Thai SEC seeks to revoke license of troubled Zipmex exchange

Bitcoin miner Bitdeer Technologies Group’s stock had a rough debut on the Nasdaq exchange, losing almost 30% of its value shortly after market open on Friday. The Singapore-based firm, which is one of the largest bitcoin miners in the world, had delayed its listing several times and saw a lukewarm reception from investors. Bitdeer’s merger with a special-purpose acquisition vehicle called Blue Safari Group Acquisition Corp was approved on Tuesday, paving the way for the listing. Mining across six sitesBitdeer has six mining sites across Washington state, Texas, Tennessee, and Norway, with a total energy capacity of 775 megawatts as of the end of 2022. It has a hashrate or computing power of 16.2 exahash per second (EH/s), second only to bankrupt miner Core Scientific and higher than Riot Platforms and Marathon Digital Holdings. Around one-quarter of the hashrate is used for self-mining, while the rest is given out for cloud mining, which means that customers rent the machines and reap the rewards.Despite the company’s impressive size and scale, Bitdeer’s financial performance deteriorated in 2022, which was partly due to worsening market conditions. The company reported revenue of $330.3 million and a loss of $62.4 million for the year, compared with $394.7 million in revenue and a profit of $82.6 million in the previous year. The company’s listing comes at a better time than last year, as market conditions have improved, and bitcoin has passed the $30,000 mark. Mining equities have also outperformed the digital asset in percentage growth. Differentiation of mining operatorsHowever, Bitdeer’s listing was not received as positively as expected, and the stock was halted several times for volatility shortly after the market opened. Other crypto mining stocks saw single-digit upticks in their share value at the same time. The market is beginning to shift from operators with the biggest scale to operators with the best unit economics, said investment bank Stifel Nicolaus’s analyst Bill Papanastasiou.This shift may explain why investors were not too keen on Bitdeer’s debut, as the company’s financials are not as strong as those of its competitors. Despite Bitdeer being larger than Marathon and Riot, based on its current share price and valuation, it is priced at a third of the value of its two industry peers.Bitdeer was born out of the world’s largest rig manufacturer, Bitmain, following a spat between the two co-founders. The firm is not the only cloud mining firm affiliated with Bitmain that is going public via SPAC, as BitFuFu is also in the process of going public, but has delayed its listing. Bitdeer’s stock debut may have been lackluster, but the company remains one of the largest bitcoin miners in the world.Shares in the newly quoted public company opened at $9.70, sliding to $6.30, before ending the first day’s trading at $7.03.

China Makes History by Settling Cross-Border Oil Deal with Digital YuanThe digital yuan, China’s central bank digital currency (CBDC), also known as e-CNY, was used for the first time to settle a significant oil transaction.Chinese state-owned media outlet China Daily reported on Saturday that the Shanghai Petroleum and Natural Gas Exchange (SHPGX) revealed on October 20 that PetroChina International, a subsidiary of the China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC), successfully acquired 1 million barrels of crude.Photo by engin akyurt on UnsplashAdvancing e-CNY use internationallyThis transaction is a response to the call by the Shanghai Municipal Party Committee and Municipal Government to incorporate the digital yuan into international trade, marking a noteworthy stride towards the broader adoption of the digital currency.The exact seller and price details for the deal were not disclosed. This historic crude oil transaction signals not only the increasing use of the digital yuan in global trade but also a noteworthy step in the movement towards de-dollarization. Reports from China Daily suggest that the use of the yuan in cross-border settlements experienced a remarkable 35% year-on-year increase in the first three quarters of 2023, reaching a total of $1.39 trillion.This milestone isn’t the first time the yuan has been utilized in the energy sector. In March, the yuan was first used in a liquefied natural gas (LNG) purchase on the SHPGX, as French TotalEnergies reached an agreement to sell LNG to the China National Offshore Oil Corporation (CNOOC). Recently, another LNG deal was executed between CNOOC and French Engie, although these transactions did not involve the digital yuan.In parallel developments, First Abu Dhabi Bank announced on October 19 that it had established an agreement on digital currency with the Bank of China during the third Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation. China and the United Arab Emirates, including Abu Dhabi, are participants in the mBridge platform designed to facilitate cross-border transactions using CBDCs. The mBridge platform is expected to launch as a minimum viable product in the coming year.Furthering mass adoptionThe Chinese authorities are taking several distinct approaches in furthering mass adoption of the e-CNY. The Chinese subsidiaries of both Singapore’s DBS Bank and France’s BNP Paribas have recently partnered with the People’s Bank of China to enable their international clients operating in China to use the digital yuan.A long list of initiatives have been taken within mainland China by regional governing authorities to further the use of the CBDC. To further enable mass adoption at home, a new offline SIM card-based digital yuan wallet was developed and launched earlier this year.The successful use of the digital yuan in settling this oil deal represents a significant step forward in the internationalization of China’s currency and the growing influence of CBDCs on the global economic stage. As the world watches these developments unfold, the digital yuan continues to make strides towards becoming a crucial means of exchange in international trade and finance.

Korean Financial Watchdog to Penalize Bankers Involved in Illegal Foreign RemittancesThe Korean Financial Supervisory Service (FSS) recently completed an investigation into illegal foreign remittances of approximately 16 trillion KRW (~$12,137,718,400) that involved numerous bankers.©Unsplash/Paul FiedlerExploiting the kimchi premiumThe investigation, launched by the Korean financial watchdog last June, found that these lawbreakers sent funds to China, Hong Kong, and other overseas destinations through Korean crypto exchanges, trading firms, and bank branches with an aim of making money through arbitrage by taking the advantage of the kimchi premium, a term used to describe that the higher prices of crypto assets in Korean exchanges compared to their foreign counterparts.Bankers neglecting the KYC ruleSome of these bankers participated in the crime by raising the remittance cap and applying favorable exchange rates to trading companies that had no previous transaction records with banks. By law, bankers in Korea are obligated to follow the “know your customer” rule. It was found that 12 domestic banks and one futures firm were involved in this incident.The FSS has decided to impose strict penalties on these financial institutions, considering they were exploited for money laundering purposes. These entities are likely to have some of their services suspended, with the employees involved being fired.Accountability of top bankersOne key point to watch out for is whether the FSS would be able to hold executives accountable. Some say penalizing top bankers is not easy, given that it has to be proven that the employees’ criminal activities were due to a lack of executives’ internal control.The financial regulator recently announced plans to revise the law governing banks’ governance, but it is expected that such a bill would take some time to pass through the National Assembly.Through a revision of the law, the financial authority aims to hold top executives at financial institutions more responsible for serious financial accidents. It looks forward to bestowing top bankers with the obligation of comprehensive internal control management and making them accountable as an overall manager only in case of critical financial accidents. The term “top executives” in the bill will encompass not only bank presidents but also chairpersons of financial holding companies. More specific revision plans are expected to be revealed by the end of this month.