Asia's weekly TOP10 crypto news (Jan 23 to Jan 29)
Colin Wu . 2023-01-29 . Data
Author:Lily

Editor:Colin Wu

1. A large number of Chinese crypto entrepreneurs have relocated to Singapore link

A large number of crypto entrepreneurs from China have relocated to Singapore in the past year. Although Hong Kong is attracting them back, some people still think that Hong Kong policy is difficult to separate from Beijing, and is not attractive.

2. Matrixport’s weekly summary

2.1 Crypto billionaire Wu cuts jobs at one firm, loses CEO at other link

Matrixport, a Singapore-based crypto financial services company owned by Jihan Wu, announced it would cut 10 percent of its workforce and is reshuffling the leadership of its Asset Management company, with the departure of Matrix Asset Management CEO Damien Loh and others.

2.2 Matrixport: bitcoin’s recent rally may be driven primarily by U.S. institutions link

Matrixport analysis notes that almost all of Bitcoin’s 40% year-to-date gains have occurred during U.S. market trading hours; while Aptos has seen strong gains during both U.S. trading hours and Asian trading hours.

3. South Korea’s weekly summary

3.1 The surge of APT may be due to the crazy buying in the Korean community link

The recent surge of APT may be related to the crazy buying in the Korean community. The 24-hour trading volume of Korean APT/KRW on Upbit, South Korea’s largest exchange, exceeded the sum of Binance’s multiple trading pairs, reaching $566 million. Pumping up altcoins is also one of the traditions in the Korean community.

3.2 Aptos officials attach great importance to the Korean community link

Aptos officials released Korean language white paper, which is the only language other than English. It plans to launch a global hackathon and the first is in Seoul. Korean companies Hashed, Hive, and YG are investors in Aptos.

3.3 Prosecutors in Seoul issued an arrest warrant for the actual owner of Bithumb link

Prosecutors in Seoul issued an arrest warrant for the actual owner of South Korea’s second largest crypto exchange Bithumb, accusing of manipulating the stock prices of several affiliated companies. A vice president of Vidente, Bithumb’s largest shareholder, committed suicide during the investigation.

3.4 Ministry of Justice to introduce ‘cryptocurrency tracking system’ in H1 link

The South Korean Ministry of Justice will introduce a “cryptocurrency tracking system” in the first half of this year to strengthen the tracking of money laundering and recovery of criminal proceeds using cryptocurrencies.

4. North Korean’s weekly summary

4.1 North Korean hacker organization allegedly responsible for Harmony Bridge attack link

Lazarus Group, a North Korean hacker organization, is suspected of being responsible for Harmony bridge attack and transferred funds: Bitcoin network — Avalanche Bridge-> Avalanche network — Avalanche Bridge -> Ethereum Network — BitTorrent -> Tron Network.

4.2 FBI confirms Lazarus Group and APT38 as Horizon Bridge attackers link

Through the FBI’s investigation, they were able to confirm that the Lazarus Group (also known as APT38), cyber actors associated with the DPRK, are responsible for the theft of $100 million of virtual currency from Harmony’s Horizon bridge reported on June 24, 2022.

5. Russian FIU to spend 340M rubles to upgrade cryptocurrency surveillance systemlink

Russia’s financial intelligence unit will spend 340 million rubles to update its cryptocurrency surveillance system, bringing the total amount of development tenders to 1 billion rubles, as the agency believes that cryptocurrencies “should be equal to property in the legal sense” and that such surveillance can help identify criminal acts from a legal perspective.

6. The Sandbox launches NFTs with the theme of The Wandering Earth link

Chongqing Underground City experience is inspired by Liu Cixin’s novel The Wandering Earth. 01a1 Studio, the creators behind this experience, have designed detailed assets of “The Wandering Earth Space Station”, “Planetary Engine”, “The Ignition Device” and “The Nuclear Battery” which are interspersed throughout the novel. The collection will be live form January 23rd (3PM UTC), on The Sandbox Marketplace.

7. Indonesia regulatory switch could see crypto classed as securities, not commodities link

A new Indonesian law that transfers crypto regulatory powers to the Financial Services Authority (OJK) from commodities watchdog CoFTRA indicates a shift in the country’s approach to policing the industry and an acknowledgement that there’s more to it than asset trading. The law, signed by Indonesian President Joko Widodo on Jan. 12, is a financial regulations overhaul that modified at least 17 outdated local laws to align with technological developments.

8. Huang Yiping: China bans cryptocurrencies, may miss development opportunities link

A former monetary policy advisor of the Central Bank of China explained why China banned cryptocurrencies (anti-money laundering, currency control, etc.). But he also warned that doing so would miss opportunity and ineffective in the long run.

9. Chinese crypto VC A&T Capital predicts trend for 2023 link

A&T Capital, one of the most important cryptocurrency VCs in China, predicts trend for 2023: ZK Layer2, Parallel Computing, Modular Design and Application-Specific Blockchain, AA wallet vs EOA wallet, Growing Importance of the MEV Market.

10. China’s “Instagram” chooses Conflux Network for permissionless blockchain integration link

Little Red Book, (XiaohongShu), the Chinese version of Instagram integrates Conflux Network as permissionless blockchain allowing users to showcase NFTs minted on Conflux on their profile page in the digital collection section called ‘R-Space’.

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