Sygnum Bank Achieves In-Principle MPI Licence Approval in Singapore

US Treasury Sanctions Gaza-Based Crypto OperatorThe Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) of the United States Department of the Treasury has imposed sanctions on a crypto operator allegedly linked to the Palestinian militant group Hamas.The move by OFAC comes as a result of greater scrutiny of terrorist financing following an attack by Hamas on Israel in early October, in which a number of Israelis lost their lives.Photo by Karolina Grabowska on Pexels“Buy Cash Money and Money Transfer Company”The entity targeted by these sanctions is a Gaza-based virtual currency exchange known as the “Buy Cash Money and Money Transfer Company.” It is operated by Khan Yunis, a resident of Gaza. According to the Treasury Department, both the exchange and Khan Yunis are alleged to have ties to Hamas. Ahmed M.M. Alaqad, the owner of the business, has also been named in the sanctions.The primary objective of these sanctions, as stated by the Treasury Department, is to disrupt the sources of revenue for Hamas. The attack on Israel served as a trigger for these actions. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen emphasized the determination to prevent Hamas from raising funds for further acts of terror and violence against the people of Israel.This includes imposing sanctions and cooperating with international allies and partners to identify, freeze, and seize any assets related to Hamas in their respective jurisdictions. Yellen stated:“The United States is taking swift and decisive action to target Hamas’s financiers and facilitators following its brutal and unconscionable massacre of Israeli civilians, including children.”Crypto sector riskIt’s not the first time that crypto platforms have been implicated where terrorist financing is concerned. Earlier this year it emerged that Bitfinex Turkiye, the Turkish local exchange business of global crypto platform Bitfinex, was alleged to have been used for the purposes of money laundering by Hamas. Additionally, leading crypto platform Binance has found itself facing similar allegations.In the immediate aftermath of the recent attack, Israeli authorities moved to close down accounts they claimed were linked with Hamas on crypto platforms like Binance and elsewhere. The Israelis have continued where they left off in this respect, with a report emerging earlier this week that over one hundred accounts on Binance have been ordered to be shut down, with a further two hundred accounts facing scrutiny.While crypto may not account for a sizable proportion of terrorist financing means, these events open up a point of attack for those who oppose the further roll-out of decentralized money and systems.Fighting illicit finance through sanctionsNotably, the US Treasury has been employing sanctions as a tool to cut off financial support to entities suspected of being involved in terrorism or other illicit activities. In a similar vein, earlier in October, the Treasury announced sanctions against crypto wallets associated with Chinese chemical manufacturers, concurrently with an indictment from the Department of Justice related to the production of the drug fentanyl.Earlier this year, blockchain analytics firm Elliptic indicated that most Chinese suppliers of fentanyl precursors were accepting payments for the illicit material in cryptocurrency.It’s worth mentioning that this move by OFAC not only targets Hamas but also includes other entities allegedly connected to the Buy Cash Money and Money Transfer Company, including an al-Qaeda affiliate and the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS).

