Hana Bank to Establish Joint Digital Asset Custody Venture with BitGo

With reports of American exchange platform Coinbase having been in talks with regulators to re-enter the Indian market emerging last month, the firm has made further progress with those efforts, registering with the Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU). In a blog post published to the Coinbase website on March 11, the company confirmed that it had successfully registered with the FIU, a national agency which is responsible for gathering, processing, analyzing and circulating data related to suspicious financial transactions.Photo by Big G Media on UnsplashOffering retail services in 2025As a consequence of this registration, the company intends to commence trading activity in India once more, with plans to offer retail services to Indian investors later this year. Commenting on the development, John O'Loghlen, Regional Managing Director for the Asia-Pacific (APAC) region at Coinbase, stated that the company is committed to building its business in markets where potential exists for crypto and on-chain innovation. He added: “India represents one of the most exciting market opportunities in the world today, and we’re proud to deepen our investment here in full compliance with local regulations.” News of this development has been interpreted as a positive for the crypto sector. Taking to X, Suraj Chawla, founder and CEO of GPU.net, a decentralized network of GPUs, suggested that the registration was indicative of a softening in the regulatory approach taken to crypto in India. He believes that the Trump administration in the U.S., which is pro-crypto, is collaborating with India’s government, led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. He added: “This is extremely positive news with countries like UAE, IND, RUS, USA adopting mainstream crypto and working on critical infra like exchanges, ETF and stablecoins.” Taking this development as a sign of a crypto awakening in India, Chawla suggested that we could see major Indian corporations like Reliance, Tata and Adani going into mainstream crypto infrastructure. ‘Informal pressure’Coinbase was forced to disable UPI payments on its platform in India back in 2022 due to what Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong described at the time as “informal pressure” from India’s central bank, the Royal Bank of India (RBI). Armstrong offered the following take on the status of crypto in India at that time:“India is a unique market in the sense that the Supreme Court has ruled that they can't ban crypto, but there are elements in the government there, including at the Reserve Bank of India, who don't seem to be as positive on it.” In 2023 the company disabled new user sign-ups on its platform.  India’s central bank has leaned against crypto over the last few years. In January of last year, RBI Governor Shaktikanta Das, said that there was no place in India for “crypto mania,” following the approval of spot Bitcoin exchange-traded funds in the U.S. He said at that time that "the way we look at crypto remains unchanged, irrespective of who does what."  While taking what has been at best an ambiguous approach to cryptocurrencies, the RBI has advocated for the adoption of blockchain technology by India’s banks.

Ripple Exec: Clear Regs Helped Japanese Market Withstand Crypto WinterEmi Yoshikawa, the Vice President of Strategy & Operations at business-focused crypto solutions provider Ripple, has attributed the Japanese cryptocurrency market’s ability to withstand the recent crypto winter to well-defined regulations.©Pexels/WorldspectrumSecurity breach at Mt.GoxIn a recent interview with Korean blockchain media outlet Digital Asset, Yoshikawa noted that Japan implemented regulations on cryptocurrencies earlier than other countries, in part due to the 2014 security breach at the Tokyo-based Bitcoin exchange Mt.Gox that resulted in investor losses.The Mt.Gox exploit prompted revisions to the Payment Services Act, which now recognizes cryptocurrencies as a means of payment. Furthermore, the Financial Instruments and Exchange Act was revised in 2020 to give security tokens the same status as stocks. The Japanese government is also exploring the possibility of allowing the domestic circulation of foreign stablecoins.Although it took several years for companies to enter the market after the regulatory framework was established, the security token market has since expanded, with more businesses now participating.Yoshikawa credited the Japanese crypto market’s resilience during the recent global crypto winter to clear regulatory guidelines. The recognition of cryptocurrencies as financial instruments enabled the regulation of not only spot trading but also derivatives trading. Japanese exchanges are also required to hold customer funds separately in trust firms, ensuring investor protection. This regulatory environment allowed companies and investors to confidently enter the crypto industry last year.FTX JapanFTX Japan’s return of customer assets and resumption of withdrawals in February showcased the effectiveness of these clear regulatory guidelines. Among subsidiaries of the now-defunct crypto exchange FTX, FTX Japan is the only one to have returned customer assets thus far, Yoshikawa emphasized.While crypto regulations in some areas, such as taxation, remain insufficient, both the Japanese government and entrepreneurs agree that the Web3 industry should develop in a way that benefits the nation’s economy.Ripple’s projects in JapanYoshikawa said that Ripple views the Japanese market as one of its key markets. In 2016, the company formed a joint venture, SBI Ripple Asia, with Japanese financial group SBI Holdings. Through this partnership, Ripple collaborated with several Japanese financial institutions to launch RippleNet and provide liquidity to the payment service.Japan’s largest remittance technology firm, SBI Remit, has adopted RippleNet and Ripple’s own remittance system On-Demand Liquidity (ODL) to facilitate real-time payments between Japan and Southeast Asian nations. Yoshikawa underlined that Ripple is committed to supporting Southeast Asian workers in Japan who need swift and cost-effective international payments.

