one-stop digital asset hybrid service platform that combines centralized and decentralized services, is in the process of preparation and is expected to go live in Q1.

4. Hong Kong’s weekly summary

4.1 Hong Kong financial services firms are preparing for retail customers to be able to trade virtual assets link

Financial services firms in Hong Kong are scrambling to prepare the groundwork to enable retail clients to trade virtual assets in the coming months. Robert Lui, Deloitte’s Hong Kong digital assets leader, said many local brokerages and fund managers have sought its advice on licensing requirements under the new regulatory regime.

4.2 HK lawmakers say digital HK dollar can be developed into a stablecoin link

Hong Kong lawmakers suggested that the digital Hong Kong dollar could be developed into a stablecoin issued by the government and connected to DeFi. Hong Kong is promoting the construction of WEB3 with the permission of Beijing.

5. Indonesia to start crypto exchange ahead of regulatory shift link

Indonesia plans to set up a crypto exchange this year before it shifts regulatory powers over such assets to the Financial Services Authority, from a commodities agency. There are currently 383 crypto assets and 10 local coins that can be traded in Indonesia, with another 151 assets and 10 coins under review by Bappebti.

6. Upbit’s weekly summary

6.1 Upbit becomes the new shirt sponsor of Italian football club Napoli SSC link

South Korea’s largest cryptocurrency exchange, Upbit, became the new shirt sponsor of Italian football club Napoli SSC. This is very rare in the current bear market and exchanges have stopped sponsorship.

6.2 Upbit announced the listing of multiple soccer team fan tokens link

South Korea’s largest exchange, Upbit, announced the listing of multiple soccer team fan tokens on the Chiliz chain, including: AC Milan, Atletico Madrid, Manchester City, Naples, Arsenal, Barcelona, and Inter Milan.

7. Singapore’s weekly summary

7.1 Singapore’s leading crypto group opposes proposed ban on lending tokens link

Singapore’s main crypto lobby group has pushed back on the central bank’s proposals to bar crypto firms from lending out retail customers’ digital tokens, saying such a measure is “overly restrictive.” The Blockchain Association of Singapore said such a blanket ban could instead push people to seek out unregulated offshore firms to lend their tokens to.

7.2 Singapore arbitrator rules against mining software firm Poolin’s IOU model link

An independent arbitrator in Singapore has ordered embattled crypto mining software firm Poolin to return 88 bitcoins (BTC), worth about $1.5 million at recent prices, to a customer whose withdrawals were halted and crypto turned into I-owe-you (IOU) tokens. Poolin has distributed at least another $238 million of such IOUs.

8. Amid high energy demand from miners, Russia mulls building new power plants in Siberia link

Russian Minister of Energy Nikolay Shulginov has recognized the increased demand for electricity from cryptocurrency miners in some parts of Siberia where the industry has been expanding. Shulginov did not reveal specific plans but made it clear that Russian authorities in these regions are considering the further development of the energy networks used by mining companies and the construction of more power plants.

9. Mainland China’s weekly summary

9.1 Shanghai Qingpu court accepts a case of misappropriation of blockchain game virtual currency link

The defendant first entered into a cooperation agreement with the plaintiff regarding investment in blockchain game to obtain virtual assets. Later, the defendant asked the plaintiff for additional investment on the grounds of the game’s decreasing popularity, difficulties in output and security incidents, and then disposed of the plaintiff’s virtual currency and issued a loan note to him without authorization. The judge ordered the defendant to repay the money.

9.2 Chinese KOL Jiang Zhuoer says bear market will end in a few months link

Jiang Zhuoer said that his analysis is based on the fact that the current market is very much like the sideways market in January to October 2015 and January to April 2019. He personally feels that this position has obvious signs of the end of the bear market.

9.3 He Yifan, CEO of Red Date Technology, is an extreme opponent of crypto currency link

In an interview with 36Kr, He Yifan, executive director of BSN Development Alliance and CEO of Red Date Technology, said that the number of daily transactions of BSN platform applications (974,517) exceeded that of Ethereum for the first time in June this year, mainly for digital collection applications; he also said that he is extremely disgusted with crypto currency, which he thinks is a manipulation by a few people and the biggest Ponzi scheme in human history.

9.4 Chengdu victim robbed of virtual currency in car link

Recently, a victim attended a meeting of crypto investors in Chengdu, China, and was controlled in the car after meal. Criminal used the victim’s facial recognition to unlock the phone and wallet, exchanged the cryptocurrency for 4.1m USDT, and then transferred funds and leave. Security personnel reminded that cryptocurrency activities and wearing clothing with related cryptocurrency symbols may pose a risk of being robbed.

9.5 Gongshu District, Hangzhou, has increased the promotion and application of digital cultural products link

Gongshu District of Hangzhou City has increased the promotion and application of digital cultural products, and can provide support of up to 1 million yuan. The specific news is from the policy of “Economic Stabilization and Quality Development of Gongshu District in 2023” issued by Gongshu District, Hangzhou.

10. Whampoa Group aims to deploy about $100 million in Web3 start-ups link

Whampoa Group, a multi-family office anchored by principals from the Lee family that founded Oversea-Chinese Banking Corp. and Amy Lee, the niece of the city-state’s founding prime minister, aims to deploy about $100 million in Web3 start-ups, through a new venture investment arm. The unit, Whampoa Digital, is seeking ventures that develop blockchain infrastructure and applications that eases the widespread adoption of Web3 technologies.