Asian Firms Feature in Ledger’s Institutional Trading Offering

Standard Chartered joins China’s CBDC pilot trialsStandard Chartered Bank has joined the advanced stages of China’s central bank digital currency (CBDC) pilot trials, making it one of the world’s largest multinational banks to partake in such an initiative.Photo by Eric Prouzet on UnsplashEnabling e-CNY exchangeChina initiated its CBDC pilot trials over a year ago, with it being much further ahead of other CBDC initiatives internationally in terms of development. It has now expanded its trials to include more lenders, with Standard Chartered China becoming the latest participant.This development means that Standard Chartered Bank’s users in the Asian nation will soon have access to the digital version of the Chinese yuan by seamlessly integrating its platform with China’s dedicated CBDC app. According to an announcement by Standard Chartered Bank (China) Ltd. on Monday, the bank will be enabled, through partner firm City Bank Clearing Services Co., to offer its clients the ability to purchase, exchange or redeem e-CNY.In its announcement, Standard Chartered China’s President, Zhang Xiaolei, stated:“As an international bank rooted in the Chinese market for 165 years, Standard Chartered is optimistic about the development prospects of digital renminbi.”Joining e-CNY testing programThe e-CNY pilot testing program in China has been extended to 26 cities and provinces. Standard Chartered’s Chinese subsidiary will involve itself with supply chain financing, trade financing and cross-border merchant payments as part of that pilot program.The adoption of CBDCs is anticipated to reduce reliance on physical currency notes while ensuring transparent and tamper-proof transaction histories. China’s CBDC, known as the digital yuan or e-CNY (digital renminbi), has garnered international attention for its progressive approach to digital currency.Broader digital assets sector involvementStandard Chartered’s involvement in China’s CBDC pilot marks a milestone, emphasizing the bank’s commitment to digital innovation. However, the British banking conglomerate has had a broader approach to digital assets beyond this CBDC collaboration. A report by Nikkei Asia last month suggested that the banking group was making a concerted effort to develop its digital assets-related business within the Asian region through its Singapore-based investment arm, SC Ventures.Earlier this month, SC Ventures unveiled Libeara, a platform which plans to offer the first-ever tokenized Singapore dollar government bond fund. Subsidiary companies include digital asset custodian Zodia Custody and institution-first digital asset marketplace Zodia Markets.China has been at the forefront of CBDC experimentation, with initiatives like testing offline payment systems integrated with SIM cards. This innovative approach allows users to initiate CBDC payments by simply bringing their phones close to sale terminals. The trials, initially launched in major cities such as Shanghai, Beijing and Shenzhen, have encouraged residents to embrace e-CNY for everyday transactions.While China’s advancements in CBDC trials are noteworthy, other nations, including India, Japan and the U.S., are also actively engaged in the advanced phases of CBDC-related research and development. These global efforts seek to diversify financial settlement options, providing individuals with a broader range of choices in the evolving landscape of digital currencies.

FTX Japan Moves Towards FTX 2.0 via Hiring DriveFTX Japan, a subsidiary company of the collapsed FTX crypto exchange business, is embarking on a hiring spree to bolster its team and drive the FTX 2.0 initiative forward.News of the new recruitment initiative broke via a tweet from Seth Melamed, FTX Japan’s Chief Operations Officer. Melamed wrote: “FTX Japan is hiring! Our team is exploring the leading edge of technology including AI to develop new crypto tools, non-custodial CEX trading, Proof of Solvency, and leading crypto derivatives products.”On the firm’s careers page on its website, FTX Japan details that it is looking to hire a Flutter Engineer to work on mobile applications, customer service staff and a marketer. Additionally, the company is looking to offer an internship.Photo by Tianshu Liu on UnsplashAdvancing FTX 2.0This latest recruitment initiative comes on the back of news that broke last week that the FTX Debtor led by bankruptcy specialist John J. Ray III, had decided not to follow through with the sale of FTX Japan. Most FTX creditors have been calling for the relaunch of the exchange business, dubbed FTX 2.0. Monthly expense filings have shown that various advisors to the Unsecured Creditors Committee (UCC) and professionals working for FTX itself have been spending quite a lot of time working on that possibility.Such a relaunch has as yet not been officially confirmed. However, it is looking increasingly likely that there’s a strong commitment to advancing the FTX 2.0 initiative, and with that, FTX Japan is actively seeking new talent.A restructuring plan is expected to be filed before the end of the month. This will likely move the notion of FTX 2.0 from a matter of speculation to something more tangible. That said, even if it forms part of that plan filing, due to the cumbersome workings of the US bankruptcy process, it’s unlikely that the overall international business will be relaunched until 2024. FTX Japan is solvent and so, it could be back in operation well before then.FTT token speculationEarlier this week, a beta version of a claims filing system was put online, although not officially launched. News of this development led to speculative interest in FTX’s exchange token, FTT.On Tuesday, the token increased in value by 26% within a matter of hours. Pricing has since cooled, and at the time of publication, the token had a unit price of $1.52. Crypto certainly garners speculative interest as this price action demonstrates. It remains to be seen until further clarification is provided by the FTX Debtor and the bankruptcy court in Delaware in the United States as to whether FTT will even feature in the future plans of a restructured business.FTX was very much the standout black swan event within crypto in 2022. However, it’s clear that its story remains unfinished. In the months ahead, we’re likely to hear more about the future plans for the business, in what could become quite the redemption story.

