Paxos gets green light from Singapore regulator for USD stablecoin

South Korea’s benchmark stock index, the KOSPI, crossed the 5,000 mark for the first time on Jan. 22, sparking excitement across the market. With investor sentiment improving, the ruling Democratic Party of Korea (DPK) has floated the idea of using digital assets to help boost the KOSDAQ—Korea’s secondary stock market—toward the 3,000 level.Photo by Burak The Weekender on PexelsThe proposal was raised during a luncheon at the Blue House attended by DPK members and President Lee Jae-myung. During the meeting, DPK lawmaker Min Byeong-dug highlighted the role cryptocurrencies could play in expanding the KOSDAQ, according to the Maeil Business Newspaper. While the KOSPI is home to large, established firms with strict listing requirements, the KOSDAQ operates under looser standards and primarily lists small and medium-sized companies, including startups. Leveraging STOs and stablecoinsMin’s argument is that the KOSDAQ could grow further if these companies begin using digital asset tools such as security token offerings (STOs), won-pegged stablecoins, and other crypto-based products. The lawmaker also pushed back against the idea that traditional banks should be the principal force behind won-backed stablecoin initiatives—putting him at odds with the direction favored by the Bank of Korea. The Korean government and the DPK aim to finalize legislation covering won-pegged stablecoins by March, as debate continues over which entities should be allowed to issue them. Citing financial stability concerns, regulators have signaled that early issuance should be restricted to bank-led consortia in which lenders maintain a controlling stake. However, the push to frame digital assets as a new engine for market growth comes at a time when South Korea’s crypto trading activity has cooled sharply. Data from CoinGecko, cited by the Maeil Business Newspaper's Telegram channel, showed that combined daily trading volume across the country’s five largest exchanges—Upbit, Bithumb, Coinone, Korbit, and Gopax—totaled 3.46 trillion won ($2.36 billion) on Jan. 18, down more than 80% from a year earlier. Average daily trading volume in January 2025 hovered near 10 trillion won ($6.8 billion), driven in part by optimism that Donald Trump’s return to the U.S. presidency would boost the market. Exactly a year later, that momentum has faded, with daily volume falling below five trillion won ($3.4 billion) and only briefly rising above that level on Jan. 6 and Jan. 14. The slowdown is also visible in pricing. Bitcoin, the world’s largest cryptocurrency, is currently trading at around $89,000, roughly 30% below its all-time high recorded on Oct. 7, 2025, and has fallen 6.58% over the past week. Investors demand utility as hype fadesRegardless of price fluctuations, the legislative push suggests an ongoing interest in treating digital assets as a functional layer of the financial system. For Min’s proposal to translate into real support for the stock market, however, the crypto products linked to KOSDAQ growth would need to prove clear practical value. That emphasis is echoed in investor sentiment. A recent weekly survey by CoinNess and Cratos of 2,000 Koreans found that the most common belief about what altcoin projects need to survive is real-world usefulness and the ability to generate revenue: 37.5% of respondents chose that option. Another 21.8% pointed to listings on major exchanges, while 20.2% cited the importance of a compelling narrative aligned with market trends. Meanwhile, 10.9% said a large community mattered most, and 9.6% said altcoins are unlikely to succeed under any circumstances. 

