Hong Kong’s Bricks-and-Mortar Crypto Shops Attract Chinese Visitors

German multinational investment bank Deutsche Bank, is collaborating with Singapore's central bank on asset tokenization.  Project GuardianThe company announced on May 14 via a press release that it has joined the Monetary Authority of Singapore’s (MAS) Project Guardian. Project Guardian is an international collaboration between a number of market regulators, led by MAS. Other participants in the initiative include the UK’s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), Japan’s Financial Services Agency (FSA) and Switzerland’s Financial Market Supervisory Authority (FINMA). The project focuses on asset tokenization relative to wholesale funding markets and decentralized finance (DeFi) applications.Photo by Mariia Shalabaieva on UnsplashThe bank outlined how it intends to participate as part of the collaboration, stating: “As part of the asset and wealth management workstream, the bank will test an open architecture and interoperable blockchain platform to service tokenized and digital funds. It will then propose protocol standards and identify best practice to contribute to industry progress.” The bank’s participation in the project will be headed up by its Asia Pacific (APAC) head of securities and technology, Boon-Hiong Chan. Anand Rengarajan, Head of Securities Services for Asia Pacific and the Middle East, commented on the development, stating:“Contributing to Project Guardian will bolster our efforts to help shape the new frontier of asset servicing, and strongly position us to contribute to industry progress, and not only anticipate our clients’ needs but exceed their expectations.”  Memento Blockchain partnershipDeutsche Bank outlined that it intends to work closely with Memento Blockchain on the project. In fact, it has an existing ongoing collaboration in place with Memento, the developer of a decentralized asset management platform. Memento has developed multi asset swap products and it is currently working towards the development of a zero knowledge layer-2 solution. The duo have worked together over the course of the past two years. A proof-of-concept known as Project DAMA (Digital Assets Management Access) emerged from that partnership. That body of work will be extended into DAMA 2.  Memento Blockchain is the software developer behind the Domani Protocol. It stated on X that more technical details relative to the collaboration will be released in the coming weeks. It added that the collaboration will also involve Interop Labs, the developer of the Axelar Network, the programmable Web3 interoperability platform.  Earlier this year, the Axelar Foundation established a partnership with payment technology firm Ripple Labs with a view towards tokenizing real world assets (RWAs) on top of the XRP Ledger, enabled via Axelar. Axelar co-founder and Interop Labs CEO Sergey Gorbunov told Cointelegraph that “it’s now clear that secure blockchain interoperability is required to unlock the trillion-dollar potential in asset tokenization.” Gorbunov added that “Deutsche Bank and Project Guardian are leading innovation toward establishing the open systems that will enable this technology.” He highlighted the relevance of the Axelar Network in that endeavor, suggesting that “Axelar is critical infrastructure for institutional adoption."

Matrixport Bullish Despite Bitcoin’s Price StandoffThe crypto market, with a total capitalization of around $1.08 trillion, finds itself in a tense state of anticipation towards October, which has been historically the most robust month for Bitcoin with average returns of over 20%, according to Singapore-based digital assets ecosystem firm Matrixport.Photo by Dmytro Demidko on UnsplashTechnical strugglesMeanwhile, Bitcoin (BTC) has been unable to breach the $27,400 mark, facing formidable resistance and failing to surpass its 50-day moving average. From a purely technical standpoint, the situation for Bitcoin appears bearish. The corrective rebound in BTC has concluded, with prices falling below key moving averages and short-term oversold conditions correcting themselves.This technical analysis reflects the cautious stance adopted by financial markets globally ahead of pivotal monetary policy decisions in countries like the US, Switzerland, the UK, and Japan.Mining difficulty increaseAnother notable development in the world of Bitcoin is the recent 5.48% increase in mining difficulty, bringing it to 57.12 T. This surge in mining difficulty is indicative of the ongoing robustness of the Bitcoin network, with the 7-day moving average reaching a substantial 423.4 EH/s, as reported by Glassnode.The leading cryptocurrency has a number of challenges and regulatory uncertainties that it must wrestle with currently.The regulatory issues at leading global crypto exchange Binance represent one of those challenges. Trading volumes on the Binance exchange have plummeted by 57% over the past week, driven by users seeking refuge on platforms yet to be subjected to regulatory crackdowns. Meanwhile, a court decision opted against ordering Binance’s US unit to provide the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) in the United States with further customer fund information, encouraging collaboration between the parties.Spot Bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs) are another area where the market anticipates a resurgence in the cryptocurrency space, driven by a wave of applications to launch spot Bitcoin ETFs. This development, according to Matrixport, has the potential to be a catalyst for Bitcoin’s growth should a spot BTC ETF be approved. The leading digital currency’s market dominance is currently approaching 50%.Meanwhile, the announcement of a new Bitcoin fund by Laser Digital Asset Management, a subsidiary of Japan’s largest investment bank and brokerage group, Nomura, has been interpreted as bullish news. Laser Digital has introduced a Bitcoin fund targeting long-term institutional investments, further demonstrating the growing institutional interest in cryptocurrencies.Further good news has emerged via Citigroup in the United States, which has launched Citi Token. The offering leverages blockchain technology and smart contracts for business-to-business payments and trade finance, reinforcing the adoption of blockchain within the financial industry.Divergent PredictionsAlthough Matrixport’s outlook is bullish, it comes amidst a backdrop of regulatory developments and technical challenges, with analysts offering contrasting outlooks for Bitcoin’s future. Matrixport projects a bullish fourth quarter for Bitcoin, citing historical trends of strong performance during this period. It anticipates potential gains of up to $37,000 by year-end.Mike Novogratz, the Founder of crypto-focused financial services firm Galaxy Digital, envisions Bitcoin reaching $500,000 by 2024, fueled by increased adoption and maturation of the crypto market.

