Avalon integrated with Bybit to offer Bitcoin yield

Harvest Global to establish fixed income tokenized fundHong Kong investment firm Harvest Global Investments, in partnership with Meta Lab HK, is set to offer a tokenized U.S. dollar bond fund.The collaboration between Harvest Global Investments (HGI), an affiliate of Harvest Fund Management, and Meta Lab HK, backed by Harvest Digital Assets, marks a significant development in the crypto investment landscape within Hong Kong and the broader Asian region.Photo by Giorgio Trovato on UnsplashFirst fixed-income tokenized fund from Chinese institutionMeta Lab HK announced details of the new offering, detailed in a Nov. 22 post on X (formerly Twitter). The fund targets professional investors and will concentrate on U.S. dollar bonds with an investment-grade rating. Meta Lab wrote:”We have learned that this will be the first fixed-income tokenized fund introduced by a Chinese financial institution in Asia with a tokenization arrangement. The fund is exclusively available to professional investors and primarily invests in investment grade U.S. dollar bonds.”Meta Lab added, “The offering is set to be managed by HGI, a subsidiary of Harvest Fund in Hong Kong, with Meta Lab HK providing the tokenization solution.”The tokenization of the fund, a process transforming traditional financial assets into digital tokens, is expected to enhance accessibility and efficiency for investors. The notification to Hong Kong’s securities regulator has been duly completed, underscoring the compliance and regulatory adherence of the initiative.The move comes amidst a series of noteworthy developments emerging from Asia, occurring against the backdrop of persistent regulatory challenges facing the cryptocurrency industry in the United States.CoinFund market entryThis announcement follows closely on the heels of CoinFund, a New York-based investment firm, which revealed its plans to expand services into Asia earlier this week. Choosing Hong Kong as the inaugural location for this expansion, CoinFund cited the city’s appeal to crypto talents as a key factor. As Asia takes strides in pioneering tokenized funds, it suggests a competitive landscape in digital asset development that could rival the United States.It’s likely that Hong Kong is providing a workable environment for Harvest Global to take this tokenized product to market. In August, the local regulator, the Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA), published a report where it indicated an interest in pursuing tokenization as a means to improve aspects of the bond market. The report presented outcomes of Project Evergreen, an initiative the HKMA had been running to examine the potential of tokenization, which also incorporated the launch of a first-of-its-kind tokenized green bond.Regional tokenization interestRecent weeks have also seen further efforts being made within the Asian region in terms of bond tokenization. Last week, SC Ventures, the Singaporean investment subsidiary of British banking group Standard Chartered, unveiled a new platform called Libeara. That platform is working towards the launch of the first-ever tokenized Singapore dollar government bond fund.In the same week, the Bureau of the Treasury in the Philippines announced that it is issuing $179 million in one-year tokenized bonds, with the bonds being facilitated by the Development Bank of the Philippines and the Land Bank of the Philippines.

