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Grab Holdings, the Singapore-based operator of the Grab super app, has extended its facility for crypto payments to its customer base in the Philippines. The company, which offers ride-hailing, food and grocery delivery and digital payments within a range of services to customers throughout Southeast Asia, introduced the option of crypto payments to service users within its home market of Singapore last year. Photo by Kiko Ferranco on UnsplashAt the time, the company expressed the view that enabling crypto payments “added flexibility and convenience” for platform users, providing them with “a seamless and efficient way to access the company’s wide range of services.” Philippine online news portal Philstar.com reported that Filipino users of the platform can now top up their GrabPay digital wallets with a range of cryptocurrencies, including Bitcoin (BTC) and Ethereum (ETH), as well as U.S. dollar stablecoins USDC and USDT. In Singapore, Grab rolled out the offering in partnership with Triple-A, a company that enables businesses to pay and get paid in digital currencies. Singapore-based Crypto.com also partnered with the firm last year to enable direct crypto payments. Financial inclusionIn extending the service to the Philippines, Grab has again partnered with Triple-A, alongside Philippine crypto exchange platform PDAX. CJ Lacsican, Grab Philippines’ vice president for cities, said that “integrating cryptocurrency as a cash-in option for GrabPay reflects [Grab’s] commitment to advancing financial inclusion in the Philippines.”  She added that the move aims to empower a broader spectrum of Filipinos, particularly those who prefer the convenience of digital currencies and others who have limited access to traditional banking. Triple-A CEO Eric Barbier said that the launch of GrabPay crypto top-ups went well in Singapore, with a fantastic response from Singaporean platform users. Following that rollout, Barbier believes that the Philippines is a market that’s ready for digital currencies. “This is a big step in making digital currencies easier to use in everyday life across Southeast Asia,” he added. Driving crypto adoptionPDAX CEO Nichel Gaba suggested that the Philippines “has one of the largest crypto user bases globally,” adding that through this partnership, accessible use cases are being offered “that will both support the existing crypto community and drive greater adoption of cryptocurrency.”  Grab first pivoted to Web3 with the integration of a Polygon-based crypto wallet in September 2023, with a view towards making crypto more accessible and usable for ordinary people. The super app, which is considered by many to be the “Uber of Southeast Asia,” has 42 million monthly transacting users (MTUs) across Cambodia, Indonesia, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.  The development of the Grab Web3 Wallet came about as a consequence of a collaboration with USDC stablecoin issuer Circle. As part of a strategic partnership, Circle’s Web3 services platform was integrated into the Grab app. More recently, Grab partnered with NATIX Network, a Solana ecosystem decentralized physical infrastructure network (DePIN) project, in an effort to collaborate on autonomous driving technology and mapping. 

As the Virtual Asset User Protection Act is set to take effect in July, South Korean virtual asset services providers (VASPs) are preparing themselves for new crypto accounting standards. This development is pushing crypto businesses to take consultation services from accounting firms, local media outlet Yonhap Infomax today reported.  Pronounced last year, the new crypto accounting guideline is scheduled to be applied to VASPs starting this July. Rather than providing clear and explicit standards, the guideline requires crypto businesses to interpret it on their own based on “reasonable grounds.” One accountant in the crypto industry said that individual crypto exchanges are wrapping their heads around the new crypto accounting standards, pondering over numerous issues such as whether to manage customer assets in a single record-keeping system. Photo by Volkan Olmez on UnsplashThe most significant concern among VASPs is that the new standard will highly likely recognize crypto assets entrusted by customers as either assets or liabilities. So far, local crypto exchanges haven’t recognized custodial tokens as assets; instead, they have been including these tokens in the footnotes. Only the money users deposited in Korean won has been acknowledged as “customer deposit liabilities.” Dunamu, the operator of crypto exchange Upbit, stated in the footnotes of its previous quarterly report that virtual assets entrusted by customers do not meet the accounting definition of an asset, leading the exchange to exclude its users’ custodial tokens from the asset category.  Varying interpretation of ‘control over custodial assets’ A lot is at stake depending on how individual crypto exchanges interpret the new guideline. If crypto exchanges are deemed to have control over custodial assets, they must meticulously document the details of the assets in custody on their financial statements, including the total amount of custodial assets and how they are managed under what policies.  These details would serve as decisive factors in determining who bears the liabilities in the event of future incidents.  