Cake Group co-founder files application to wind up company in Singapore

In a press release published by Business Wire on Nov. 20, American crypto custodian BitGo announced the launch of its Singaporean subsidiary company, BitGo Singapore Pte. Ltd. The company has set out the key features that the BitGo Singapore platform intends to offer going forward. These include secure, regulated cold storage. The platform is offering digital asset custody support in respect of over 1,100 digital assets. BitGo claims that the range of assets supported far exceeds that offered by competitors in the digital asset custodian space. Photo by Joshua Ang on UnsplashRegulatory complianceIn January, the company achieved in-principle approval (IPA) relative to a Major Payment Institution (MPI) license from local regulator the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS). By August the company had satisfied regulatory requirements sufficiently to be awarded a full MPI license. The company will also offer clients electronic and voice trading, allowing them to access deep liquidity directly through the digital assets held in cold storage. BitGo had deployed its Go Network to effect automated settlement. It claims that the Go Network mitigates counterparty risk through the use of delivery versus payment (DVP) settlement processes, while enabling access to exchange liquidity. Token management is another area that the firm identified in its press release as a feature of its overall service. Back in September, the company rolled out a streamlined token management service for crypto foundations. Broadening APAC service offeringThe crypto asset custodian has launched this separate subsidiary in Singapore with the purpose of broadening its service offering within the Asia-Pacific (APAC) region. BitGo Singapore CEO Youngro Lee stated that BitGo is “thrilled to launch BitGo Singapore and offer the APAC region a best-in-class suite of digital assets solutions and regulated infrastructure services.”  Lee added that the new regional entity is committed to providing its clients “with the highest quality products and services while maintaining strict regulatory standards,” while also looking forward to “further strengthening the APAC digital assets ecosystem.” In expanding the reach of its service offering, BitGo has engaged in a collaborative approach. It has partnered with companies such as Vancouver-headquartered Lightning Network infrastructure provider Neutron Pay, and crypto market maker Wintermute, who announced in July 2023 the planned establishment of a base in Singapore. Taking to X on Nov. 21, Neutron Pay stated: “We're excited to announce a strategic partnership with @BitGo Singapore, paving the way for expansion of our #Bitcoin and #LightningNetwork services across Asia-Pacific (APAC).” The firm’s CEO Albert Buu said that “by leveraging BitGo's robust custodial infrastructure, we aim to enhance our ability to serve businesses throughout Southeast Asia.”  Wintermute Co-Founder Yoann Turpin offered his own thoughts on the BitGo Singapore announcement, stating: “Having recently expanded our own footprint in the region, we see strong potential for collaboration in addressing the sophisticated needs of institutional players. By working together, we aim to build a more robust environment for institutions and drive meaningful growth across APAC’s digital asset markets.” At the time of writing, 29 crypto-sector firms, including the likes of Circle, Coinbase and Blockchain.com, have acquired full MPI licenses to trade in the city-state of Singapore. 

HeyBit to Cease Virtual Asset Deposit Services in OctoberSouth Korean centralized finance (CeFi) company HeyBit announced on Monday that it will terminate its virtual asset deposit service, Harvest, on October 2 in line with regulatory guidelines.Photo by Andre Taissin on UnsplashRegulatory limitations“Although we have made efforts to pay promised returns and provide stable digital asset investment products, we have ultimately decided to terminate the Harvest service in accordance with the policy guidelines of regulatory authorities,” the company said in a statement.It further emphasized that the service termination is solely due to regulatory restrictions, rather than questions of financial integrity or credit issues, while also citing its judgment call that running a deposit business is practically impossible at the moment.“Although some customers of other businesses have faced damages due to operational issues, the results of our due diligence report for the second quarter of 2023 were consistent with that of our last four reports, stating that the value of the assets we own exceeds that of deposited assets,” HeyBit said, seemingly referring to the recent class-action lawsuits against the Korean crypto platforms Haru Invest and Delio, who had unexpectedly suspended customer deposits and withdrawals, inciting KRW 50 billion (approximately $39 million at the time of the incident) in damages in the process. The company stressed that it was unrelated to this debacle and was securely storing all customer assets, alleviating potential investor concerns.The company has thus been able to properly handle management operations involving promised returns, additional deposits, and withdrawals for Harvest users up until now.However, it has decided to comply with the Virtual Asset User Protection Act, which is set to take effect next year in Korea. Article 7, Paragraph 2 of this act outlines that virtual asset companies must keep their own virtual assets and customers’ virtual assets separate, and they must own the same quantity and type of virtual assets — including deposited assets — as those that have been entrusted by customers.“We are thus unable to use the assets entrusted to us by our customers as a source of return,” HeyBit said.Planned reboundDespite this setback, the company promised to resume services based on regulatory and policy changes in the future, including revamping virtual asset deposit services.

Coinbase Affirms Commitment to India Despite Disabling Sign-UpsLeading US-based cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase announced on Monday that it has temporarily disabled new user sign-ups for its exchange platform in India.A report emerged via India’s English-language business daily The Economic Times on Monday which stated that Coinbase was stopping “all services” for Indian users.Photo by Big G Media on UnsplashClarification of a misunderstandingIt appears that Coinbase sent emails to a subset of its Indian customers, notifying them of the cessation of exchange operations in the country by September 25. However, a more recent report by TechCrunch outlined that Coinbase has provided further clarification that these emails were sent exclusively to customers who did not meet the updated standards set by the company.On that basis, these messages do not affect and are not relevant to the majority of Coinbase users in India. The email further advised affected users to transfer their funds from the platform by the specified date.A Coinbase spokesperson communicated to TechCrunch via email, stating:“We stopped allowing new user sign-ups on our exchange product in India back in June of this year. We maintain a robust tech hub in the country and offer live products, including our Coinbase Wallet. We are committed to India over the long term.”Coinbase’s proprietary exchange app in India reportedly boasts fewer than 50,000 monthly active users, as indicated by data from Sensor Tower, shared by an industry executive.Difficulty in cracking Indian marketDespite its aspirations, Coinbase has been unable to make headway with local authorities since launching its exchange in India over a year ago. The lack of progress with local officials has proven frustrating for company executives, including Durgesh Kaushik, who joined Coinbase last year as the Senior Director for Market Expansion, only to leave the company within a couple of months.Coinbase’s CEO, Brian Armstrong, made a visit to India last year to launch the exchange service by adding support for India’s popular payment instrument, the Unified Payments Interface (UPI). Unfortunately, the body overseeing UPI immediately denied Coinbase’s recognition, leading Coinbase to suspend support for the payment system shortly thereafter.UPI has proven to be a runaway success in India. Consequently, being able to access and integrate with it would be very important in providing Coinbase’s Indian customers with the means of on-ramping and off-ramping between the exchange and fiat currency. Coinbase affirmed its commitment to collaborating with the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) relative to UPI but these efforts simply have not borne fruit.RBI pushbackIn May of the same year, Armstrong disclosed that Coinbase had to halt its trading service in India due to “informal pressure” from the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), the nation’s central bank. Armstrong pointed out that cryptocurrency trading isn’t illegal in India — in fact, the country had recently imposed taxation on it. However, there were elements within the government, including the RBI, that appeared less enthusiastic about cryptocurrencies and were exerting “soft pressure” behind the scenes.Notably, other Indian cryptocurrency exchanges like CoinDCX and CoinSwitch remain operational, but they’ve had their own struggles in their own local market. In August CoinSwitch downsized its headcount, citing a 30% tax on crypto gains and a 1% tax deducted at source (TDS) on transactions as contributing factors. That same month, CoinDCX cut its headcount by 12%.