Over the course of the past two weeks, the unit price of Ethereum (ETH) has surged 32%, with a report from a Singapore-based crypto financial services firm asserting that the Asian market has had a large part to play in that increase. Taking to X on July 16, Matrixport, a crypto financial services platform, provided its daily analysis in which it suggested that “Ethereum’s recent outperformance appears to be heavily influenced by Asia.”Photo by DrawKit Illustrations on UnsplashAsian market influenceThe company included a graph in which it had plotted Ethereum’s recent performance during Asian trading hours, asserting that as much as 17% of the uptick in the Ether unit price can be accounted for by the actions of market participants within the Asian market. It added:"The influence of the Asian market in the pricing of crypto assets is continuing to rise, whether in terms of volatility or trading momentum.” ETH ETFs in Hong KongSpot ETH exchange-traded funds (ETFs) were approved in Hong Kong in April 2024. Hong Kong ETH ETF volumes have risen substantially in July, with significant inflows being recorded related to both retail and institutional investors.  In the past, many commentators have suggested that the addition of staking would be an attractive prospect for institutional investors who like the idea of accumulating an ongoing yield. With that, Asian investors may be enticed to delve further into Ethereum positions going forward, given that ETF issuers are trying to add that component to their offerings. Huaxia Fund, a subsidiary of China Asset Management (ChinaAMC), is preparing to launch staking as part of its ETH ETF. Another potential driver for ETH in Asia in the future lies with the ongoing enablement of trading via established institutions. Earlier this week, China Merchants Bank’s brokerage arm received a virtual asset license in Hong Kong to trade crypto assets. It’s the first mainland China-affiliated brokerage to be awarded such a license, with licensing enabling it to offer trading services related to assets like Ether. Global assetWhile Asia is playing a role in ETH’s recent move upwards, the asset is traded globally and with that, factors further afield are also playing a role. Tom Lee, founder of American financial research firm Fundstrat, pointed out on X that ETH had been range-bound since 2021. However, he believes that the rise of stablecoins, which by and large run on Ethereum, together with ongoing growth in the tokenization of real-world assets (RWAs), is driving demand for the digital asset. While Bitcoin treasury companies have played a significant part in driving Bitcoin in recent months, Ethereum is starting to see similar activity. Lee made the point that Strategy (formerly MicroStrategy) “set the standard for Treasuries,” but that now BitMine “wants to be the Microstrategy of Ethereum.” The crypto mining and treasury firm confirmed on July 17 that it now holds $1 billion worth of Ethereum. Arthur Hayes, co-founder of BitMEX and chief investment officer (CIO) at Hong Kong family office, Maelstrom, said that it was “ETH szn” and that the Maelstrom Fund is buying the digital asset. Tom Dunleavy, head of venture at Varys Capital, asserts that ETH will hit a unit price of $10,000 by the end of 2026.

Aptos charts success in South Korea through bridging Web2 and Web3Aptos, a major layer 1 blockchain network developed by the experts behind Meta’s canceled stablecoin payment system Diem, is growing in South Korea. In a recent Aptos Day conference held at the Hashed Lounge in Seoul, the Aptos team shared its vision for developing its ecosystem in Korea and attracting users by actively bringing content from Web2 to Web3, instead of simply focusing on cultivating a Web3-only ecosystem.Photo by GuerrillaBuzz on UnsplashDavid Wolinsky, a software engineer at Aptos and a former developer at Facebook, presented Aptos’ key advantages and achievements since its launch last year and outlined the blockchain’s future plans for growth.High-speed Web3 powerhouseIn particular, he highlighted Aptos’ high compatibility with social media, its solid security framework built with the Move programming language and a rapid processing speed of up to 200,000 transactions per second (TPS) — with a time to finality (TTF) of less than one second. Thanks to this impressive speed, Wolinsky explained, lots of projects have onboarded the network, which is anticipated to grow into a bigger ecosystem with more decentralized applications (dApps).Aptos has also carried out over 300 million transactions since its launch in October of last year, creating seven million unique addresses. Just two months following its launch, there were already over 200 projects on the blockchain. Aptos could thus play a significant role in revolutionizing Web3, which is currently dominated by the Ethereum virtual machine (EVM).Facilitating the transition from Web2 to Web3To grow the ecosystem further, Wolinsky emphasized the importance of bringing Web2 users to Web3 in an efficient and seamless manner. Aptos aims to achieve this by facilitating the creation of Aptos-based wallets through integration with platforms like Facebook, X (formerly Twitter) and Google, allowing users to enjoy various dApps.Wolinsky also noted that Aptos uses Move — an open-source programming language developed by Facebook for writing smart contracts on the Diem blockchain — which is designed to be developer-friendly, employing similar mechanisms that developers generally use to build applications on Web2. This language can attract not only Web2 users but also Web2 developers who are transitioning to Web3 without worrying about the complexity of the process. Aptos argues that Move is more secure than EVM’s Solidity language.Positive prospects in KoreaAptos also regards Korea as a key market for growth, as Korean developers are actively contributing to the Aptos ecosystem and providing helpful feedback. The blockchain disclosed that as of Q3 this year, Korea has 13 Aptos validators — second only after the U.S., which has 14.Christie Lee, Head of Business Development and Partnerships in Korea at Aptos, argued that Korea is innovating the most at the larger corporate level while also contributing to the ecosystem. Lots of endeavors are playing out in the Korean market, she said, as regulatory restrictions in fields like gaming, entertainment, finance and more are starting to loosen.She also added that the Korean market is not only driven by innovation from large companies but also by small developers who can contribute to the ecosystem, noting that the market is a favorable environment for developers to thrive. In addition, Korean users are sensitive to trends and adept at incorporating technology, which would allow them to quickly adopt Web3 culture.