Pakistan’s Ministry of Finance has signed off on the establishment of the Pakistan Digital Assets Authority (PDAA), a body which will be responsible for the implementation of regulations governing blockchain and the digital assets sector. In a report published by Pakistani English-language newspaper Dawn, the media outlet outlined that the Ministry of Finance has taken this step in an effort to embrace future innovation in the finance sector.  The new agency will be responsible for monitoring the operations of digital wallet service providers, stablecoin issuers, the development firms behind decentralized finance (DeFi) protocols, crypto custodians and crypto exchange platforms. Photo by Hamid Roshaan on UnsplashFrom crypto ban to crypto regulationIn October 2022, Pakistan was removed by the Financial Action Task Force (FATF), a global money laundering and terrorist financing watchdog, from its grey list. The following year, Pakistan’s Minister of State for Finance and Revenue, Aisha Ghaus Pasha outlined that banning cryptocurrency was a condition of the country’s removal from the FATF grey list. Accordingly, the South Asian country proceeded to ban digital assets, with Ghaus Pasha declaring that crypto would “never be legalized in Pakistan.”Despite the adverse position taken previously by the authorities in Pakistan where digital assets were concerned, in 2024 a survey carried out by Chainalysis revealed that Pakistan featured strongly in terms of retail-level crypto adoption. With this latest development, Pakistan is moving forward progressively with digital assets, albeit that it is doing so while being cognizant of the current requirements demanded by FATF related to crypto. The newly-formed PDAA will act to ensure FATF-compliant innovation, while striving for economic inclusion and the adoption of digital assets in a responsible manner. Regulating to lead crypto innovation rather than catching upPakistan’s current Minister for Finance and Revenue, Muhammad Aurangzeb, said that “Pakistan must regulate not just to catch up — but to lead.” He added that through the establishment of the PDAA, a digital assets regulatory framework that protects consumers will be created. Furthermore, he claimed that such an approach would attract global investment, putting Pakistan “at the forefront of financial innovation.”Another area of focus for the PDAA will be the facilitation of the tokenization of government debt and national assets. Pakistan runs an annual average electricity surplus of 4,000 megawatts. In 2024, total electricity generation was recorded at 92,091 GWh while demand weighed in at 68,559 GWh. With that, the Pakistani authorities want the PDAA to create the correct conditions that will lead to regulated Bitcoin mining operators utilizing this energy resource. Other objectives which have been set out for the new agency include encouraging the growth of startups aimed at building blockchain-based solutions at scale, the regulation of what is estimated to be a $25 billion informal crypto market and the provision of legal clarity within the crypto sector in Pakistan for both local and international investors. This latest positive development follows the formation of the Pakistan Crypto Council (PCC) back in February. That event signaled a policy shift in Pakistan with regard to digital assets. In March PCC CEO Bilal bin Saqib said that Pakistan was done sitting on the sidelines and that the authorities now want to see Pakistan develop as a “leader in blockchain-powered finance.”