Haechi Labs Joins Hands with Oasys for Entry into Japanese Market

Bitcoin miner Bitdeer Technologies Group’s stock had a rough debut on the Nasdaq exchange, losing almost 30% of its value shortly after market open on Friday. The Singapore-based firm, which is one of the largest bitcoin miners in the world, had delayed its listing several times and saw a lukewarm reception from investors. Bitdeer’s merger with a special-purpose acquisition vehicle called Blue Safari Group Acquisition Corp was approved on Tuesday, paving the way for the listing. Mining across six sitesBitdeer has six mining sites across Washington state, Texas, Tennessee, and Norway, with a total energy capacity of 775 megawatts as of the end of 2022. It has a hashrate or computing power of 16.2 exahash per second (EH/s), second only to bankrupt miner Core Scientific and higher than Riot Platforms and Marathon Digital Holdings. Around one-quarter of the hashrate is used for self-mining, while the rest is given out for cloud mining, which means that customers rent the machines and reap the rewards.Despite the company’s impressive size and scale, Bitdeer’s financial performance deteriorated in 2022, which was partly due to worsening market conditions. The company reported revenue of $330.3 million and a loss of $62.4 million for the year, compared with $394.7 million in revenue and a profit of $82.6 million in the previous year. The company’s listing comes at a better time than last year, as market conditions have improved, and bitcoin has passed the $30,000 mark. Mining equities have also outperformed the digital asset in percentage growth. Differentiation of mining operatorsHowever, Bitdeer’s listing was not received as positively as expected, and the stock was halted several times for volatility shortly after the market opened. Other crypto mining stocks saw single-digit upticks in their share value at the same time. The market is beginning to shift from operators with the biggest scale to operators with the best unit economics, said investment bank Stifel Nicolaus’s analyst Bill Papanastasiou.This shift may explain why investors were not too keen on Bitdeer’s debut, as the company’s financials are not as strong as those of its competitors. Despite Bitdeer being larger than Marathon and Riot, based on its current share price and valuation, it is priced at a third of the value of its two industry peers.Bitdeer was born out of the world’s largest rig manufacturer, Bitmain, following a spat between the two co-founders. The firm is not the only cloud mining firm affiliated with Bitmain that is going public via SPAC, as BitFuFu is also in the process of going public, but has delayed its listing. Bitdeer’s stock debut may have been lackluster, but the company remains one of the largest bitcoin miners in the world.Shares in the newly quoted public company opened at $9.70, sliding to $6.30, before ending the first day’s trading at $7.03.

