Korea’s Bithumb joins forces with Interpol to fight crypto crime

Financial technology firm Circle is taking a measured approach in Hong Kong, favoring focus over expansion. In an interview with the Hong Kong Economic Journal, cited by local financial content provider AAStocks, Yam Ki Chan, the company’s vice president for Asia Pacific, said there are no current plans to issue a stablecoin pegged to the Hong Kong dollar. Still, he noted the company’s openness to partnering with local initiatives, adding that Circle has been in discussions with several firms to share its expertise and insights. The firm hopes the Chinese special administrative region will evolve into a launchpad for stablecoins tied to the local currency alongside other major currencies. Chan said Circle is doubling down on its two core products, the U.S. dollar stablecoin USDC and the euro stablecoin EURC. He pointed out that USDC has been catching on across the region, with more local corporations and professional investors starting to use it. His comments come after the Stablecoins Ordinance came into force on Aug. 1 in the city, setting up a mandatory licensing system for issuers under the Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA). The regulator has said it does not plan to hand out the first licenses until early next year.Photo by tommao wang on UnsplashMoving assets on-chainWhile Circle continues to focus on stablecoins, other firms are finding new ways to bring traditional assets on-chain. DL Holdings, a Hong Kong-headquartered one-stop financial services group, is moving ahead with plans to tokenize about $40 million worth of its non-voting Class B membership interest in ONE Carmel, its luxury real estate investment project in California’s San Francisco Bay Area. The initiative, the firm’s first step into real-world asset (RWA) tokenization, will use blockchain-based smart contracts to automate distributions, transfers, and investor rights, allowing the company to pay out dividends to shareholders and give on-chain investors a chance to participate in ONE Carmel. Insurance is another testbed for blockchain. Anthea Holding Limited, a crypto-fintech licensed by the Bermuda Monetary Authority, raised $22 million in a Series A led by Yunfeng Financial. The proceeds will fund what Anthea says is the world’s first life insurance policy denominated in Ethereum (ETH). Yunfeng Financial, listed in Hong Kong, has close ties to Alibaba founder Jack Ma. Mainland firms deepen crypto exposureMainland companies are stepping into crypto investments. Hangzhou-based Jiuzi Holdings, a Nasdaq-listed operator of new energy vehicle stores, said it completed a private placement transaction settled in 100 Bitcoin. The company plans to allocate the proceeds to building a digital-asset custody platform and developing encrypted storage systems. Separately, China Renaissance is seeking to raise around $600 million for a publicly listed vehicle designed to invest in BNB, the cryptocurrency tied to Binance, according to Bloomberg. Venture firm YZi Labs, formerly Binance Labs, is expected to join the effort. In an August filing, the Beijing-based investment bank said it would commit about $100 million of its own capital to BNB. If completed, the proceeds would establish a U.S.-based crypto treasury company to hold and manage BNB reserves. Back in Hong Kong, momentum in the digital asset sector is now reaching the capital markets. HashKey Group, the financial services firm behind a licensed crypto exchange, has confidentially filed for an initial public offering in the city. Bloomberg reported the plan, citing a source familiar with the matter. The listing could take place as early as this year and raise up to $500 million. Market bounces back on softer trade rhetoricAmid these developments, crypto prices have rebounded from sharp losses linked to trade tensions between Washington and Beijing. The market had tumbled after U.S. President Donald Trump threatened to impose additional 100% tariffs on China. Sentiment shifted when Trump softened his stance on Truth Social, writing, “Don’t worry about China, it will all be fine!” and “The U.S.A. wants to help China, not hurt it!!!” Bitcoin reflected that whiplash. The token dropped to $103,893.3 on Oct. 10 during what Investing.com described as the largest single-day liquidation in crypto history at nearly $19 billion in positions. It has since recovered to $112,608.31 as of publication time. 

