Tether eyes South Korean market as stablecoins gain momentum

Thailand's government has recently secured approval for a $14 billion digital handout program as part of its economic recovery strategy. The program hasn’t come about without considerable debate and a backdrop of concerns expressed about the Southeast Asian nation's sluggish economic growth. According to Reuters, the decision was confirmed by Deputy Finance Minister Julapun Amornvivat, who stated that the Office of the Council of State, an advisory panel, found no legal obstacles to utilizing state budget funds for the initiative.Photo by Oleksandr P on PexelsDigital handout programThe digital handout program, a key policy of the ruling Pheu Thai party, involves distributing 10,000 baht (approximately $300) to digital wallets set up for each of the 50 million Thai citizens. This financial injection aims to stimulate spending within local communities, providing a much-needed boost to the economy. While the program has faced concerns about potential inflation risks due to Thailand's slow economic growth, the government has argued that it will ultimately benefit the economy. Julapun emphasized that the government plans to proceed with the scheme in May, funded through borrowing. Council of State and opposition party concernsEarlier reports had indicated that the Council of State had initially advised against the government's plan to enact a loan bill for the digital wallet scheme. Concerns were raised about potential violations of constitutional articles, including Article 140, which requires the government to offset any loans outside the budget bill in the next fiscal budget. In addition to inflation worries, the opposition expressed concerns about a potential breach of Article 53 of the 2018 State Fiscal and Financial Discipline Act, which permits off-budget borrowing only in urgent situations. Despite these concerns, the Office of the Council of State ultimately found no reason to prohibit the cabinet from borrowing to fund the program. Thailand's move towards a $14.3 billion cash handout program, termed the "digital wallet" program, is expected to commence by May. Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin affirmed this timeline after the Council of State's approval. The program, allowing Thais to receive funds via a mobile app, aims to spur consumption and overall economic growth. Election campaign giveawayThe idea of the digital asset giveaway was first floated by the Pheu Thai Party (PTP) in April of last year as part of its election manifesto. Subsequently, the party won the election in August, with Srettha being installed as Prime Minister. That appointment was interpreted as being a positive one by crypto advocates, given that Srettha had worked with crypto and blockchain-related technologies in his previous business dealings. Critics, including some economists and former central bank governors, argue that the handout plan could be fiscally irresponsible and fuel inflation. Prime Minister Srettha, who is also the finance minister, plans to discuss the stimulus plan and related matters with the central bank governor. The Thai Chamber of Commerce anticipates a 3% year-on-year growth in the first quarter of 2024, with an annual growth rate of 3.2%, driven by tourism and exports. The digital wallet scheme, if implemented as planned, could potentially add 1.0-1.5 percentage points to this year's growth, according to the chamber. 

Samjong KPMG and Xangle to explore on-chain data for crypto accountingSamjong KPMG, the South Korean branch of accounting giant KPMG, is set to collaborate with digital asset data research platform Xangle to conduct a joint study focused on discovering different ways to apply on-chain data in the realm of cryptocurrency accounting. That’s according to a report by local news outlet The Korea Economic Daily.On-chain data encompasses all transaction records found on a blockchain. This type of data enables real-time verification of transactions, benefiting from the blockchain’s transparency and decentralized framework. Despite these advantages, the complexity of accessing and interpreting on-chain data is often seen as a barrier to entry, requiring specialized knowledge.Photo by Sasun Bughdaryan on UnsplashCrypto accounting and tax filingThe partnership between the two entities is poised to tackle challenges in the crypto sector faced by enterprises. Samjong KPMG will use this collaboration to improve their cryptocurrency consulting services, offering solutions in areas like virtual asset issuance, asset management and disclosure, internal controls and the accounting and tax filing complexities associated with cryptocurrencies.ERP solutions for virtual assetsMeanwhile, Xangle will have the opportunity to gain insights into the practical needs and concerns of businesses in relation to on-chain data as the company is currently developing enterprise resource planning (ERP) solutions for virtual assets. The joint effort will enhance Xangle’s ability to align technical data with real-world business applications.Park Sung-bae, a Partner at Samjong KPMG, commented on this development, stating that the accounting firm plans to utilize the outcomes of their joint study with Xangle to address the uncertainties surrounding virtual asset disclosure requirements. This initiative is aimed at improving accounting transparency within South Korea’s cryptocurrency market.Lee Hyun-woo, Co-CEO of Xangle, highlighted that the company has concentrated on establishing the necessary infrastructure for processing on-chain data and conducting research to deepen their understanding of it. He added that their latest collaboration with Samjong KPMG will enhance Xangle’s expertise in the areas of cryptocurrency taxes and accounting. Lee underlined the platform’s commitment to streamlining the accounting processes related to virtual assets, viewing it as an initial step towards facilitating broader Web3 adoption.

Aptos Labs, the developers behind the Aptos layer-1 blockchain, has entered the Japanese market through the acquisition of HashPalette, a blockchain network concerned with the issuance, management and distribution of non-fungible tokens (NFTs). HashPalette informed stakeholders of the development on Oct. through an X post, alongside a press release published on its behalf by Japanese public relations company PR Times. Photo by Tianshu Liu on UnsplashExpanding Asian presenceUp until now, HashPalette has been a wholly owned subsidiary of HashPort, a blockchain-related consulting and infrastructure provider based in Tokyo. This acquisition sees the project transfer to being a wholly owned subsidiary of Aptos Labs. Accordingly, this will mean that applications developed by HashPalette will be migrated onto the Aptos Network. Similarly, the Palette Chain blockchain will migrate over to Aptos. From Aptos Labs’ perspective, the acquisition enables it to expand its blockchain ecosystem in Japan and within Asia more broadly. Aptos Labs Co-Founder Mo Shaikh described the acquisition as an investment in “the talented builders and creators of the region.”  Deal pending approvals, closing conditionsWhile the parties have announced the acquisition, the deal is still subject to required approvals being granted, together with various closing conditions related to the sale being met. Addressing the need to close out the deal, HashPalette tweeted:“HashPort and Aptos Labs will work closely together in the transition and will take great care to ensure that all stakeholders, including PLT and ELF holders, are not disadvantaged by the migration.” The PLT token is HashPalette’s native token. According to the project’s whitepaper, it has utility when it comes to the payment of NFT issuance fees and node management fees relative to the Palette Chain. Additionally, it can be used to pay for NFTs issued on the Palette Chain and for subscription payments related to applications developed on top of the network. The ELF token is a crypto asset utilized within THE LAND ELF Crossing, an NFT farming game which was developed by HashPalette and issued on the Palette Chain. The game is being marketed in Japan with the assistance of Animoca Brands following a partnership earlier this year. The companies have agreed to gradually migrate NFTs which had been issued on Palette Chain, relative to the EXPO2025 digital wallet developed by HashPort, to the Aptos Network. Once that migration has been achieved, it’s envisaged that the Aptos Network will become the only blockchain associated with the EXPO2025 digital wallet. Unresolved Palette Chain issuesFrom the point of view of the development team behind HashPalette, it was outlined in the press release that the move goes beyond a simple financial transaction. It acknowledged that “Palette Chain still has many issues.”  Against that background, the team believes that in order to further accelerate the social implementation of Web3, it has “considered how to make services built on Palette Chain more scalable and usable, and to enable smoother access to the global Web3 market.” That consideration has brought the project team to the conclusion that migrating to the Aptos Network offers the best path forward. At the time of writing, Aptos’ APT token was trading at $8.93, up 12.44% over the course of 24 hours, according to CoinMarketCap data.