Crypto businesses’ accounting dilemmaThe Korean financial regulators have explained that the new guideline is not the ultimate golden rule, implying that there could be a leeway for crypto businesses if they have reasonable grounds for not following the new accounting standard. However, regulators said they will conduct thorough examinations on the financial statements following their publishment, to ensure that custodial assets are not left out in the documents. This is where VASPs face a difficult choice between two different options; they can either classify custodial tokens as something other than an asset and undergo thorough examinations, or they can recognize them as an asset and risk being included in the “mutual investment-restricted group.” This is a group consisting of large local firms with over nearly KRW 10 trillion ($7.5 billion) in total assets. The companies listed in the group are subject to strict government regulations.  Previous recognition of Dunamu as ‘big firm’ raises concerns among VASPsThe local regulatory authority previously classified Dunamu as part of the mutual investment-restricted group in 2022.  At the time, Korean won deposits made by Upbit users, categorized under the customer deposit liabilities, were recognized as part of its assets by the Korea Fair Trade Commission (KFTC). The KFTC determined that Dunamu had controlling power over the customers’ deposits. This judgment by the KFTC led the company to fall under the mutual investment-restricted group. Once the new accounting standard takes effect in July, the likelihood is that the exchange’s custodial tokens, currently valued at KRW 20.2 trillion, will also be recognized as assets. Meanwhile, another prominent crypto exchange Bithumb is reported to have KRW 4.5 trillion in total assets.   Another accountant in the crypto industry expressed concerns, saying that VASPs will have to deal with more regulations if incorporated into the mutual investment-restricted group. The person added that recognizing custodial tokens as assets could further heighten the management risks for crypto businesses. 

SafePal Delves Into Korean Market Through Klaytn PartnershipThe Seychelles-based team behind non-custodial digital asset wallet provider, SafePal, has made its first attempt at conquering the Korean market through a partnership with South Korean enterprise blockchain, Klaytn.The collaboration will see the wallet provider support digital assets native to the Klaytn blockchain network. For Klaytn ecosystem users, it also means that they can access in excess of one hundred blockchains, which are already supported by SafePal’s non-custodial wallet. Both entities articulated their thoughts relative to the partnership, with SafePal doing so via a blog post published late last week. Meanwhile, the Klaytn project team expanded on the development in a post to its website on Tuesday.Photo by Mathew Schwartz on UnsplashKorean expansionKlaytn-native digital assets will be supported via SafePal’s mobile app, hardware wallet and its browser extension-based wallet. SafePal acknowledges the leading position that the Klaytn network takes in Korea, relative to the metaverse, blockchain gaming and other Web3 verticals. While SafePal already has 10 million users, this move demonstrates that it has plans on expanding that user-base to incorporate millions more, in this case Korea-based Klaytn network users.Alluding to that Korean expansion, Veronica Wong, Co-Founder and CEO of SafePal stated: “Klaytn is a leading blockchain in Korea for Web3 and DeFi, so this partnership made perfect sense, as we want users to access exciting opportunities in all established ecosystems globally.”Bringing Klaytn dApps to SafePal usersThe Klaytn project team is viewing the hook-up in the same manner. In its announcement it outlines that the collaboration can serve its purpose in “bringing in Klaytn’s next 10 million users with SafePal.” The partnership also serves to bring leading Klaytn dApps to that new user-base of 10 million. That includes on-chain instant swap protocol, Klayswap, blockchain play-to-earn game DeFi Kingdoms, Korean NFT marketplace Pala, leveraged yield farming project, Kleva Protocol and DEX aggregator Swapscanner.Conceived by the dominant messaging app provider in Korea, KAKAO, in 2018, the development of the Klaytn blockchain is now guided by the Klaytn Foundation. The project has set out a governance roadmap that will see the project achieve decentralization later this year.SafePal growth trajectorySafePal has been hitting its numbers when it comes to expanding its user base. Over the course of the past year, it has grown its user-base from 8 to 10 million. Its support for 100 blockchains results in overall support for in excess of 200,000 token types, including NFTs. That growth strategy belies further comments that Wong made relative to this latest collaboration:“While the self-custody offered by Web3 and DeFi is increasingly important amidst growing concerns about traditional financial systems, adoption is still hindered by language and geographical barriers. Klaytn is a leading blockchain in Korea for Web3 and DeFi, so this partnership made perfect sense, as we want users to access exciting opportunities in all established ecosystems globally.”With no let up in its growth strategy, SafePal followed up on Friday with an announcement that it had integrated the recently launched low latency, high throughput layer one SUI network and its native token, $SUI.