Grab Turns to Web3 With Crypto Wallet Integration

Japan's parliament passed landmark legislation on July 15 reclassifying cryptocurrencies as financial products under the Financial Instruments and Exchange Act, removing them from the Payment Services Act framework that had treated them as a means of settlement. According to CoinPost, the reform introduces insider-trading rules to the sector for the first time, raises penalties for unregistered dealing, and clears the way for domestic crypto ETFs. Under the changes, crypto exchange operators will be redesignated as "crypto asset trading businesses," and unregistered sales will carry prison terms of up to 10 years and fines of up to 10 million yen ($61,000), up from three years and 3 million yen. Gains will move from comprehensive taxation (where combined income and residence taxes can reach 55%) to a separate flat tax of around 20%, with losses eligible for a three-year carryforward, though those tax measures take effect only once the amended law is in force. If enforcement falls in fiscal 2027, the new rate would apply from Jan. 1, 2028.Photo by Kanchanara on UnsplashWeak yen drives crypto adoptionThe overhaul lands as Japanese companies increasingly turn to cryptocurrency as a treasury asset, with the yen's prolonged weakness pushing them to diversify their cash strategies, SBI VC Trade, the crypto exchange arm of financial conglomerate SBI Holdings, said. The exchange said it is seeing greater uptake of SBIVC for Prime, its service for corporate and large-lot clients, from companies looking to hold and use crypto. It is also fielding more business from listed firms that distribute Bitcoin (BTC) or XRP to shareholders through benefit programs, a practice the company said is spreading in Japan. The comments accompanied SBI VC Trade's announcement that its registered accounts topped 2 million as of July 6, double the 1 million it reported in 2025. The Tokyo-based firm attributed the growth in part to its April 2026 merger with fellow SBI Group exchange BitPoint Japan and to its stablecoin business. SBI VC Trade is Japan's only registered electronic payment instruments trading firm, the license category covering stablecoins. The company began offering USDC, the first U.S. dollar-denominated stablecoin available in Japan, in March 2025. In June 2026 it added JPYSC, which it describes as the country's first yen-denominated trust-type stablecoin, along with Ripple's dollar-pegged RLUSD, and launched a stablecoin lending service. The exchange plans to merge its two service brands around the end of December 2026. Separately, SBI Crypto, the group's mining unit, said it will shut down its mining pool on July 31. The pool will stop accepting mining shares at 7 a.m. Japan time, and the company urged customers to keep directing hashrate to the pool until the cutoff so that all eligible shares are included in the final payout. SBI Crypto said it has held discussions with other pool operators, some of which may offer preferential terms to migrating clients. Metaplanet expands into securitiesIn another sign of crypto's deepening ties with Japanese finance, Siiibo Securities, an online platform for privately placed corporate bonds, has changed its name to Metaplanet Securities after joining the Metaplanet group, the Tokyo-listed company known for its large BTC treasury. Siiibo, which holds a Type I financial instruments business license, said it plans to build a platform combining BTC and finance, developing products for retail investors that draw on its new parent's BTC management expertise while continuing to serve yield-seeking investors. Remixpoint discloses crypto yieldsListed energy and crypto firm Remixpoint, meanwhile, disclosed returns on its digital asset holdings as of the end of June. The company said it has earned a cumulative 9.95 BTC, worth roughly 108 million yen based on monthly average rates, from lending its BTC. Staking of altcoins has generated about 27.9 million yen in total, comprising roughly 10.1 million yen from ETH and 17.8 million yen from SOL, the company said, adding that it will continue building a financial structure that generates recurring income. 

