Hong Kong Analyzes Web3 Approach of Regional Peers

Korean Crypto Exchange Group Installs Separate Division to Prevent Money LaunderingThe Digital Asset Exchange Alliance (DAXA), a group of five major Korean crypto exchanges, announced yesterday that it has installed a division to prevent money laundering.©Pexels/Anna TarazevichAML division’s roleThe anti-money laundering (AML) division will devise suspicious transaction report types, create guidelines to assess risks at virtual asset service providers, and hold various seminars.With the new AML division installed, DAXA now has five divisions, the other four of which are responsible for trading support, market monitoring, compliance monitoring, and education.Improving listing and delisting guidelinesDAXA also plans to improve listing and delisting guidelines that exchanges can share.DAXA vice chairman Kim Jae-jin said long-term efforts are required to build a healthy virtual asset ecosystem, calling for exchanges’ stronger voluntary compliance.

OKX Wallet to Support BRC-20 Tokens and Bitcoin OrdinalsIn a press release published on Tuesday, Seychelles-based cryptocurrency spot and derivatives exchange OKX announced that it is in the process of enabling an Ordinals marketplace on the OKX Wallet, which will enable customers to mint and trade BRC-20 tokens.Photo by Karolina Grabowska on PexelsRising BRC-20 market capThe move will also enable users to inscribe non-fungible token (NFT)-based digital content on the Bitcoin blockchain by way of ordinal inscriptions. The market capitalization of BRC-20 tokens has been rising exponentially over the course of the past few weeks despite only being in existence since March.BRC-20 is an experimental token standard which was created by an anonymous developer with the handle “Domo” and username ‘@domodata’ on Twitter. A token standard governs how and where a cryptocurrency can be used. The approach has been pioneered by developers on the Ethereum blockchain who created the ERC-20 standard a number of years ago, relative to the Ethereum network.OKX has clearly identified a rising trend and wants to be an early adopter in benefiting from it. In their short existence, BRC-20 tokens have mainly implicated meme tokens but as more experimentation follows, use cases that rely on the token standard are likely to expand.Binance has signaled a similar intent, having stated last week that before the month is out, Bitcoin Ordinals will be added to its NFT marketplace. Ordinals preceded the development of the BRC-20 standard by a couple of months, with over five million of the inscriptions having been generated since they emerged. It’s believed that the minting of those Ordinals has generated fees to the value of around 1,000 BTC (or $27 million as per the BTC/USD price at the time of publication).Growing painsWhile the emergence of the BRC-20 standard and Bitcoin Ordinals brings quite a lot of excitement to a bitcoin blockchain that many found to be boring and lacking diversity in terms of potential use cases, it’s not been without its problems. On the one hand, these tokens and inscriptions make use of unused block space on the network.They also offer a solution to the longer term issue of a reduction in fees. The bitcoin blockchain in-built subsidy to miners is halved every four years, meaning that there will be a need for fees to sustain the incentive to miners to continue to secure the network.The downside to these recent developments is that the new tokens are going beyond using up unused block space. Instead, they’ve been responsible for driving Bitcoin transaction fees up to uncomfortable levels over the course of the past two weeks. It’s still early days in terms of this development, so there is every hope that developers can find solutions to the issue.Last week, Singapore-based project OmniBOLT announced that it will support BRC-20 tokens on Lightning Network. Taking some of this activity away from the bitcoin mainnet will serve to dampen excessive transaction costs and transaction delays due to an excessively long queue of transactions within the bitcoin mempool.The recent transaction cost difficulty relative to Bitcoin has prompted Binance to respond by stating its intention to add support for Lightning Network transactions in the not too distant future. OKX already supports Lightning transactions but not from within its wallet. As part of this announcement, the company stated that Lightning support will be coming to its wallet in the near future.

Circle Makes Inroads in Singapore with License AwardCircle Internet Financial’s Singapore entity, Circle Internet Singapore, has received a full license from the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) to provide digital payment token services in Singapore. This major payment institution (MPI) license will enable Circle Singapore to offer cross-border and domestic money transfer services through its Circle account.Photo by Timo Volz on PexelsMajor Payment Institution (MPI) licenseThe company announced the milestone achievement via a press release published on Monday. The MPI license enables Circle to offer institutional customers access to USDC, a leading US dollar stablecoin issued by the company. With the license approval, Circle Singapore can now fully utilize the expertise of its corporate affiliates to drive innovation, expand its offerings, and provide more value to its clients and stakeholders.The granting of the license follows the in-principle approval received by Circle Singapore in November last year and the subsequent opening of its office in May. The company recognizes the importance of Singapore in its global expansion strategy and its mission to promote global economic prosperity through seamless value exchange.Jeremy Allaire, Co-Founder and CEO of Circle, expressed the significance of Singapore in Circle’s expansion plans and the goal of facilitating frictionless value exchange. The company aims to leverage its licensed status to contribute to Singapore’s digital payment ecosystem positively.Pursuing overseas expansionWith ongoing regulatory turmoil in the United States right now in relation to the treatment of digital assets, no doubt Circle, just like many other leading US digital asset companies, sees the benefit in diversifying geographically. In turn, that feeds into the importance Allaire affixes to this Singapore expansion: “Singapore is integral to Circle’s global expansion and mission in raising global economic prosperity and through the frictionless exchange of value.”There has been a flurry of activity in terms of large crypto sector players establishing a greater foothold in Singapore in recent months. Last week, global crypto trading platform Crypto.com was granted an MPI license by MAS.Coinbase, the US-headquartered crypto exchange business that was sued earlier this week by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) in the United States, took the decision to expand its product offering in the Singapore market last month. Another US-based crypto business, Gemini, has decided to expand its Singapore operation with a view towards growing its institutional and retail customer base.Tribe collaborationEarlier this year, Circle Singapore collaborated with Tribe, the first government-supported blockchain ecosystem builder in Singapore. Together, they launched a training and support program designed to nurture and upskill Web3 developer talent in the region. This initiative aligns with Singapore’s focus on promoting blockchain technology and nurturing a skilled workforce capable of driving the growth of the digital economy.With its full license, Circle Singapore is well-positioned to strengthen its presence in the Singaporean market and offer enhanced digital payment token services to institutional customers. The license also demonstrates the company’s commitment to compliance and regulation in the evolving landscape of digital finance.As Circle Singapore expands its operations and explores further innovations, it will continue to contribute to Singapore’s reputation as a leading global fintech hub. The company’s focus on promoting global economic prosperity aligns with Singapore’s vision of becoming a smart financial center and a pioneer in digital innovation.