Coinone Hires Former FSS Official as Head Auditor

Thailand’s capital markets supervisory agency, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), is preparing to launch a trading system, built on distributed ledger technology (DLT), to enable securities firms to trade tokenized securities.Photo by allPhoto Bangkok on PexelsTokenized investments gaining tractionThat’s according to a report published on Feb. 3 by Bangkok-based English language newspaper, the Bangkok Post. Jomkwan Kongsakul, deputy secretary-general of Thailand’s SEC, said that tokenized investments are gaining traction. With that, the development will give the regulator experience in supervision of the latest digital-era markets. The move is also seen as an indication to securities firms of the acceptability of DLT-based tokenized trading from a regulatory perspective in Thailand. The regulator plans to sign off on permitting securities firms to trade digital tokens, bootstrapping digital token trading through accessing the large investor bases of these firms. Commenting on the initiative, Jomkwan Kongsakul stated: “The SEC is leveraging technology to enhance efficiency in the capital market by promoting an electronic securities ecosystem,” while “new regulations will be launched to facilitate the issuance of electronic securities and online purchases of debentures.” Debentures are unsecured debt instruments issued by companies to raise funds. Efficient primary & secondary market tradingThe proposed system will incorporate primary and secondary market trading of fully digitized bonds. Other features will include investor registration and multiple blockchain support with the inclusion of blockchain interoperability capabilities. It is as yet unclear which blockchains the platform will be built around. Speaking on that topic, the SEC executive stated: “In the future, there may be multiple chains for trade. Trading through DLT on all systems is connected by a shared ledger, which is expected to be completed soon.” In its preparations to launch the system, the Thai SEC has approved four digital token projects thus far. Two more projects are understood to be at the review stage. The focus is being placed on green tokens and investment-based projects. The regulator believes that through tokenization, greater efficiency and liquidity can be achieved. There’s a delay of between seven and 14 days before bonds, which have been bought on the primary market, can be traded on a secondary market. Tokenization can help to resolve this issue.  Furthermore, where bonds are too expensive for investors or too illiquid, tokenization can help in both cases, broadening access to the range of products available to the investing public. In addition to this latest news, a number of positive signs have arisen from Thailand with respect to digital assets in recent weeks. It emerged last month that the SEC is considering approving spot Bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs) within the Southeast Asian nation.  Related to that development, SEC Secretary-General Pornanong Budsaratragoon said that the agency has “to adapt and ensure that our investors have more options in crypto assets with proper protection.” Last month, comments made regarding cryptocurrency by Thailand’s former Prime Minister, Thaksin Shinawatra, were quite positive. He called on the SEC to enable the trading of stablecoins. Since then, Thailand’s Minister of Finance, Pichai Chunhavajira, discussed plans to issue a stablecoin that would be based on the Thai Baht and backed by government bonds.

Ret Games Teams Up with Binance to Support Blockchain Acceleration ProgramKorean Web3 gaming studio Ret Games said Tuesday it has signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with Binance, the world’s largest crypto exchange, to support a blockchain company acceleration program spearheaded by Incheon Technopark’s Blockchain Center.Bolstering blockchain startupsThe two firms will team up as a single operator of the accelerator program that will supply Incheon-based startups and small companies with the resources required to grow their blockchain businesses and establish Incheon, a city next to the nation’s capital of Seoul, as a blockchain hub. They will also be joined by a third member of the operator — on-chain risk rating solution developer Undefined Labs.Photo by Shubham’s Web3 on Unsplash“We plan to work with Binance to operate an efficient and innovative acceleration program for Incheon-based startups, fostering their growth and development,” said Kim Sung-yoon, CEO of Ret Games.Binance will provide global networking and business consultations in areas such as business modeling and blockchain technology development, while Ret Games will contribute its blockchain infrastructure and development. Additionally, Undefined Labs will provide comprehensive insights into the blockchain industry, covering technology, market trends, and use cases.Five companies for the acceleration program were chosen by Incheon Technopark — AO2, Bemuse, enterBlock, Swan Electronics, and Asia Auto Pacific. They will begin receiving support worth 20 million KRW (approximately $15,000) starting this month.The operator will be required to monitor the progress of these companies during the course of the program, which will end on November 30.Second operatorThere will also be another operator for the program besides the consortium, which solely consists of venture capital firm Nanuhm Angels. It will enable participants to test their business models by granting them access to Rotonda’s launchpad. Rotonda is a subsidiary of the Korean crypto exchange Bithumb and operates the Web3 Burrito Wallet.

Ribbon Finance Enables Altcoin Options TradingSingapore’s Ribbon Finance, a project that offers a suite of DeFi protocols that help users access crypto-structured products, has enabled altcoin options trading via its Aevo decentralized exchange (DEX).The Ethereum-based platform has begun offering options relative to cryptocurrencies beyond the top two of Ethereum and Bitcoin. Examples of coins that users of Ribbon Finance’s Aevo DEX can access as options include Lido’s LDO, Sui’s SUI token, APT, the token of high throughput proof of stake-based blockchain Aptos, the ARB token of layer two Ethereum scaling network, Arbitrum and Litecoin (LTC).Trading options on-chainThe Aevo DEX project took to Twitter on Monday to announce the development. The project has named the options product “Aevo OTC,” terming it as “the best place to trade altcoin options on-chain.” The firm claims that it’s the first platform to allow users “to trade altcoin options on-chain, in size, with institutional grade liquidity providers.”To kick things off, users will be enabled in trading these altcoin options across weekly, bi-weekly and monthly maturities relative to thirteen crypto tokens. The project plans to rotate the list of coins available for options trading every month depending upon what it deems to be the most popular coins on the market at a given time.Early service adoptersAs Aevo is a DEX, it will utilize on-chain margin systems. When a user buys an option the counterparty is required to post margin of approximately 30% of the notional trade size in the form of US dollar stablecoin, USDC. That procedure is all on-chain and transparent, enabled via smart contracts.Although officially launching the product today, Aevo OTC has been used in production for a number of weeks already. Both digital assets firm Galaxy Digital and crypto-native investment firm CoinFund have already been using the product to trade options.Other early adopters of the product include DeFi R&D and liquid crypto investment strategies firm Re7 Capital and crypto options and structured derivatives firm, OrBit Markets. In fact, Galaxy and OrBit Markets, alongside GSR, are acting as market makers for the product, enabling users to get instant quotes.Developing the crypto options marketThe development means that market participants can now strategize and take advantage of trading altcoins relative to specific events that may be fundamental to a project, such as Litecoin’s halving, for instance. At a later stage, the project intends to enable users in writing options contracts to include customized margins and a specified counterparty.The crypto options market is still at a very early stage of development. Deribit has been the dominant crypto options platform. Ribbon Finance’s service rollout broadens that market, extending options trading beyond the current limited offering of bitcoin, ethereum and solana.The product is more capital efficient for market participants as its portfolio margin system calculates real-time margin requirements, in that way offsetting money-making and losing positions relative to a particular portfolio.Photo by Shubham Dhage on Unsplash