Bithumb lowers fees and enhances UX to bolster competitiveness

Thailand’s Ministry of Finance has announced a new tax measure that will mean tax exemptions on crypto trading gains over a five-year period in an effort to promote the Southeast Asian country as a global crypto hub. According to a statement published to a government website publicizing the introduction of the measure, Deputy Finance Minister Julapun Amornvivat said that the tax break will apply to market participants in Thailand who trade digital assets through exchanges, brokers and dealers licensed under the Digital Assets Business B.E. 2561 legislation, from Jan. 1, 2025 through Dec. 31, 2029. The deputy minister believes that the new measure will put Thailand on the right footing in developing the crypto sector, while that sectoral development will be monitored all the while by the Thai regulator, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).  Amornvivat is conscious of a need to balance nurturing the crypto sector with full compliance in terms of anti-money laundering (AML) policies, in line with international practice as set out by the Financial Action Task Force (FATF).Photo by Kaboompics.com on PexelsGreater transparencyThe deputy minister also confirmed upcoming changes that would lead to greater transparency. He stated:”The Revenue Department is in the process of implementing the OECD’s Crypto-Asset Reporting Framework (CARF), which is an exchange of digital asset data with countries around the world, which will make digital asset transactions more transparent.” Taking to X, Amornvivat claimed that the policy aligns with OECD standards, and said it "is another important step in raising the economic potential of [Thailand] and is an opportunity for Thai entrepreneurs to grow on the world stage." This is not the first time the Thai authorities have looked at crypto-related taxation. Back in March the government approved a tax break targeting investors who generated capital gains from holding investment tokens. At that time, it was outlined that the government wanted to incentivize the use of investment tokens for fundraising purposes. In the medium term, Amornvivat believes that these measures will lead to growth in the overall Thai economy and an increase in tax revenue by approximately one billion baht ($30.6 million). Bitkub, Thailand’s largest crypto exchange, didn’t waste any time in responding to the development. On X, it advised its user base that “the wait is over,” with tax-free trading now possible on the platform. Competing global centersAssad Dar, a founder of Dubai-based Web3 gaming startups OYA Play and MoonGaming, took to social media to draw attention to the development in the context of initiatives being taken elsewhere to drive crypto. He described Thailand’s five-year tax break as a “big move,” while considering incentives offered in places like Dubai and Pakistan recently. He added:”Each place is trying to support crypto in its own way.” While competition around the world heats up to attract more crypto-related development and business activity, some fear getting left behind. Indian crypto influencer Rananjay Singh noted this latest development in Thailand while pointing out that crypto market participants in India still have to pay 30% tax on crypto-related capital gains as well as 1% tax deducted at source (TDS). 

SC Ventures and Deutsche Bank Execute Stablecoin Payments via UDPNSC Ventures, the Singaporean disruptive technology investment subsidiary of UK banking conglomerate Standard Chartered, has partnered with Deutsche Bank in completing the first successful proof of concept (PoC) for the Universal Digital Payments Network (UDPN).Photo by Conny Schneider on UnsplashConnecting blockchain networks with CBDCsThe UDPN is a brainchild of Hong Kong’s Red Date Technology, which in turn is a co-founder of the Chinese Blockchain-Based Service Network (BSN). The PoC was aimed at facilitating seamless connections between central bank digital currencies (CBDCs) and various blockchain networks through message-based transactions.News of the successful PoC emerged via a report by India’s English-language business newspaper Financial Express earlier this week. In conventional finance and international payments, the Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication (SWIFT) is the foremost, dominant financial messaging service. Notably, UDPN distinguishes itself from SWIFT as it operates on a permissioned blockchain, ensuring heightened security and regulatory compliance.As part of the PoC, several real-time transfers and swaps of synthetic USDC and EURS (Stasis Euro stablecoin) were executed between the two banks. While SC Ventures utilized code that leveraged UDPN software development kits (SDKs) and APIs, Deutsche Bank employed a graphical user interface. Rafael Otero, CTO and CPO of Deutsche Bank’s Corporate Bank division, emphasized the significance of this trial, stating that it provides an opportunity to explore how clients can actively engage in the decentralized global economy. Otero sees this as the logical next step in the evolution of financial transactions.Overcoming digital currency adoption challengesUDPN has been under development in collaboration with consultancy firm GFT Technologies and DLA Piper’s Hong Kong-based digital asset creation platform, TOKO, with further governance provided by the UDPN Alliance.The primary goal of UDPN is to overcome the hurdles that hinder the broader adoption of digital currencies, especially in the face of the surging number of CBDCs, stablecoins, and deposit tokens. The lack of interoperability among these digital assets necessitates innovative solutions.Currently, interoperability among stablecoins primarily relies on centralized cryptocurrency exchanges. However, due to the absence of proper oversight and regulatory framework in these exchanges, this method is not a sustainable solution for achieving interoperability between CBDCs and deposit tokens.UDPN takes a unique approach by providing a decentralized identity infrastructure. The actual currency transactions occur on their respective native blockchains or infrastructures. This means that UDPN enables users to seamlessly swap a USDC stablecoin on one network for a Euro stablecoin on another or even a bank deposit token.Improving upon financial messaging systemsAs UDPN incorporates an element of financial messaging for digital currencies, this hybrid approach streamlines transactions, eliminates the need for reconciliations, and enables atomic settlement. Therefore, UDPN ensures that either both sides of a transaction succeed or both fail. In contrast, purely messaging-based systems can result in one side of the transaction failing.SWIFT recently experimented with a messaging solution to connect CBDCs, and other conventional integration methods are being explored, involving APIs and routing networks, such as finP2P. It has collaborated with the central banks of Hong Kong and Kazakhstan recently in testing CBDC connectors.A report by Nikkei Asia last week suggested that Standard Chartered is venturing further into the world of digital currencies, particularly so in Asia, via SC Ventures.

