United Nations report cites popularity of USDT for fraud in Southeast Asia

OKX Entering Indian Market With a Focus on Web3Cryptocurrency exchange OKX is gearing up to make its presence felt in the Indian market.Local recruitmentThat’s according to a discussion between a company executive and CoinDesk, as explained by the publication in a report published on Friday. The firm plans on recruiting local employees in its endeavor to conquer the market within the world’s most populous nation.OKX intends to rely on local employees who will spearhead its initiatives in the country. Haider Rafique, Chief Marketing Officer at OKX explained:“We’re trying to identify who’s who in the zoo and what is their contribution. There’s a large developer community. How do we help them? Build a relationship with them.”He believes that adopting a community-centric approach will pave the way for a successful entry into the local market. Rafique emphasized:“We’re going to learn about the community. We’re going to work with local folks — figure out where we can add value.”Photo by Naveed Ahmed on UnsplashFocusing on Web3 applicationsThe company also intends to take on the challenge by placing emphasis on the use of Web3 applications. Rafique revealed the company’s ambitious plans to scale up its wallet services “exponentially” by engaging with India’s developer community. Currently, there are approximately 200,000 OKX Wallet users in India, accounting for just 5% of the country’s Web3 user base.In a recent collaboration, OKX partnered with the blockchain platform Neo for an APAC Hackathon held in Bengaluru, a city in southern India. Rafique described this move as a strategic test to validate assumptions, understand the local culture, and support the burgeoning Web3 ecosystem.The global exchange already has a physical presence in world centers such as Hong Kong, Singapore, Dubai, and the Bahamas.Indian crypto environmentTrading cryptocurrencies is currently legal in India, albeit with no established regulatory framework by a central authority. Ironically India has been very active in working towards the establishment of global regulatory standards relative to crypto while coming in for criticism from its Supreme Court recently for the government’s failure to provide regulatory clarity at home.Cryptocurrencies are used and traded at the investor’s risk in India and do not hold legal tender status for banking purposes. Additionally, a 30% tax is imposed on cryptocurrency transactions in the country.Rafique believes that Indian regulators are gradually distinguishing Web3 from centralized finance (CeFi). He remarked: “They’re more concerned about venues that have fiat on-ramps, which we do but don’t offer it in India.” He expressed a readiness for the company to become a front-runner once India establishes a regulatory framework for cryptocurrencies.It’s interesting to note that while OKX embarks on expanding its footprint within the Indian market, Indian crypto market incumbents have been looking to downsize. Indian cryptocurrency exchanges like CoinSwitch and CoinDCX have faced layoffs amid the current market downturn.Notwithstanding current market conditions, it’s likely that OKX is taking a long-term view and positioning itself for future success in what should be a very important crypto asset marketplace in the future.Ryan Selkis, CEO and Founder of crypto market intelligence firm Messari expressed this view, stating: “I love to see companies like OKX expanding in India. The largest democracy in the world should be a haven for crypto innovation in the years to come.”

