Intella X teams up with Galxe to ramp up ecosystem

Regulatory Approval Sees Crypto.com Expand Services to SpainSingapore-based cryptocurrency exchange service provider Crypto.com has achieved a significant milestone by obtaining a virtual asset service provider registration from Spain’s central bank, the Bank of Spain.The company announced the achievement via a statement published to its website on Friday. This regulatory approval grants Crypto.com the opportunity to offer a wide range of crypto-focused services to customers in Spain, a country that has recently shown a positive approach towards cryptocurrencies.Photo by Pixabay on PexelsCompliance reviewIn order to secure this approval, Crypto.com underwent a thorough review of its compliance with the Anti-Money Laundering Directive and ensured adherence to other financial crime laws. This recent regulatory success in Spain comes shortly after Crypto.com acquired a major payment institution license for digital payment token services from the Monetary Authority of Singapore, further cementing its position as a trusted and compliant player in the crypto industry.Kris Marszalek, the CEO of Crypto.com, hailed the entry into the Spanish crypto market as a testament to the company’s commitment to compliance. He expressed enthusiasm about collaborating with the Bank of Spain and emphasized Crypto.com’s dedication to providing users with a comprehensive, safe, and secure crypto experience.Global licensing accumulationWith the latest regulatory approval, Crypto.com establishes itself as a regulated platform in nearly a dozen countries. In addition to Spain, the company has obtained regulatory nods in prominent jurisdictions such as Singapore, France, the United Kingdom, Dubai, South Korea, Australia, Italy, Greece, and the Cayman Islands.The journey of Crypto.com mirrors the growth trajectory of the crypto industry during the bull market of 2021–2022. Like many other crypto businesses, Crypto.com experienced remarkable expansion, forming strategic partnerships with mainstream entities and gaining regulatory approvals across multiple jurisdictions. One notable achievement was Crypto.com securing the naming rights to the renowned Staples Center in Los Angeles, a multipurpose arena that hosts a wide range of public events, including boxing and basketball competitions.Market challengesHowever, the recent bear market presented challenges for the platform. Decreased demand resulted in business difficulties, leading Crypto.com to make the strategic decision to close its institutional platform in the United States in early June.Earlier this week, the company garnered adverse publicity when it was found that it has been using an internal market maker to trade against its own customers. Despite this setback, Crypto.com remains resolute in its mission to expand its presence and offer crypto services in new markets.The regulatory approval in Spain marks a significant step forward for Crypto.com’s global expansion plans. As the crypto industry continues to evolve, regulatory compliance plays a pivotal role in building trust.The development of digital assets has proven to be imperfect. Crypto.com’s experience appears to mirror that reality. Notwithstanding the market difficulties that the firm has experienced and some occurrences that serve to blemish its record, successfully obtaining regulatory approval in Spain is still a positive step for the company in further establishing itself as a global player in the retail crypto domain.