ClearVue Partners-Backed Crypto Startup Fund Closed at $50MThe CVP NoLimit Fund I, a crypto-centric fund established by China’s ClearVue Partners, a private equity specialist, has been closed out, reaching a funding level of $50 million.Photo by micheile henderson on UnsplashFunding target achievedThe closing of the fund was announced recently by No Limit Holdings, an investment partnership specializing in global crypto assets based in Malta. ClearVue had entered into a joint venture with No Limit Holdings in order to establish the fund. No Limit Holdings was founded by former Binance Chief Strategy Officer Gin Chao. Partnering with Chao in that venture is another former Binance executive, Anatoly Kondiyakov, who served as Binance’s Head of APAC Institutional Sales in Singapore for four years.News of the fund first emerged in October 2022, when the fund promoters started to distribute a pitch deck. It’s understood that the fund was targeting investment into layer one blockchains prior to their native tokens going live.Chao made the following statement relative to the closing of the fund:“We are grateful for the confidence and trust that our partners have placed in us for this first fund, particularly given the breadth of industries our LP base represents and the challenging macroeconomic conditions during this period. At the same time, this has created an ideal window to deploy capital into the exciting opportunities that the current market presents.”Web3 “where the Internet was in the late 90s”ClearVue Partners Founder, Harry Hui, said that the firm was “excited to team up with Gin and the NLH team. They have deep sector expertise and an incredible track record of success.” Hui added that “Web3.0 is where the Internet was in the late 90s and as blockchain adoption increases, we believe there will be significant value creation for both for our investors as well as for our consumer and technology portfolio companies.”The CVP NoLimit Fund I has already invested in more than twenty crypto projects located globally. Two of them have been listed on multiple digital asset exchanges. Meanwhile, the fund’s administrators have suggested that it has established a robust pipeline of investible projects, and that it has the expectation to invest in an additional twenty projects over the course of the next twelve months.Seed-stage focusThe fund has been focusing on early-stage projects and strategic funding rounds, with individual investments of between $250,000 and $3 million. Some of the projects it has backed thus far include Binance.US, crypto and blockchain infrastructure firm Mysten Labs, Singapore-based dApp developer Hogwarts Labs, Connext Labs which claims to be the HTTP of Web3, and decentralized digital asset money market, IQ Labs.Venture capital investment into the crypto and Web3 space broke all records during the last crypto bull market. Naturally, it has suffered a huge decline in its wake. However, the closing out of this $50 million fund demonstrates that ultimately new money will return to the sector.This is further exemplified by a recent announcement by Kraken Ventures, the venture investment wing of the well-known crypto exchange business, setting out that it is raising a second $100 million fund, earmarked for investment within the sector.