New York Bans CoinEx While Seizing Crypto Assets

India’s NPCI Looks to Recruit Blockchain TalentIndia’s National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI), a collaborative initiative led by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) in partnership with 247 Indian financial services companies, is actively seeking an experienced blockchain technologist to spearhead efforts in exploring the potential applications of blockchain technology within contemporary payment systems.The NPCI, responsible for operating India’s Unified Payments Interface (UPI), a domestically developed instant payment system, plays a pivotal role in facilitating inter-bank peer-to-peer and person-to-merchant transactions across the country. The organization has recently posted a job listing for a Head of Blockchain on LinkedIn, demonstrating its interest in harnessing the power of blockchain technology.Photo by Siddharth K Rao on UnsplashIdentifying blockchain use casesThe ideal candidate for this critical role should be a seasoned technologist with a minimum of six years of hands-on experience in the development and implementation of blockchain solutions. Their primary responsibility will be to identify and evaluate potential use cases for blockchain-driven solutions within the payments ecosystem.Additionally, the senior leadership position demands a profound technical grasp of various blockchain platforms and a track record of involvement in at least two pilot blockchain projects.UPI has been a remarkable success in bolstering India’s payment infrastructure, so much so that other countries such as Singapore, Malaysia, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), France, Nepal, and the UK have expressed interest in adopting the UPI payment system to varying degrees.Potential blockchain integrationDespite UPI's runaway success, it’s likely that the NCPI foresees more change coming down the tracks with a need to respond appropriately. Recently, Indian billionaire businessman Mukesh Ambani suggested that his company, multinational conglomerate Reliance Industries (RIL), would delve further into the use of blockchain technology, particularly where central bank digital currency (CBDC) is concerned.V Subramanian, Managing Director of one of Ambani’s companies, Reliance Retail, stated that India’s digital rupee CBDC would eventually outperform UPI. Incorporating blockchain elements into UPI could potentially introduce blockchain technology to millions of users, instantly validating its transformative capabilities.The NPCI’s job posting for a blockchain leader has already garnered significant attention, with over 600 applicants expressing their interest at the time of publication. It is anticipated that the NPCI’s recruitment drive for blockchain expertise will expand in the near future as promising blockchain use cases are uncovered and developed.The NPCI has been paying attention to the development of blockchain technology over a number of years already. In 2020, it launched a project to build a blockchain-based payments platform called Vajra, albeit that it looked to implement a permissioned blockchain model to ensure that only authorized parties could access the network. Truly decentralized networks can’t control who chooses to use such networks.The blockchain is designed such that the NPCI acts as a Clearing House Node, with overall admin rights over the network. Its Notary Node level features Aadhaar authentication, with a view to securing the network. Participant Nodes feature authorized banks and payment services providers, who have the requisite permissions to read and write transactions on the blockchain.

Web3 metaverse and NFT platform CarrieVerse has secured funding from the JB Digital Asset Investment Fund 1 operated by JB Investment, the corporate venture capital arm of JB Financial Group, and Ecrux Venture Partners. The total value of the investment was not disclosed, according to Korean news outlet TechM. "The injection of new capital is a breath of fresh air after a slow crypto winter," said David Yoon, CEO of CarrieVerse. "With aggressive business and marketing tactics, we will bridge the gap between Web2 and Web3, helping to expand and popularize the Web3 market."Photo by Precondo CA on UnsplashThriving Web3 metaverseCarrieVerse is a Web3 metaverse available in various regions, including 15 Asian countries. The platform surpassed one million pre-registrations prior to its launch and also recorded 10,000 visitors in a single day. It was also revealed that it is one of the most popular platforms in Thailand, where it recently launched.  CarrieVerse is also the base hub for the card strategy role-playing game (RPG) SuperKola Tactics and the blockchain gaming platform Cling. Its native governance token, CVTX, has been listed on several exchanges like BingX and Bitget. Notably, CarrieVerse was also recently selected to join the UAE’s Dubai Multi Commodities Centre (DMCC) to establish a local subsidiary that will serve as a hub to expand the company’s global Web3 ecosystem. Reasons and expectationsJB Investment cited CarrieVerse's global business network and Web3 capabilities as the reason for providing the funding. Ecrux Venture Partners, on the other hand, aims to create synergies between IP companies and the metaverse through CarrieVerse’s projects. Ecrux is a new venture capital firm that focuses on discovering companies that can commercialize content-based IP such as animated characters.  

Zhong An Bank (ZA Bank), Hong Kong’s largest digital bank, has announced that it is now offering crypto trading services to its 800,000 retail customers. The bank set out details of its latest offering in a press release published to its website on Nov. 25. With that, ZA Bank claims to be the first Asian bank to offer crypto trading services to retail customers. Singapore’s DBS Bank was the first conventional bank in Asia to offer crypto services, although in that case, its offering was confined to institutional and accredited investors. It has yet to launch crypto trading for its retail customers.Photo by Traxer on UnsplashHashKey Exchange partnership While DBS built its own crypto exchange platform, in this instance, ZA Bank has decided to partner with local regulated crypto platform, HashKey Exchange. To begin with, the bank will offer Bitcoin and Ethereum in HKD and USD trading pairs. To promote the service, users are being offered commission-free trading during the first three months. A minimum investment level of HKD 600 ($70) has been set. Essentially, ZA Bank customers can access this trading feature through the ZA Bank banking app. Commenting on the partnership, HashKey Exchange CEO Livio Weng stated:”Our collaboration goes beyond technical synergies; it also reflects our shared commitment to upholding the highest regulatory standards. Looking ahead, HashKey Exchange will continue to work closely with ZA Bank to drive the development of the Web3 ecosystem, while delivering more diversified financial services to our users. Together, we aim to usher in a new era of wealth management.” HashKey Exchange is one of three virtual asset exchanges in the Chinese autonomous territory that have been fully regulated and licensed. Facilitating retail demand The bank cited a recent Hong Kong Association of Banks survey, which suggested that 70% of respondents believe that banks offering virtual asset trading services would mean greater convenience for people in accessing cryptocurrencies. Consequently, it would lead to further adoption of cryptocurrencies and it’s on this basis that ZA Bank has launched this latest service, catering to an emerging demand from its customers. Speaking to that, ZA Bank's Alternate Chief Executive Calvin Ng stated:“The rise of cryptocurrency presents investors with more diverse asset allocation opportunities.” On X, Neo blockchain co-founder Da Hongfei described the development as “noteworthy.” In particular, he highlighted the fact that ZA Bank supports account openings not just for Hong Kong residents but also mainland China residents living in Hong Kong. Notwithstanding that, crypto services still remain out of bounds for mainland China residents.  Hongfei also pointed out that the offering doesn’t allow the customer to transfer crypto purchased via the app off the platform. It is strictly limited to trading of crypto between digital assets and fiat currency. This offering by ZA Bank has been in the works for quite a while, with the bank having indicated that an app-based crypto retail offering was in development last December.  In September the bank received approval from the China Securities Regulatory Commission to add digital asset transactions to its Type 1 license. The bank is owned by ZA Global, an affiliate company of Chinese insurance company Zhong An.