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Singapore’s FOMO Pay Forges Collaboration With Notabene

Web3 & Enterprise·September 01, 2023, 12:12 AM

FOMO Pay, a regulated digital payment and banking solutions provider operating under Singapore’s regulatory umbrella, has joined forces with Notabene, a platform tailored for crypto-industry decision-making.

Photo by Towfiqu barbhuiya on Unsplash

 

Pre-transaction decision making

The strategic alliance was announced via a blog post published to FOMO Pay’s website on Thursday. Through that communication, FOMO Pay revealed that this collaboration with Notabene will be a key contributor towards the firm’s efforts to elevate its know-your-transaction (KYT) capabilities, ensuring access to accurate and verified business information.

A focal point of this partnership lies in amplifying FOMO Pay’s compliance measures, bolstering customer security, and cultivating a foundation of trust in the domains of digital payments and digital assets.

Wee Teck Lim, the Head of Compliance at FOMO Pay, emphasized that this partnership mirrors the company’s efforts towards full compliance with global regulations, enhancing anti-money laundering (AML) strategies and decision-making.

 

Responding to regulatory pressure

With a regulatory spotlight on crypto and crypto-related businesses over the past year, market participants are making greater efforts to adhere to national and global compliance rules and guidelines. This move by FOMO Pay not only aids it in adhering to rigorous guidelines but also reinforces the battle against money laundering, terrorism financing, and other such concerns.

Pelle Braendgaard, CEO of Notabene, articulated the symbiotic significance of this partnership. He noted that this collaboration stands as a tangible testament to the efficacy of the travel rule implementation, effectively fostering secure and streamlined digital asset transactions. This alignment of missions between FOMO Pay and Notabene, Braendgaard maintains, resonates with their shared aspiration to establish a digital asset ecosystem that is safer and more accessible.

 

FOMO Crypto

FOMO Pay, which has been licensed as a payment institution by the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS), boasts an array of products including FOMO Payment, FOMO iBank, and FOMO Crypto. Through FOMO Crypto, the firm is actively constructing Asia’s inaugural licensed gateway, which will offer a seamless connection between fiat and digital currencies.

Notabene is headquartered in New York although it casts its operational net across several countries. The platform claims to empower real-time decision-making, while offering sanctions screening for counterparties and self-hosted wallet identification, all with a view towards enabling digital transactions.

 

Partnership focus

In bootstrapping the business, it appears that FOMO Pay has been relying heavily on engaging in industry partnerships. In 2021 it joined the DBS Digital Exchange (DDex) as a member. Its purpose in doing so was to leverage the institutional grade digital custodian and exchange services offered by DDex, a service extended by DBS Bank, Singapore and Southeast Asia’s largest bank.

Last year, the company partnered with Ripple, using Ripple’s On-Demand Liquidity (ODL) solution to support its cross-border treasury flows. Moving away from traditional payment rails towards Ripple’s ODL product meant that FOMO Pay could free up working capital and optimize business cash flow.

As further evidence of FOMO Pay’s efforts to maintain regulatory compliance, in July the company partnered with Elliptic, a crypto asset risk management firm, in an effort to enhance its customer onboarding due diligence check process.

