Credit Saison launches $50M blockchain fund, deepening push into emerging markets

Following the recent bitcoin boom, transactions in cryptocurrencies among Korean investors have surged, significantly benefiting local banks that have made contracts with Korean crypto exchanges to offer real-name accounts for crypto investors. As the price of bitcoin soared to as high as KRW 90 million ($67.6 million) in Korea on Thursday, online-only bank Kbank saw an uptick in trading fee revenue, according to local media outlet The Seoul Economic Daily. Kbank is a partner with crypto exchange Upbit, which accounts for 70% of the Korean crypto market.  Under the current law, Korean crypto exchanges offering trading against Korean won must secure real-name accounts from a bank. These banks typically earn fees of KRW 300 to KRW 1,000 per transaction. Currently, other than Kbank, NongHyup Bank offers real-name accounts to Bithumb, Kakaobank to Coinone, Shinhan Bank to Korbit and Jeonbuk Bank to Gopax.Photo by Kanchanara on UnsplashCrypto trading volume up 68.2% in a monthAccording to Xangle, a crypto data intelligence platform, the total crypto trading volume in Korea rose by 68.2% between the last week of January and the last week of February, rising from KRW 2.39 trillion to KRW 40.2 trillion. During the same period, the daily average trading volume also grew from around KRW 4 trillion to KRW 5.7 trillion.   In particular, the bitcoin trading volume on Upbit surged to 19,254 BTC on Feb. 28, reaching the second-highest level since Nov. 10, 2022, when the asset’s trading volume stood at 20,710 BTC. After signing the real-name account contract with Upbit in 2020, Kbank raked in KRW 29.2 billion in fees during the last bull market of 2021, which was equivalent to 14% of its annual interest income of KRW 198 billion and exceeded its net income for the year, which stood at KRW 22.5 billion. Increased bank deposits from exchange usersKbank also saw a substantial rise in its balance sheet, with Upbit users depositing around KRW 2.94 trillion into their real-name accounts. The sum is six times greater than the deposits made into NongHyup Bank by Bithumb users, which stood at KRW 547.1 billion.  Experts see that the surge in Kbank’s user base, which recently surpassed 10 million users, is largely attributed to growing excitement surrounding bitcoin. One crypto insider said that crypto trading fees, which have been on the decline for the past 2 years, could take a turn this year, signaling further gains for the affiliated banks.  

Mohammed AlKaff AlHashmi, co-founder of the HAQQ Network, has expressed the view that Indonesia has considerable potential to establish itself as Asia’s largest crypto hub. AlHashmi made the comments in a discussion with Crypto.news. HAQQ Network claims to be a scalable proof-of-stake-based blockchain, capable of high throughput. The network is fully compatible and interoperable with Ethereum. The project also focuses on the development of a Sharia-compliant Web3.  While the project is headquartered in Niqa Al Dheeb in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Indonesia is also a significant market for the company, given that it has just received regulatory approval for the HAQQ Network’s native token from the Indonesia Financial Services Authority (OJK). Islamic Coin (ISLM) is the network’s native token. It is being offered as a Sharia compliant digital currency, with Sharia law being the Islamic legal system that governs the lives of millions of Muslims throughout the world.Photo by Nick Agus Arya on UnsplashGateway marketOffering his thoughts on the Indonesian crypto market, AlHashmi stated: “When we look at Indonesia as a market, I would say it is incomparable. It can be number one to be honest. Because I have seen statistics of growth happening in a very big volume. The volume of trade, transactions and users, I think Indonesia can be very soon one of the top 3 countries in the world.” Indonesia takes on added importance for the HAQQ Network project. The project’s co-founder sees the Southeast Asian nation as a gateway into a broader market given that it has the largest Muslim population in the world. He said that if his project is successful in Indonesia, then there will be no barrier to enter markets in other predominately Muslim nations. The entrepreneur believes that Indonesia is on the cusp of realizing its potential within the crypto sector. He said that Indonesia has a “competitive edge” when compared with other nations. Population size and rapid economic growth feed into that potential, with AlHashmi claiming that Indonesia is primed to become the largest crypto hub in Asia. Smooth regulatory processFrom a regulatory perspective, he also feels that Indonesia is outperforming other jurisdictions. The HAQQ Network project team experienced a smooth process in acquiring regulatory approval for ISLM recently. He believes that although the process was detailed, it was completed quicker than he would expect in other countries.  AlHashmi added that “regulations are flexible enough to enable project owners to do good business to protect the community as well.” Local regulator, the OJK, has expressed an interest in exploring the development of Sharia-compliant crypto assets. Earlier this month, Hasan Fawzi, OJK's executive head overseeing crypto assets supervision, told local media that the regulator is open to advancing Sharia-based cryptocurrencies.  Hasan stated: “Globally and regionally, this is a common practice. It is not unusual to create crypto assets that adhere to Sharia principles.” The OJK executive is particularly interested in tokenization of real-world assets (RWAs). He believes that if this proves to be successful, it could lead to further Sharia-complaint crypto products being launched. The OJK is currently testing tokenized RWAs within a sandbox environment.

Uzbekistan’s New Private Bank Joins National Crypto Card InitiativeIn a step towards enhancing its cryptocurrency ecosystem, the Republic of Uzbekistan has given the green light to include another private bank in its ongoing national crypto card project. The development was announced through an official press release earlier this week by the National Agency of Perspective Projects (NAPP), the country’s regulatory authority for digital assets.Photo by engin akyurt on UnsplashBuilding upon a crypto frameworkUnder the provisions outlined by the Uzbekistan Ministry of Justice on December 30 of last year, the Special Regulatory Sandbox Regime was established. This unique framework empowers specific entities within Uzbekistan’s crypto sphere to provide specialized services. JSV Ravnaq Bank has now been registered as a member of this regime, enabling its active participation in the pilot phase of the nation’s crypto card project.Virtual bank cardThis initiative is poised to introduce a virtual bank card named “CRYPTO CARD — UzNEX.” The card’s standout feature is its ability to facilitate automatic fund addition to users’ primary accounts. This is achieved by swiftly converting crypto assets from a digital wallet on a partner crypto exchange platform.A vital aspect of the crypto card’s development lies in its compatibility testing with various financial systems, including the widely used Mastercard payment platform. According to NAPP’s statement, the participant bank within the special regulatory regime will be rigorously testing the integration of the automated banking system, crypto-exchange information system, bank processing center, and the MasterCard international payment system.December launchNotably, the addition of Ravnaq Bank marks the second entrant into the project, with Kapital Bank being the first participant approved in May. While Kapital Bank’s testing phase commenced at the end of June 2023, Ravnaq Bank is set to initiate its test launch by the end of October 2023. Both banks are expected to launch the full project by late December, in accordance with NAPP’s timeline.Beyond these private banks, the Special Regulatory Sandbox Regime also includes UZINFOCOM, a company authorized to develop NFT certificates based on distributed data registry technology.