China Makes History by Settling Cross-Border Oil Deal with Digital Yuan

Switzerland and Singapore-based crypto bank Sygnum has successfully closed a funding round, securing over $40 million in capital, with plans to expand its service offering in Asia. On the brink of unicorn statusThe funding round was achieved based upon a post-money valuation of $900 million, with Sygnum edging closer to unicorn status. Led by global asset management group Azimut Holdings, the funding surpassed the initial target of $35 million, reinforcing Sygnum's position in the rapidly evolving digital assets space. In a press release, Mathias Imbach, Sygnum's co-founder and CEO, expressed excitement about the successful funding round, highlighting the company's commitment to building trust through regulation and good governance. Imbach stated:”Our core thesis has always been that Future has Heritage, and our strategy to build trust via regulation and good governance has guided us throughout all market cycles. ” Gerald Goh, Sygnum's co-founder and CEO of its Singapore operations, emphasized the importance of staying ahead as clients' needs and activities grow more sophisticated. The fresh funds will enable Sygnum to continuously upgrade and enhance its product and service offerings in response to evolving market demands.Photo by Towfiqu barbhuiya on UnsplashAsian focusThe funds raised in this round will be instrumental in expanding Sygnum's geographical reach into new markets in 2024, within the Asia-Pacific (APAC) region as well as within the European Union. Sygnum has already made in-roads in Asia. Having started out in Switzerland, in 2019 the company set up a base in Singapore, establishing Sygnum Singapore and obtained a capital markets license from the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS). Last June, the firm achieved in-principle approval for a Major Payment Institution (MPI) license from MAS. It fulfilled the regulator’s requirements to bring about full approval in October. Goh told Bloomberg that the company envisages achieving growth in Asia and Europe through acquisition.  Developing fully regulated productsThis latest capital injection has also been earmarked to accelerate the development of fully regulated products, including the bank-to-bank platform that currently powers crypto offerings for more than 15 banks and financial institutions worldwide. Sygnum's assets under management have surged to $4 billion, with a client base exceeding 1,700 from over 60 countries. At the end of 2023, the firm reported an annualized revenue run rate (ARRR) exceeding $100 million, marking a significant milestone for the company's financial health and positive cash flow. Sygnum's expansion efforts include collaborations with key players in the industry. In November, the bank furthered its partnership with the Singapore arm of 174-year-old private bank Bordier & Cie, strengthening their initial collaboration that started in Geneva in 2021. Giorgio Medda, CEO of Azimut Holding, highlighted the strategic partnership between Azimut and Sygnum since 2021, emphasizing their joint development of the first tokenization of a private credit portfolio in Europe. Despite the recent challenges in the crypto industry, Sygnum remains optimistic about the future. The broader industry is witnessing a resurgence, with investors and market participants seeking partnerships with trusted and well-managed financial institutions. This sentiment aligns with Sygnum's vision to provide fully regulated solutions and support investors as they increase exposure to the asset class. 

Korean Financial Watchdog to Penalize Bankers Involved in Illegal Foreign RemittancesThe Korean Financial Supervisory Service (FSS) recently completed an investigation into illegal foreign remittances of approximately 16 trillion KRW (~$12,137,718,400) that involved numerous bankers.©Unsplash/Paul FiedlerExploiting the kimchi premiumThe investigation, launched by the Korean financial watchdog last June, found that these lawbreakers sent funds to China, Hong Kong, and other overseas destinations through Korean crypto exchanges, trading firms, and bank branches with an aim of making money through arbitrage by taking the advantage of the kimchi premium, a term used to describe that the higher prices of crypto assets in Korean exchanges compared to their foreign counterparts.Bankers neglecting the KYC ruleSome of these bankers participated in the crime by raising the remittance cap and applying favorable exchange rates to trading companies that had no previous transaction records with banks. By law, bankers in Korea are obligated to follow the “know your customer” rule. It was found that 12 domestic banks and one futures firm were involved in this incident.The FSS has decided to impose strict penalties on these financial institutions, considering they were exploited for money laundering purposes. These entities are likely to have some of their services suspended, with the employees involved being fired.Accountability of top bankersOne key point to watch out for is whether the FSS would be able to hold executives accountable. Some say penalizing top bankers is not easy, given that it has to be proven that the employees’ criminal activities were due to a lack of executives’ internal control.The financial regulator recently announced plans to revise the law governing banks’ governance, but it is expected that such a bill would take some time to pass through the National Assembly.Through a revision of the law, the financial authority aims to hold top executives at financial institutions more responsible for serious financial accidents. It looks forward to bestowing top bankers with the obligation of comprehensive internal control management and making them accountable as an overall manager only in case of critical financial accidents. The term “top executives” in the bill will encompass not only bank presidents but also chairpersons of financial holding companies. More specific revision plans are expected to be revealed by the end of this month.

Chainlink, a prominent decentralized oracle network, has partnered with the Abu Dhabi Global Market (ADGM), a free zone and international financial center located on Al Maryah Island in Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), with a view towards further developing tokenization frameworks.Photo by Shubham Dhage on UnsplashCompliant tokenization frameworksAccording to an announcement on the ADGM website, the international financial center signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with Chainlink. It claimed that the collaboration marks “a major step in advancing compliant tokenisation frameworks.” Chainlink provides a suite of services. Central to that is the delivery of real-world data feeds into blockchain networks. ADGM believes that through the partnership, projects located within the free zone will be able to access this technology, while the ADGM’s Registration Authority will ensure regulatory compliance. The CEO of the ADGM Registration Authority, Hamad Sayah Al Mazrouei, said that the strategic alliance is a significant step towards ADGM leadership in blockchain innovation. He added: “By collaborating with Chainlink, we are aiming to set a global benchmark that spearheads transparency, security, and trust across the blockchain space.” The collaboration includes plans to host events and workshops aimed at educating the blockchain sector within the UAE. The two parties also aspire to the initiative, sparking greater dialogue on regulatory matters relative to blockchain, artificial intelligence and other emerging technologies. Global collaborationsThis is the latest in a long list of collaborations that Chainlink has entered into, relative to asset tokenization. In October, it partnered with Singapore’s DigiFT, an exchange dedicated to tokenized real-world assets (RWAs). The following month, it completed a pilot program alongside financial messaging service SWIFT and UBS Asset Management under the umbrella of the Monetary Authority of Singapore’s (MAS) Project Guardian. The project concerned itself with the settlement of tokenized funds. Earlier in 2024, Chainlink partnered with U.S. financial market infrastructure firm DTCC on the Smart NAV pilot project. The initiative centered on the creation and issuance of tokenized funds, counting JPMorgan, State Street, BNY Mellon, Invesco and Franklin Templeton among its participants. In the UAE, Chainlink has been added as a member of the Digital Asset Lab of one of the country’s largest banking groups, Emirates NBD. For its part, the ADGM has also been on the front foot with regard to tokenization initiatives. Its Regulatory Authority has established a regulatory framework with regard to asset tokenization, with an emphasis on investor protection. In October of last year, RWA tokenization platform Realize launched the financial center’s first tokenized U.S. treasury bill fund. At the time, the ADGM said that the development highlighted an objective for the region in becoming the global market leader where RWA tokenization is concerned. The ADGM began operations in 2015 with its own legal system. As of the end of 2024, the financial center hosted 134 fund and asset managers. Market maker and Web3 investment firm DWF Labs moved its headquarters from Singapore to Abu Dhabi’s ADGM at the end of last year, citing the goal of wanting to expand tokenized RWA-based projects as one of the reasons for the move.