NEOPIN Strengthens Japanese Market Strategy for Its Global ExpansionNEOPIN, the global CeDeFi platform of South Korean investment holding company Neowiz Holdings, announced the strengthening of its strategy to enter the Japanese market as part of its global expansion plan.Photo by Aditya Anjagi on UnsplashThree key initiativesTo achieve this goal, NEOPIN has devised three key initiatives. Firstly, it will make investments in Japanese partners and provide support for their entry into other markets such as Korea, the Middle East, and Africa. Secondly, NEOPIN aims to facilitate the entry of its existing partners into Japan. Lastly, the Korean platform plans to collaborate closely with the Finschia Foundation and its members to effectively drive its expansion efforts in Japan.Web3 landscape in JapanSince the Mt. Gox incident in 2014, wherein the major Tokyo-based cryptocurrency exchange went bankrupt due to hacking attacks, Japan has responded by implementing stricter regulations. However, in recent times, the Japanese government has displayed a more positive stance towards Web3 technology, aiming to attain dominance in this sector. Illustrating this commitment, the Web3 project team, operating under the ruling Liberal Democratic Party’s (LDP) Working Group for Digital Society Promotion, released the Web3 White Paper in April. The document underscores Japan’s determination to lead the global market by fostering a business-friendly environment for Web3 innovation.Moreover, Prime Minister Fumio Kishida recently delivered a keynote speech at Japan’s annual Web3 conference, WebX, reaffirming the government’s dedication to establishing a Web3-friendly ecosystem. These initiatives signal Japan’s potential to contribute to the growth of the cryptocurrency and decentralized finance (DeFi) industry.Adaptation to regulationsNEOPIN’s operator Neowiz Partners, formerly known as NEOPLY, became part of the Innovation Programme of the Abu Dhabi Investment Office (ADIO) in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), with an aim to become the world’s first regulated DeFi platform. It is also working with the Abu Dhabi Global Market (ADGM) to develop a DeFi regulatory framework for the Gulf nation. In a similar vein, NEOPIN strives to respond quickly to the changing regulatory landscape in Japan to ensure the Korean CeDeFi protocol firmly establishes its presence in the Japanese market.In addition to providing direct and indirect service offerings in Japan, NEOPIN will also invest in and partner with local Web3 projects. One significant step taken by NEOPIN was its participation in IVS Crypto 2023, a high-profile Web3 startup event held in Kyoto in June. At this event, NEOPIN engaged with various Japanese businesses, initiating important connections. Since then, the Korean platform has been making progress in advancing communication and collaborations with Japanese enterprises.NEOPIN as blockchain validatorCollaboration with the Finschia Foundation will also be strengthened to achieve success in the Japanese market. In July, the blockchain mainnet Finschia launched its governance consortium and revealed its members. Within just four hours of the consortium’s launch, NEOPIN, as a governance member, received more than 1 million delegated votes, maintaining its position at the top spot in terms of voting power ever since. The Finschia mainnet was established by Line Tech Plus, a blockchain subsidiary of Tokyo-based messaging app giant Line Corporation.Serving as validators on various blockchains, including Ethereum, Tron, Cardano, and Cosmos, since 2017, NEOPIN has acquired blockchain and technical expertise. Last month, NEOPIN launched liquid staking products for ETH and KLAY, making it Korea’s first blockchain project to introduce an ETH liquid staking product. Liquid staking is a mechanism that allows users to deposit their cryptocurrencies into a staking pool, where they receive liquidity provider tokens in exchange. By holding these tokens, users can further redeposit them to earn additional yield.In light of this development, NEOPIN CEO Kim Yong-ki emphasized the CeDeFi protocol’s global expansion strategy, establishing its bases in the UAE, Japan, and Indonesia. These locations will serve as hubs for NEOPIN’s expansion efforts in the Middle East and Africa, Northeast Asia, and Southeast Asia. Kim added that NEOPIN will leverage its physical and human resources to achieve notable outcomes in the Japanese market.

Cryptotax secures pre-series A funding from HashedCryptotax, a South Korean cryptocurrency tax and accounting platform run by accounting firm Xxsoft, has secured an investment from Asian blockchain investment firm Hashed during its pre-series A funding round. This comes just 16 months after the company secured seed funding.Photo by Markus Winkler on UnsplashEmpowering financial clarityCryptotax is a platform that offers comprehensive virtual asset tax accounting services that allow both individual and corporate clients to monitor their virtual assets, view receipts of their transactions and calculate and report their virtual asset tax records. To do so, it collects and analyzes transaction history and asset details from crypto exchange accounts and digital wallets that users can register on their Cryptotax accounts.Individual investors can also monitor their assets and view their net profits, as well as receive a preview of the amount of tax they would actually have to pay later on based on those profits.On the other hand, corporate clients that issue or own virtual assets can get access to special services through Cryptotax’s solution as a service (Saas) dubbed Cryptotax Enterprise. By using this service, businesses, investment management firms and virtual asset issuers can benefit from automated tax processing and directly receive accounting documents.Harnessing technological prowess“We have been working hard to prove our technological and competitive capabilities through the establishment of the Cryptotax platform,” said Yoon Dong-hwan, CEO of Xxsoft, reaffirming the company’s efforts to rapidly expand the comprehensive platform and establish collaborative relationships.