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Markets·

Dec 07, 2023

Market speculates on Qatari investment driving bitcoin price surge

Market speculates on Qatari investment driving bitcoin price surgeRumors are circulating within the cryptocurrency space that Qatar’s sovereign wealth fund may have dabbled in investing in bitcoin, leading to the recent surge in the bitcoin unit price.Such a move, while still an unconfirmed speculation, would be indicative of the increasing recognition of Bitcoin as a mainstream asset class. At the time of writing, bitcoin stands at $44,000. That represents a 16% increase over the space of the past week and a 166% increase since the beginning of the year.Photo by Yiğit Ali Atasoy on UnsplashKeiser’s claimAccording to outspoken Bitcoin advocate Max Keiser, Qatar’s sovereign wealth fund (QSWF), responsible for managing the nation’s significant oil and gas-generated wealth, is considering allocating up to $500 billion to the leading cryptocurrency.To provide context, this investment would eclipse the publicly disclosed bitcoin holdings of MicroStrategy, founded by Michael Saylor, by an astonishing 671 times. MicroStrategy currently holds the position of the largest corporate holder of Bitcoin, with 174,530 BTC acquired in November.Keiser speculates that the QSWF’s monumental investment could propel bitcoin’s price to new highs, reaching $100,000. Keiser tweeted:“The God Candle, a $100,000 uptick in #Bitcoin is in play. It will shift the global axis of wealth and power in 1 tick.”Custodia Bank Founder and CEO Caitlin Long shared a similar view on the X social media platform on Wednesday, pointing out that in September the Emir of Qatar had visited El Salvador and met with President Nayib Bukele. The inference is that it would have been an interest in bitcoin that may have provided the motivation for that visit, given that Bukele and El Salvador have adopted bitcoin as a sovereign currency.However, not everyone is on board with this theory. Some have pointed out that the assertion that the QSWF will invest $500 billion into bitcoin is impossible, given that the fund has $475 billion under management.Bitcoin advocate Luke Broyles weighed in on the rumor, emphasizing the crucial interplay between bitcoin’s supply and demand. Broyles highlighted the $76 billion worth of BTC still available on crypto exchanges, underscoring the fundamental principle of bitcoin’s fixed supply. According to Broyles, any substantial investment would inevitably drive prices higher.However, Broyles remains skeptical of the Qatar news, deeming it a rumor, and expressed shock if it proves remotely true. That view has led many back to the original speculation in relation to this most recent price action, the illusive bitcoin spot exchange-traded fund (ETF) approval in the United States.Some activity in recent days has suggested that BlackRock, the world’s largest fund manager, has been doing preparatory work for the launch of its iShares Bitcoin Trust ETF. Not everyone was positive on the topic of Bitcoin on Wednesday, however. Jamie Dimon, the CEO of JPMorgan Chase, testified before the U.S. Congress on Wednesday, stating “If I were the government I’d close [Bitcoin] down.”

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Web3 & Enterprise·

May 07, 2023

Alibaba Cloud Partners With Avalanche to Deploy Metaverses

Alibaba Cloud Partners With Avalanche to Deploy MetaversesChina’s Alibaba Cloud, a subsidiary of the e-commerce behemoth Alibaba Group, and one of the world’s largest cloud computing companies, has entered into a partnership with layer one blockchain project Avalanche.The cloud division of the Chinese tech giant has built a launchpad which will allow businesses to deploy metaverses, hosted on the Avalanche blockchain.Photo by C Dustin on UnsplashEnter the CloudverseAlibaba has named the launchpad “Cloudverse”. In accessing the Cloudverse, businesses will be enabled in customizing, launching and maintaining their very own metaverses, running on top of the Avalanche blockchain. In a tweeted message on Thursday, the Avalanche project team stated that “Alibaba Cloud’s millions of clients can easily deploy custom metaverses and unlock new dimensions for consumers.” It’s clear that the blockchain specialist sees the value in linking up with an entity with the market reach that Alibaba Cloud can provide. Expanding on that, it stated: “Cloudverse gives businesses an easy, white-glove, and cost-effective way to expand their brands to the Web3 virtual world.”Singapore’s MUA DAOAlongside Alibaba Cloud and Avalanche, a Singapore-based project is participating in the collaboration. Metaverse Union of Architects Decentralized Autonomous Organization makes for quite a long-winded entity, meaning that the project is more commonly known as MUA DAO. The DAO sees its mission as helping entities to overcome the technological hurdles of the crypto world by offering the largest virtual reality guild of architects, thus making available a large number of capable builders for the metaverse.Taking to Twitter on Thursday, the project outlined that the partnership marked a significant milestone for the DAO. “As the metaverse middleware, #MUADAO will support Cloudverse from creation and customization to continual operation in #MUAverse,” it outlined.MUA DAO sees the likely outcome of the collaboration as leading to a cost effective mechanism through which Asia-Pacific businesses can expand into the Web3 world, empowering clients to create custom metaverses and unlocking new customer experiences.MUA DAO terms its offering as “MUAverse, describing it as “a one-stop Metaverse Middleware Infrastructure developed and operated by MUADAO, designed to empower enterprises and businesses in the creation, operation, and management of digital assets.”Avalanche’s unique structureThe three entities coordinated the announcement of the collaboration to coincide with the Avalanche Summit II conference, which commenced on Wednesday in Barcelona, Spain and runs until Friday.As a layer one blockchain, Avalanche has a unique structure which enables subnets, sets of nodes or validators which can be built on top of blockchains. Subnets offer the advantage of allowing developers to customize them on an application-specific basis. Such a blockchain infrastructure will be beneficial in facilitating customizable blockchain solutions relative to the proposed Cloudverse.Blockchain credentialsRecently, Alibaba announced its intention to open a Web3 incubator lab in Japan. The lab will be a collaboration between Alibaba, Tokyu Land Corporation and Skeleton Crew Studio. One of its principal objectives will be to enable game developers to learn about and harness blockchain technology relative to virtual reality gaming.Additionally, Alibaba Cloud intends to launch a blockchain node service in Japan at a later stage in 2023. In a further nod to its blockchain credentials, Alibaba Cloud was also a co-organiser of Hong Kong’s recently-held Web3 Festival, alongside Amazon Web Services and Hong Kong-based Cyberport.