Tether fueling Cambodia’s dark economy despite banDespite being officially prohibited for trade in Cambodia, Tether (USDT), the leading USD stablecoin, has been found to be integrated into the Southeast Asian nation’s shadow economy.That’s according to a report published by the South China Morning Post (SCMP) on Sunday. The publication cites security experts, who it claims have highlighted the pivotal role of USDT, emphasizing its low fees and unrestricted capability to expedite the movement, concealment and laundering of money.Photo by DrawKit Illustrations on UnsplashPig butcheringThe U.S. Department of Justice’s November seizure of nearly $9 million traced to over 70 victims of online scams underscored Tether’s involvement. Collaborating with Tether Holdings and the crypto trading platform OKX, the investigation identified assets linked to “pig butchering” cyber scams in Southeast Asia, freezing an additional $225 million. While specific details regarding the origin of these assets remained undisclosed, Southeast Asia, including Cambodia, has emerged as a hub for money laundering related to online gaming and cyber scams.Cybersecurity expert Ngo Minh Hieu from the Vietnamese government’s National Cyber Security Centre warned of the susceptibility of cryptocurrencies to scams and Ponzi schemes, particularly targeting less informed investors. This heightened risk has spurred a surge in money laundering and online scams, leading to a spike in arrests.Official line versus realityIn many jurisdictions, the official line taken on cryptocurrency and digital assets doesn’t necessarily reflect the reality. China clamped down on crypto trading and mining a number of years ago. Despite that, a Wall Street Journal investigation earlier this year found that global crypto exchange Binance had a thriving China-centric business.The same seems to be true in Cambodia with respect to its official ban on crypto. Owners of both physical and online crypto exchanges in Phnom Penh openly admit to providing a parallel financial service in the developing economy. The prevalence of neon signs advertising exchange rates in Chinese yuan for USDT underscores the widespread usage of Tether in the region, particularly within Cambodia’s dark economy.Critics chime inNews of the illicit use of Tether in Cambodia has prompted a response from long-standing critics of the company. Tether’s harshest critic has been a pseudo-anonymous persona on the X platform with the username “Bitfinex’ed.” That account wrote:”Tether. The choice for organized crime & criminals. Giancarlo Devasini once said, ‘We’re going to have to learn to bank like criminals.’”Despite its role in facilitating illicit activities, the extent of Tether’s penetration into Cambodia’s economy remains challenging to ascertain. Globally, approximately 84 billion USDT is in circulation, with banks, exchanges and platforms flourishing, leveraging social media and encrypted channels to advertise seamless and reliable digital solutions for money flow challenges.One such platform, Huione Pay, operates in a bank-like setting, engaging customers in discussions about USDT exchange options. A closer look at Huione’s publicly available USDT exchange activities reveals insights into Tether’s role in enabling transactions within Cambodia.Some conversations in Chinese seek “pure white assets,” indicating funds from legitimate sources, while others do not request such provenance. These exchanges also advertise products and services crucial to scam operators, such as the sale of SIM cards from different countries.

Busan’s Digital Asset Exchange to Transform the City into a Global Financial HubBusan, the southern port city in South Korea, has unveiled an extensive plan for the creation of the Busan Digital Asset Exchange. The primary aim of this initiative is to establish a blockchain-based exchange that facilitates the trading of a wide range of valuable assets, including raw materials, precious metals, intellectual property rights, and carbon emission rights, all through tokenization.Photo by Joseph Pradipta on UnsplashDecentralized governance modelThis planned exchange will operate under a decentralized governance model, where separate entities will handle depository and settlement, listing assessment, and market monitoring. Such a governance framework is designed to ensure checks and balances and enhance investor protection. Busan is committed to providing both administrative and financial support for the establishment of these entities.The roadmap for this plan was presented yesterday at Busan City Hall by Mayor Park Heong-joon and the Busan Digital Asset Exchange Establishment Promotion Committee.The committee was introduced by the city in December of last year, and since then, it has been crafting specific plans. This committee is led by former lawmaker Kim Sang-min, who is recognized as an expert in blockchain policy.Operator selection processThe legal operator for the exchange is slated to be launched within this year. Starting from the middle of the upcoming month, the city of Busan will initiate an application-based process to find an exchange operator and intends to finalize the selection by November.The operator will be entirely funded through private contributions. Companies possessing blockchain technology and the capability to construct an exchange system will form a consortium to partake in the project and operate the exchange. The city of Busan will support the founding and operation of the exchange in accordance with the ordinance.Diverse asset tokenizationShould everything proceed as planned, the exchange is set to commence operations next year. It will tokenize and support the trading of items that pass through the Port of Busan, including gold, silver, copper, crude oil, and ammonia. Additionally, a marketplace will be developed to trade intellectual property (IP) rights, such as films, and carbon emission rights. Particularly, there are plans to broaden the spectrum of tradable items to include virtual assets and security tokens.In contrast to traditional stock exchanges that utilize home trading systems (HTS), the upcoming digital asset exchange will run on blockchain, which is immune to hacking and forgery. Users can trade their assets directly without intermediaries and benefit from reduced transaction costs.Highlighting blockchain as a pivotal technology in the era of the Fourth Industrial Revolution, Kim Sang-min, the chair of the committee, expressed that Busan will develop its digital asset exchange to set a global standard in the field.Mayor Park resonated with this perspective, emphasizing that in this age of digital transformation, Busan will leverage this opportunity to position itself as a global financial hub.