Scroll’s zkEVM Launches on Ethereum MainnetScroll, the Seychelles-headquartered project behind the Ethereum layer-2 network of the same name, has officially made its debut on the Ethereum mainnet.Photo by Zoltan Tasi on UnsplashAttempting to solve for scalabilityThe project team announced the development via a press release which was published on Tuesday. The network launch signifies the latest in a series of attempts by various layer-2 projects, including Polygon and StarkWare, to address the persistent challenges of high transaction fees and network congestion that have hindered Ethereum’s usability in recent times. Speaking to layer-2 development, co-founder Sandy Peng stated:“We see a future where the vast majority of value transfer takes place on Layer 2s on Ethereum. What will drive that adoption is improved user and developer experience.”After testing and refinement on its testnet, Scroll believes that it is in a good position to play an active role within the Ethereum ecosystem by providing a general-purpose, zero-knowledge Ethereum virtual machine (zkEVM) roll-up.The project has 900,000 wallet addresses in active use on its testnet, having executed seven million transactions since August. The testnet has seen over 55 million transactions during its year-long operation.At its core, Scroll’s mission is to combine Ethereum’s network security with reduced fees and lower latency, making it an attractive proposition for existing Ethereum projects. According to Peng, Ethereum developers can seamlessly deploy their projects on Scroll and harness the groundbreaking zkEVM technology.Incorporating bytecodePeng emphasized the significance of zkEVM’s ability to batch proofs efficiently, resulting in faster transaction speeds and cost reductions, thanks to its bytecode-level compatibility.Bytecode, in the realm of computer programming, simplifies intricate machine cryptography, making code more accessible for computer hardware. Scroll allows deployed smart contracts to store the bytecode of their transactions, which is then sent to a centralized zkEVM node. This node verifies the transaction’s accuracy without revealing its content. Once verified, the transaction’s status is updated on the Ethereum network, eliminating the need for re-execution. Peng pointed out:“Thanks to this feature, Ethereum devs can leverage all the same tools they are familiar with, ensuring that everything operates seamlessly right from the start.”Scroll’s mainnet code was subject to audits conducted by four major auditing firms, namely Zellic, Trail of Bits, OpenZeppelin, and KALOS, in an effort to ensure robust security and reliability.Efforts towards greater decentralizationWhile Scroll’s current implementation offers compelling features, the team is actively researching ways to further enhance the network’s decentralization. Currently, if the sequencer goes offline, the protocol halts, creating a potential vulnerability. To address this, the Scroll team is working on a protocol upgrade that will enable “forced batches.” This update will allow permissionless publication of batches through the base layer, even in the event of a sequencer halt.Peng elaborated on the team’s vision, stating: “Mid-term, the goal is to minimize the probability of a sequencer halt through decentralization.” This approach aims to bolster the network’s resilience and ensure a smoother user experience.While headquartered in the Seychelles, the project has its origins in China through its Chinese founders, Ye Zhang and Haichen Shen, alongside Peng, with many of its 60-strong project team based in mainland China and Hong Kong.

Arthur Hayes: Chinese monetary policy could ignite crypto marketArthur Hayes, Co-Founder of Seychelles-incorporated crypto exchange and derivatives platform BitMEX, suggests that China could inject a substantial amount of credit into its economy, potentially giving a boost to Bitcoin and the broader crypto market.Photo by Eric Prouzet on UnsplashPotential flood of yuan creditThe firebrand crypto OG outlined his thoughts on the matter in a blog post which was published on Monday. Hayes discussed how, although China has currently made credit expensive in order to hold back credit growth and inspire confidence in the economy, its monetary authorities might be gearing up to flood the economy with yuan credit, creating a favorable environment for cryptocurrencies.He outlined a series of factors contributing to this potential surge in Chinese credit. He pointed to the interplay between U.S. monetary policy and the Chinese yuan, emphasizing how recent U.S. actions are laying the groundwork for China to issue substantial credit, particularly to its struggling property sector.Describing U.S. policy as “weakening the dollar by issuing more Treasury bills,” Hayes noted the consequent decline of the dollar index (DXY) throughout November. He argued that the weaker dollar gives China the flexibility to increase yuan credit without significant depreciation, possibly even leading to yuan appreciation.If the Federal Reserve at a minimum holds rates and better still, starts to cut rates, China will be in a position to pursue the stimulus needed for its property market and for infrastructure spending.Hong Kong as the gateway to capital marketsAccording to Hayes, the global monetary dynamics set in motion by these factors could be advantageous for Bitcoin and the broader cryptocurrency market. He explained that the bulk of the financing will trickle down into speculation within the financial markets. If China starts printing yuan, the capital is likely to flow into global markets, supporting the prices of various risk assets.But how can this happen, given that speculation and crypto trading are prohibited in China? Hayes’ view is that Hong Kong is now China’s gateway to the global capital markets. Wealthy Chinese individuals now bank via Hong Kong. As we have seen, the autonomous Chinese territory has a workable regulatory framework in place and is now actively licensing crypto exchanges and brokers. Consequently Bitcoin and crypto, generally, could be among the risk assets benefiting from an influx of capital.Furthermore, the BitMex co-founder believes that as yuan credit becomes abundant, the global demand for dollar credit and liquidity may decrease. Given that the dollar is a primary funding currency, a fall in the price of credit could lead to a rise in fixed-supply assets like Bitcoin and gold in dollar terms.Hayes concluded what is a long and detailed blog post by stating:“I will continue moving money out of T-bills and into crypto because I want to get in now before it becomes apparent through the data that China’s money printer is going brrrrr.”He suggested that Chinese New Year, which occurs in mid-February of next year, could be the time in which that extra credit materializes in China. Hayes’ latest assertion comes on the back of a bold claim he made last month when he suggested that bitcoin could reach a unit price of $1 million by 2026.