Bybit Extends Service Offering to Include LendingDubai-headquartered crypto spot and derivatives trading platform Bybit announced on Tuesday that it has expanded the range of services it offers to now also encompass crypto lending.Photo by Traxer on UnsplashHourly interestIn the announcement which has been published to the platform’s website, the company set out the nature of the Bybit Lending product. “With Bybit Lending, users can deposit their unused cryptocurrencies into Asset Pools, which will be lent out to borrowers,” the service update outlines.Expanding on the features that the new service offering brings with it, the crypto platform outlines that customers will have the ability to accrue interest on an hourly basis. That interest will be calculated at a variable rate, with a variance in the rate depending upon the level of borrowing activity. “In extreme cases where there are no borrowers at all, the interest rate could drop to 0%,” the company clarified.Low risk claimsBybit points out that “loaned assets are kept safe by Bybit’s strict risk management system, enabling you to earn returns with peace of mind.” While this is comforting to hear, it remains to be seen to what extent crypto market participants will take this statement at face value.2022 proved itself to be a graveyard for most of the leading crypto lending firms, and with that, such failures also proved to be a graveyard for the hard earned funds of retail market participants in their hundreds of thousands. Many are dubious about the integrity and sustainability of the crypto lending model, at least at a retail level.Withdrawal restrictionsBybit added that the product facilitates flexible redemptions. However, in an accompanying note, it added that the withdrawal of funds is dependent upon “ the funds in the Asset Pool [not being] fully lent out and you have not exceeded your Daily Withdrawal Limit.”It’s important to note that as many of the failed crypto lenders were getting further and further into difficulty in 2022, they added more arduous withdrawal limits and withdrawal conditions as a mechanism to stem the bleeding that was the outward flow of deposits against a backdrop of a deficit in customer funds held by these platforms.In further marketing of the product on Twitter, the company is claiming that customers can benefit from interest rates of up to 16.46%. While one could take the view that limited promotion of exceptionally high interest rates is harmless, the lesson learned from recent crypto lender failures is that such platforms were offering excessive and unsustainable interest rates as a mechanism to reel in retail deposits, only to later proceed to mismanage those funds.Competing offeringsBybit is not alone in offering this service. While a plethora of lending services exited the market via bankruptcy, exchanges such as OKX and KuCoin have their own variations on lending. OKX extends a loan facility to platform users proportionate to digital assets the user has deposited on the platform. Seychelles-based KuCoin offers a lending service across a broad spectrum of crypto assets.The intent of US based platforms Coinbase and Kraken in this regard has been retarded due to the actions of US regulators. Kraken fell foul of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) relative to its staking service and paid a $30 million fine as a consequence. Meanwhile, Coinbase shelved plans to launch lending-based services in September 2021 having been warded off the idea by the SEC.