Mixin Network Suspends Services Amid $200 Million HackOn Monday, Mixin Network, a decentralized peer-to-peer network whose project team is based in Hong Kong, officially confirmed a substantial security breach that resulted in the loss of approximately $200 million in crypto assets from its mainnet.Photo by GuerrillaBuzz on UnsplashSeptember 23 hackThis incident, disclosed via an X (formerly Twitter) post, prompted the immediate suspension of all deposit and withdrawal services on Mixin Network until further notice.The project team outlined that the hack occurred on September 23, exposing vulnerabilities that allowed malicious actors to compromise the database of a third-party cloud service provider. Mixin Network has taken action to address the situation, enlisting the expertise of Singapore-headquartered blockchain security investigator SlowMist and the support of Google to conduct a thorough investigation and formulate a recovery plan.At the time of the breach, Mixin Network’s holdings included $94.48 million in Ether, $23.55 million in Dai, and $23.3 million in Bitcoin, as reported in an independent investigation by PeckShield. The total value of assets affected amounted to $141.32 million.Cyvers, an Israeli Web3 security firm, has also been looking into the matter on Monday. In a social media post, the firm stated:”Our internal investigation has uncovered suspicious funding transactions involving @MixinKernel hacker addresses. Two of hacker addresses received 51 $ETH from 0x1795F0eBDa5A836aE63F28CE546E72de069A8bd2 who was interacted with @HuobiGlobal and @binance.”The firm goes on to call on Binance and its CEO Changpeng Zhao (CZ) and Huobi to help identify the wallet address in question.Halting withdrawalsIn response to the security breach, Mixin Network has temporarily halted all deposits and withdrawals on its platform. These services will only resume once the vulnerabilities have been identified and fully resolved. On X, the project stated:”Deposit and withdrawal services on Mixin Network have been temporarily suspended. After discussion and consensus among all nodes, these services will be reopened once the vulnerabilities are confirmed and fixed. During this period, transfers are not affected.”Details regarding the plans to recover the lost assets for affected users have yet to be announced.Despite initial promises that Mixin Network’s Founder, Feng Xiaodong, would address the incident in a public Mandarin live stream on September 25, links to the live stream were not provided on the official social media channels or the website mixin.network.The incident has garnered criticism on the basis of a lack of decentralization. One commentator stated:”Some of those blockchain protocols are so decentralized that when their cloud database is hacked, coins are also gone.”Ongoing hacksThis security breach on Mixin Network is the latest in a series of high-profile crypto-related incidents. Ethereum Co-Founder Vitalik Buterin recently fell victim to a SIM swap attack, which resulted in the compromise of his X (formerly Twitter) account.In a statement, Buterin revealed that the hackers had successfully executed a SIM swap, a type of attack that targets the victim’s mobile phone number to gain unauthorized access to various online accounts, including social media, banking, and cryptocurrency platforms.The repercussions of the Mixin Network hack underscore the ongoing challenges faced by the crypto industry in ensuring the security and protection of digital assets. As investigations continue, affected users await further developments and the eventual resumption of deposit and withdrawal services.

Aevo, the Singaporean crypto derivatives platform, is gearing up to broaden its ecosystem by allowing other protocols to build on its rollup infrastructure. ‘The future is modular’Currently, Aevo exchange is the sole application on its rollup, but according to Julian Koh, co-founder of Ribbon Finance, the platform's parent protocol, the intention is to open it up for other developers. On Tuesday, Koh retweeted a social media post by the company which stated “The future is modular,” adding the comment “build whatever.” Koh told The Block that "the primary angle here is we are currently built on our own rollup — but Aevo exchange is currently the only app on this rollup. Our plan is basically to open this up for other [developers] as well and build an ecosystem around our exchange."Photo by Shubham Dhage on UnsplashTransitioning to CelestiaAevo, specializing in options and derivatives trading, operates on its own Layer 2 network, built using the OP Stack and running atop the Ethereum blockchain. In a cost-saving initiative, the platform plans to transition to Celestia for storing transaction data in the near term. Celestia launched on mainnet last October with the aim of enhancing blockchain scalability. It’s a modular data availability network which securely scales relative to the number of network users. This expansion is part of a broader roadmap set to be unveiled in the coming weeks, as Aevo looks towards achieving aggressive growth. According to DeFi data aggregator DeFiLlama, Aevo has already been hitting ever higher numbers in recent months. Only two months ago, the protocol had $10 million total value locked (TVL). At the time of writing that metric has increased to $50 million. Last month, the platform achieved a new record-high weekly trading volume level in excess of $500 million. Julian Koh attributes this growth in part to Aevo's yield-bearing balances. Users deposit their crypto, which is then sent to MakerDAO to generate yield. In return, users receive a derivative token to trade on the Aevo platform, providing a mechanism for traders to earn yield while actively engaging in trading. 2023 rebrandRibbon Finance, which initially launched Aevo separately, merged the projects under the Aevo branding in July 2023. As part of the rebrand, an Aevo token will be introduced, with a 1:1 exchange rate for RBN token holders during migration. Post-rebrand, Aevo plans to roll out an incentive program aimed at boosting the platform's metrics.  Looking ahead, Aevo plans to delve deeper into yield offerings, drawing inspiration from Ribbon Finance. The platform aims to launch yield strategies in Q1 of this year, allowing users to lock up their crypto in various setups designed to generate returns, with the tokens being unavailable for trading during this period. One notable strategy that has contributed to Aevo's appeal is the pre-launch trading of upcoming tokens. The platform supports trading for tokens expected to launch soon, often through airdrops, providing an opportunity for traders to hedge against airdrops or lock in specific prices before the official launch. The project team membership draws on past experience at Coinbase, Kraken and Goldman Sachs, with academic backgrounds attained from Stanford, MIT and Cornell University.