BPMG launches competition platform GemPION for Web3 gamersBPMG, a South Korean Web3 platform developer, revealed the launch of GemPION. This platform, operated under BPMG’s gaming arm GemHUB and developed in collaboration with blockchain network Everscale, is designed specifically for competitive gaming. It offers users of its integrated games the opportunity to engage in tournament competitions or partake in various missions.Photo by Andrey Metelev on UnsplashDiverse competitive formatsOn the GemPION platform, gamers have the opportunity to participate in various competitive formats such as single-elimination tournaments, battle royales, or leaderboard challenges. The platform features both free-to-enter and paid competitions, with the latter offering larger prize pools. To maintain and increase user engagement, each game hosted on GemPION provides a variety of competitions, either through seasonal events or on an ongoing, all-year-round basis.Launch eventsIn celebration of its official launch, GemPION is organizing a series of events. From Nov. 18 to Dec. 16, a selection of games on GemHUB, including Number Shoot, Jelly Snake, Find Bird, Push Push Cat and Mayan Cryptex, will be highlighted in tournament competitions. These tournaments are set to occur every Saturday and feature a total prize pool of $3,500.The platform is offering 1,000 tickets for complimentary access to paid tournaments. These tickets are available on a first-come, first-served basis and can be obtained by users who apply the promotion code. Furthermore, users who invite friends to join the platform, either by completing certain missions or through the use of referral links, will receive additional incentives.GemPION is also preparing to launch more games, including Heroes9 with NFT, Jewel Dungeon Quest and Farm Raid Mission.Cha Ji-hoon, CEO of BPMG, stated that GemPION is a gaming system designed to elevate the immersive experience of users and increase their engagement. He highlighted that the system utilizes technology that is not only applicable to Web3 games but also to conventional games. Cha further shared his vision for GemPION, expressing his aspiration to broaden the gaming ecosystem. He plans to do this by introducing seasonal events and country-specific competitions, which will feature even larger prize pools.

Zetrix, a layer-1 blockchain project for real-world applications, has launched an electronic Know Your Customer (KYC) verification product for Chinese nationals. The Malaysian enterprise, which is a subsidiary of digital services company My E.G. Services Berhad (MYEG), has launched ZCert. The offering is available to Chinese nationals who opt to have their digital identities published to the Xinghuo BF network, a Chinese national blockchain infrastructure network developed under the guidance of China’s Ministry of Industry and Information Technology and managed by the China Academy of Information and Communications Technology.Photo by Diego Jimenez on UnsplashFirst-of-its-kind applicationZetrix acts as an international super-node relative to the Xinghuo blockchain. In a press release published by PR Newswire on Oct. 3, the company outlined that ZCert had been launched as a first-of-its-kind application, enabling Chinese nationals “to be authenticated and verified digitally overseas, paving the way for a seamless, efficient, and secure verification process for verifiers and identity holders. ” The service simplifies the issue of identity verification for verifiers located outside of China, as a consequence of Zetrix’s integration with the Xinghuo BIF network.  Connecting to ‘China Web3’Xinghuo signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Zetrix’s parent company, MYEG, to establish the international super-node back in November 2022. The tie-up was seen as an opportunity to provide access to Chinese government agencies and businesses internationally.  At the time, MYEG Managing Director and Zetrix Co-Founder Wong Thean Soon said that “with the commencement of the Xinghuo International Supernode, the rest of the world can connect and be part of the China Web 3 evolution that will promote the establishment of international communities and facilitate global trade and finance.”  On this occasion, Wong said that the new product “enables a new wave of services powered by smart contracts.” He added that KYC processes can be simplified and automated, while “user data is retained by users at all times and only critical information is shared in an encrypted manner." The company has already digitized Chinese driving licenses for the purpose of overseas verification. Furthermore, it has plans to expand its offering beyond ID verification soon. In April of this year, Zetrix and MYEG signed an MOU with MaiCapital, a Hong Kong-based virtual assets manager, with a view towards collaborating on the launch of a digital asset fund or digital asset-based exchange-traded fund (ETF). Last year Zetrix engaged in a pilot project with the Bank of China with the aim of offering supply chain financing products. On a similar theme, its parent company entered into a partnership with the Philippines Bureau of Customs (BOC) and Cargo Data Exchange Center Inc. (CDEC), also in 2023. The collaboration involved the use of Zetrix’s ZTrade product, a Web3 platform that enables digitized trade document verification. Zetrix launched its ZETRIX token in October 2023 through an initial exchange offering (IEO) facilitated by the Coinstore exchange.