SC Ventures Exits Digital Asset Custody Infrastructure InvestmentSC Ventures, the Singapore-headquartered corporate venture capital arm of Standard Chartered Bank, has announced its decision to divest its stake in Metaco, a Swiss-based digital asset custody firm. As one of Metaco’s early adopters, SC Ventures played a crucial role in supporting the company’s growth and development.Photo by Pixabay on PexelsDissolving a partnershipHaving been the largest institutional investor in the digital custody infrastructure firm, SC Ventures contributed significantly to the enhancement of Metaco’s award-winning custody product. The partnership between the two entities facilitated valuable contributions in various areas, including corporate governance, business strategy, institutional use cases, and access to SC Ventures’ extensive ecosystem. Through their collaboration, SC Ventures aimed to provide institutions with a secure and compliant ecosystem for operating digital assets.Ripple acquisitionIn a recent development, enterprise blockchain company Ripple acquired Metaco for $250 million. Ripple’s acquisition of Metaco signifies its diversification into custody solutions, expanding its business opportunities within the blockchain sector. With this move, Ripple aims to offer its customers technology that enables custody, issuance, and settlement of various types of tokenized assets. Further evidence of Ripple’s interest in this area emerged last week with the news that the company is collaborating with authorities in Hong Kong to showcase real world asset tokenization.Despite the acquisition, Metaco will continue to operate as an independent brand and business unit, under the leadership of its founder and CEO, Adrien Treccani. This decision ensures continuity and stability for Metaco’s existing clients and partners while benefiting from the resources and support provided by Ripple.Ongoing linkWhile the divestment of a division of an international banking behemoth like Standard Chartered from a digital asset infrastructure firm may seem like a bad news story, it’s likely not that straightforward. It’s worth noting that Zodia Custody, itself a digital assets custody venture incubated by SC Ventures, continues to maintain a strategic partnership with Metaco.The ongoing collaboration between Zodia Custody and Metaco focuses on matters related to compliance and risk management. This partnership ensures that both companies can leverage their respective expertise to address the increasing demand for safe and compliant access to cryptocurrencies and digital assets from institutional investors.Despite this divestment, it appears that SC Ventures still recognizes the importance of supporting emerging technologies on the cusp of adoption through its continued involvement with Zodia Custody, continuing advancements in the digital asset space.SC Ventures’ exit from its stake in Metaco marks a significant milestone in the ongoing evolution of both companies. While SC Ventures has played a vital role in Metaco’s growth, the acquisition by Ripple opens up new opportunities for Metaco to expand its offerings and cater to a broader customer base. Meanwhile, the collaboration between Zodia Custody, Metaco, and SC Ventures ensures that institutional investors have access to secure and compliant solutions as the demand for digital asset services continues to rise.

Dominik Schiener, the co-founder of distributed ledger technology (DLT) project IOTA, outlined on X on Dec. 12 that he had met with Cristina Aldeguer-Roque, Secretary of Trade of the Philippines. Commenting further, Schiener wrote: “We are looking forward to expand IOTA and our trade infrastructure TWIN across South East Asia in 2025.” Photo by iSawRed on UnsplashCutting through trade barriersTWIN refers to IOTA’s Trade Worldwide Information Network, a continuation of another longstanding IOTA project, the Trade and Logistics Information Pipeline (TLIP). The objective of TWIN is to cut through trade barriers and improve connections between disparate national trading systems. In rolling out the network, IOTA has formed a consortium which includes organizations such as TradeMark Africa, the Global Alliance for Trade Facilitation and the Chartered Institute of Export & International Trade. TWIN seeks to optimize trade processes by merging physical goods with digital infrastructure, eliminating inefficiencies and boosting transparency. Schiener anticipates that once participants place data on the network, they will ultimately tokenize assets on it. In turn, this will result in utility for the IOTA token, once TWIN is released on the IOTA mainnet. The TWIN project is currently staffed by 28 people but Schiener believes that this will grow to 100 people over the course of the next two years. The project originally emerged in Germany, with the IOTA Foundation having its headquarters in Berlin. Initially, IOTA concerned itself with European blockchain initiatives in trying to find its place in the industry. Earlier this year, its Web3 identity authentication solution was chosen by the European Commission for inclusion within the European Blockchain Sandbox Initiative (EBSI). In August, the IOTA Foundation completed the final stage of the European Union’s blockchain pre-commercial procurement (PCP) program. Strategic expansionHowever, over the course of the past year, the project has expanded towards searching for product market fit within emerging markets. In November 2023, the project established the IOTA Ecosystem DLT Foundation within the Abu Dhabi Global Market (ADGM) financial center in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). This marked the first DLT foundation to have established itself within the ADGM.  $100 million in funding was provided with the objective of nurturing the IOTA ecosystem and accelerating the growth of the IOTA protocol. Since then, the TON Foundation and the Aptos Foundation have moved to register under the ADGM’s DLT Foundations framework. East Africa has been ground zero for IOTA’s attempts to enhance cross-border processes related to trade documentation, where it has been working with TradeMark Africa and local regulators. In Singapore, the IOTA Foundation has collaborated with global innovation ecosystem Tenity to establish the IOTA Accelerator, a 12-week initiative aimed at assisting early-stage startups concerned with real-world asset (RWA) tokenization within the IOTA ecosystem. Schiener’s meeting in the Philippines would suggest that the project is making greater efforts still in terms of bringing about the adoption of the technology in Southeast Asia. In his X post, Schiener wrote: “Let's connect the world with sovereign digital infrastructure.”