In a move to enhance the oversight of cross-border wire transfers involving virtual assets, Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP), the central bank of the Philippines, is fortifying the implementation of regulations relative to crypto transfers.Photo by C Bueza on UnsplashTravel rule clarificationsLocal news outlet, the English language newspaper The Philippine Star reported that central bank memorandum 2023-042 provides clarifications on the travel rule for virtual asset service providers (VASPs). The travel rule requires financial institutions to pass on information to the next institution where a transaction takes place. The BSP aims to bring greater clarity to several aspects, including the applicability of the P50,000 transaction threshold and expectations regarding transactions involving jurisdictions without travel rules. Additionally, further interpretation is being provided concerning the extension of the Philippine travel rule to non-custodial VASPs and regulatory expectations surrounding transactions with unhosted wallets or crypto wallets controlled directly by their owners, rather than managed by third-party service providers. FATF compliance ambitionThis regulatory move is in response to the directives from the Paris-based Financial Action Task Force (FATF). In 2021 the Philippines came under greater scrutiny from the intergovernmental organization, when it was included on its "gray list," making it a candidate for increased monitoring. The FATF has called upon the Philippines to establish guidelines for the travel rule to prevent terrorists and criminals from exploiting virtual asset transfers for the unrestricted movement of their assets and to detect and prevent misuse effectively.BSP-supervised financial institutions (BSFIs) are now mandated to scrutinize specific details of virtual asset transfers, including the originator's name, account number used in the transaction, originator's physical address or national identity and the beneficiary's name and account number. International moves towards complianceThis latest move by the Philippine central bank is not unusual. In recent months, a plethora of similarly motivated central banks around the world have tightened up on crypto regulation as it relates to the FATF directives. Being on the FATF's "gray list" is bad for a country’s reputation. It has the potential to result in loss of investor confidence and lead to higher compliance costs and greater monitoring. Additionally, it may have an impact on trade relations and damage a country’s ability to access international finance.  Turkey has also found itself on the organization’s gray list. Working towards repairing that situation, Turkey is in the process of establishing a crypto regulatory framework that will be FATF compliant.In May, Pakistan went a step further in banning cryptocurrency. At the time, its Minister of State for Finance and Revenue, Aisha Ghaus Pasha, stated that the ban had been a requirement for Pakistan’s removal from the FATF gray list. A tightening of crypto regulations has also occurred in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and in Hong Kong more recently, as those territories work towards ensuring FATF compliance. The BSP emphasizes that transactions not surpassing the P50,000 threshold or its equivalent in foreign currency must include the names and account numbers of both the originator and beneficiary. Both originating and beneficiary VASPs are required to establish and adhere to robust sanction screening procedures, ensuring compliance with sanctions lists and preventing transactions involving sanctioned individuals, entities, or jurisdictions.