Japan’s Mt.Gox to commence creditor repayments shortly

Stables Money, an Australian platform that claims to be on a mission “to make stablecoins usable for everyday use,” has partnered with Philippines-based digital assets platform Coins.ph to use the latter’s peso-pegged stablecoin (PHPC) for remittances. Peso-denominated stablecoinIn a press release published to the Coins.ph website on Aug. 28, the firm laid out details of the deal. PHPC is a retail stablecoin which is backed by Philippine peso-denominated cash reserves and pegged to the peso on a 1:1 basis. The stablecoin was launched by Coins.ph in July.  It’s an ERC-20 token which runs on the Ethereum virtual machine (EVM)-compatible Ronin blockchain network. The stablecoin was accepted into the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas’ regulatory sandbox in May.Photo by Aeron Oracion on Unsplash$35 billion in remittancesThe Philippines has always been seen as a lucrative remittance market due to the high number of Filipinos who work outside of the country, sending funds home to family on a regular basis. In 2020, remittances back to the Philippines from overseas were just shy of $35 billion, according to data from the World Bank. It appears that Australia’s Stables Money has identified this opportunity, with the company entering the Philippine market back in March. The Philippine peso already accounts for over 25% of all outward transactions sent via the platform. Stables Money CEO Bernardo Bilotta spoke to the opportunity that the company is trying to exploit. He stated: "Recognizing the Philippines as a key player in global remittances, we expanded to deliver smooth PHP transactions. With 28.44% of our send transactions now in PHP, this move highlights our commitment to making cross-border payments hassle-free for those sending money to the Philippines.” Coins.ph has the intention of engaging in further industry partnerships in an effort to expand the reach of PHPC. That will mean additional collaborations with crypto exchanges, digital asset wallet providers and those financial institutions who are increasingly delving into the world of stablecoins. Commenting on this latest development, Wei Zhou, Coins.ph CEO, stated:”We’re encouraged to see growing adoption of PHPC among our user base. Our partnerships with Stables and Ronin underscore the vast potential of PHPC in cross-border transactions, trading and other financial activities.” Stables has also made efforts to expand through the use of Circle’s USDC stablecoin. Last month, it partnered with global payments card platform Mastercard in a collaboration which facilitates Stables users in purchasing goods using USDC at locations across 27 European countries where Mastercard is accepted. The firm’s partnership with Mastercard dates back to March 2023 when it entered into a similar collaboration relative to the Asia-Pacific region. Previous peso-based stablecoin projectsCoins.ph is not the first entity to try and drive adoption of a Philippine peso-based stablecoin. The Southeast Asian country’s UnionBank launched a similar product back in 2019. However, the product failed to find product-market fit and ultimately, it was withdrawn from the market. The company tried once again in 2022, attempting to launch a similar product through its digital bank subsidiary UnionDigital, in an effort that seems to have failed. More recently still, UnionBank subsidiary company UBX launched a peso-based stablecoin on Polygon back in March.

Further JPEX Controversy Due to DAO PlanDubai-headquartered crypto exchange JPEX, which has recently found itself at the center of controversy in Hong Kong, has moved forward with a plan to transition the platform into a decentralized autonomous organization (DAO).Photo by Clint Adair on UnsplashDisputed voting outcomeThe firm’s management envisages converting user assets into dividend shares, with an incentive to lock them up for two years. While the exchange claims that the majority of its users voted in favor of the plan, some users are alleging that their assets have been converted without their knowledge or consent.The company announced the outcome of its DAO Shareholder Dividend Scheme referendum on its website on Wednesday. According to JPEX, voting on the program concluded on September 28. The company alleges that 68% of users voted to support the proposed scheme.Asset conversionUnder this plan, users can convert their currently frozen assets into DAO Stakeholder dividends at a 1:1 ratio. JPEX also offers a repurchase option at 30% of the conversion price after one year and a 100% repurchase option after two years.In a prior announcement, JPEX stated that users who agreed to the scheme would receive dividends from the exchange through a new token listing, trading fees, and a distribution of JPEX Coin (JPC), the platform’s native token, in proportion to their shareholder dividends.The scheme seems to encourage users to keep their funds on the exchange, which has been grappling with liquidity issues. Previously, the exchange had taken to putting in place unreasonably high withdrawal fees to discourage users from attempting to withdraw their funds from the platform.Ongoing falloutThere has been ongoing fallout from the exchange businesses' difficulties over recent weeks. At first, a number of influencers who had promoted the exchange were arrested. Later, Hong Kong regulators suggested they were giving further scrutiny to crypto trading regulations in light of the scandal.Further arrests were made in connection with the exchange’s activities. Regulators have suggested that they would create a public listing of platforms that are actually regulated within the Chinese autonomous territory and the licensing status of those businesses. On Thursday the South China Morning Post (SCMP) reported that a further six people have been arrested in relation to the scandal, including the company’s CEO.In another report on Wednesday the SCMP had cited one platform user who maintained that her assets had already been converted to JPC tokens without her consent or prior knowledge. She and other users discovered that they could no longer withdraw their assets following JPEX’s announcement to proceed with the plan.“All of my [Tether] USDT and other cryptocurrencies are gone, all transferred to JPC,” she lamented, noting that her assets had been converted to JPC, a token with low liquidity and limited use cases. She expressed concern about the unknown price of JPC and the inability to withdraw, suggesting their assets had become worthless.On Wednesday, Hong Kong’s police and securities regulator jointly launched a crypto-focused task force aimed at combating illicit activities by cryptocurrency exchanges in the region.

Com2uS Holdings subsidiary Com2uS Platform has acquired a certificate of Personal Information and Information Security Management System (ISMS-P), an official certificate distributed by the Korea Internet and Security Agency (KISA), for its blockchain-based game development platform Hive.Photo by Towfiqu barbhuiya on UnsplashStreamlining game developmentHive allows developers to focus on content development by providing functions for game launch and operation in a single software development kit (SDK). It covers all systems needed to run a game, including billing, gameplay across multiple platforms, global login and verification, compliance, support, analytics, promotions, push notifications, community management and blockchain middleware. It is utilized in over 150 games and 41 corporate clients with some 100 million annual users. Robust security measuresTo receive the ISMS-P certification, companies are evaluated based on 101 different criteria, including organizational structure, management of employees and facilities, security of information processing systems and more areas related to handling personal information. "Com2uS Platform and Hive have established and promoted world-class security policies," said Choi Seok-won, CEO of Com2uS Platform. "We will continue to do our best to create an environment where users and customers worldwide can safely enjoy our content." Com2uS Platform also revealed that it runs an office dedicated to information protection, which manages data from Com2uS games and external clients. The company also strives to improve its technological capabilities for enhancing security and conducts annual company-wide training for all employees to raise security awareness. Since 2017, Com2uS Platform has retained its ISMS certification – similar to the ISMS-P but without personal information security standards – to safeguard the information of its users and customers.