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Web3 & Enterprise·

Dec 19, 2025

Singapore takes gold on-chain as tokenized assets gain ground

Two Singaporean firms are tokenizing a physical gold fund, joining a broader push to digitize real-world assets (RWAs) ahead of projected growth in the sector. According to CoinDesk, Marketnode, a digital infrastructure operator founded in 2021 by SGX Group and Temasek, has partnered with asset manager Lion Global Investors to tokenize the LionGlobal Singapore Physical Gold Fund. The fund, launched in November as the country’s first insured physical gold fund, will issue tokens on the Solana blockchain. The setup allows investors to subscribe to and redeem fund units on-chain through Marketnode’s network. The structure keeps traditional custody and full insurance on allocated bars, while offering an option for in-kind redemption. LionGlobal’s Enhanced Liquidity funds, denominated in U.S. dollars and Singapore dollars, will also be available on the platform.Photo by Zlaťáky.cz on UnsplashBhutan launches sovereign-backed gold tokenSingapore is among several countries moving to digitize precious metals. A separate CoinDesk report said Bhutan is expanding its blockchain strategy through Gelephu Mindfulness City, a special administrative region aimed at attracting foreign investment. The region is issuing the TER token, a gold-backed digital asset supported by the kingdom’s sovereign framework. The tokens are issued on Solana, with custody and distribution handled by DK Bank, Bhutan’s first licensed digital bank. The shift toward tokenizing tangible assets comes as analysts predict substantial growth in the market. CoinMarketCap data places the current market value of tokenized gold at about $3.2 billion. RWA market projected at $2TData from RWA.xyz shows the broader RWA market cap, excluding stablecoins, stood at $18.7 billion as of Dec. 18. In an October report, Standard Chartered projected that figure would reach $2 trillion by 2028, two years earlier than McKinsey’s forecast last year. Geoffrey Kendrick, Standard Chartered’s head of digital assets research, said the revised timeline reflects rapid expansion in the stablecoin market. He added that growth has been reinforced by the GENIUS Act, passed in the U.S. in July 2025, which introduced clear rules for fiat-backed digital tokens. Singapore tops global crypto adoptionThe collaboration comes as Singapore strengthens its leadership in digital assets. The World Crypto Rankings 2025, released on Dec. 10 by Bybit and DL Research, named Singapore the top country for crypto adoption among 79 jurisdictions. The report cited regulatory clarity and institutional maturity as key drivers, noting that more than 11% of Singaporeans hold cryptocurrency.

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