Alchemy Pay, a Singapore-based platform that supports fiat to crypto purchases across 173 countries using Visa, Mastercard, regional mobile wallets and domestic transfers, has announced that it now provides a rupee-denominated on-ramp using India’s UPI real-time payments system.Photo by rupixen.com on UnsplashIn a recent blog post, the fiat to crypto payments solutions provider outlined that it now has the capacity to more effectively on-ramp India’s 1.4 billion citizens by enabling domestic transfer payments to effect crypto purchases through the Unified Payments Interface (UPI), a popular instant payments system in India. Processing domestic transactionsThe move means that Indian citizens can interact with the platform by way of simple, real-time domestic transfers, with a minimum purchase value of 1250 INR. First introduced in 2016, UPI has been wildly successful. In September 2022, the system recorded a monthly transaction volume of 6.7 billion transactions, representing a movement of $140 billion.The platform has partnered with 358 banks and continues to grow and expand its network. In Alchemy Pay’s home territory of Singapore, UPI has recently secured an integration with PayNow, a Singaporean secure funds transfer service. Referring to the PayNow/UPI integration in its blog post, Alchemy Pay is likely to be extending its UPI-based transfer service as a direct consequence.The payments facilitator claims that its plugin is “now being used by many wallets, DeFi, gaming and NFT marketplaces, as well as exchanges like OKX and LBank.”The Alchemy Pay platform has focused in particular on emerging regional real-time payments platforms. Within emerging markets it supports similar systems such as Pix, SPEI, GCash, Dana and OVO. As the Singaporean start-up puts it, ”simplifying the on-boarding process is crucial for the widespread adoption of cryptocurrencies and by enabling local payment options, Alchemy Pay makes the adoption by a growing number of users possible.”Off the back of this expanded service offering, the company is currently inviting developers of Web3 platforms and dApps to get in touch so as to enable them in adding its plugin and integrating its API. Importance of bridging crypto with fiatIn another blog post on Monday, Alchemy Pay underscored the importance of an ability to on/off ramp to and from the crypto ecosystem. The company points out that in its recent history, the crypto space has been a complex and intimidating environment to enter or exit to/from the conventional world. It claims to be playing its part in changing this.According to the firm, its available options of transferring fiat currency to a user’s credit card, savings card or bank account via SWIFT, IBAN or local bank transfer is far more seamless than what has been offered to crypto space participants up until now. These transfers can be effected in minutes, with the platform supporting 22 currencies and payouts facilitated in over 60 countries.The digital assets space doesn’t exist in a vacuum. Current generations were all born into fiat-based monetary systems and naturally enough, the overwhelming majority of wealth is tied up within traditional systems.While digital assets have garnered quite a bit of attention over the course of the past few years, the overall market capitalization of crypto, which stands at $1.2 trillion at the time of publication according to cryptocurrency data aggregator CoinGecko, is only a drop in the bucket by comparison with the wealth that exists within the conventional system. More seamless bridging in line with what Alchemy Pay is offering will be necessary for this space to have a realistic chance of conquering mass market adoption.

In a recent report, Circle Internet Financial, the issuer of the USDC stablecoin, emphasized the growing adaptability of the Asian population towards digital currencies. This trend indicates a substantial potential for increased stablecoin usage in the Asia Pacific region. On Monday, the firm published "The State of the USDC Economy 2024 Report," providing a trove of relevant and timely data. Since its launch in 2018, the USDC stablecoin has facilitated over $12 trillion in blockchain transactions. The focus of the report is on the surge in remittances flowing into Asia, highlighting its growing presence. Remittances of $130 billion into AsiaAccording to a World Bank press release, remittances to Asia reached $130 billion in 2022, with the average cost of transferring $200 standing at 5.7% in the last quarter of the year. Meanwhile, the region accounted for 29% of all global digital asset value received, surpassing North America's 19% and Western Europe's 22%. Against this backdrop, the report sheds light on Circle's strategic partnership with Coins.ph, a crypto exchange in the Philippines, which aims to tap into the country's personal remittance demand, estimated at around $36 billion annually.  In another blog post, the company also dispels the notion that stablecoins are primarily used for speculative trading, citing a 90% decline in such activities over the past five years. This shift in usage patterns highlights the growing acceptance and adoption of stablecoins for practical applications like remittances and trade finance.Photo by Marjan Blan on UnsplashIncreasingly important role in trade financeImportantly, Circle asserts that USDC can play a role in closing the region's $510 billion trade finance gap. This gap represents the lack of liquidity available to companies for cross-border remittances and credit, particularly affecting emerging markets with capital outflow restrictions. The report underlines how businesses in these markets often struggle to secure funding for international trade, and USDC is emerging as a solution. One notable case study is Taipei-based XREX, which utilizes USDC to build financial pipelines between countries, leveraging the deep dollar liquidity in Taiwan to address the dollar scarcity in other Southeast Asian economies. This exemplifies how stablecoins like USDC are contributing to bridging financial gaps and facilitating international trade in regions with limited access to traditional banking services. Stablecoin-specific regulationThe regulatory landscape in the Asia-Pacific region is also evolving to accommodate stablecoins. Countries like Singapore, Hong Kong and Japan have implemented or proposed frameworks for stablecoin regulation, aligning with the growing importance of digital assets in the financial ecosystem. Circle has become increasingly active within the APAC region. In November, the firm joined forces with Japanese financial services conglomerate SBI Holdings to increase the circulation of USDC within Japan. Having been awarded a Major Payments Institution (MPI) license in Singapore in June, Circle followed that up later in the year by launching a zero-fee USDC minting facility within the city-state. Considering these developments, the Asia-Pacific region, with its large unbanked population and significant digital wallet usage, is predicted to witness quick adoption of stablecoins for cross-border payments.