What The FinTech #91: 10 Apr 2022
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BLOCKCHAIN - CRYPTO - DIGITAL ASSETS - DE FI
Asia becomes the epicentre of global NFT crypto craze
Asia has since emerged as the frontrunner in the global NFT craze with Southeast Asians making up most NFT-based web traffic last year. Central and Southeast Asia accounted for 35% of the $22 billion in global trade of NFTs last year. Three Southeast Asian countries — the Philippines, Thailand and Malaysia – top Finder’s list of web traffic while Global Google trends data for 2021 found that search queries for NFTs came most frequently from China, Singapore, Hong Kong, the Philippines and South Korea. The Indian cryptocurrency exchange WazirX launched South Asia’s first NFT marketplace in June last year, with 15 NFT creators from across Asia. The platform allowed creators to pay minimal gas fees – payments made by NFT creators to compensate for the computing energy required – for saving them on the blockchain. The industry has also seen a steady rise in central and south Asian artists on social media channels including Discord and Twitter.
The 1% tax that has India's crypto industry predicting chaos
India's government unveiled a plan to tax crypto assets in February, it was the 30 per cent rate on income from digital-asset investments that grabbed headlines. Along with the capital gains charge, the finance ministry announced a 1 per cent tax deductible at source, or TDS, on all digital-asset transfers above a certain size, starting Jul 1. Crypto-exchange executives, lawyers and tax analysts warn that the TDS will suck liquidity out of the market by forcing high-frequency traders to dramatically curtail their trading. Combined with the government's decision not to permit offsetting of trading losses in digital assets, it threatens to accelerate an exodus of crypto companies and workers from India
PayMaya launches crypto feature
PayMaya has launched its cryptocurrency feature through its all-in-one finance app experience, enabling Filipinos to buy and earn digital assets. The new offering is part of the company's overall thrust to go beyond payments by making financial services like crypto more accessible to the public. PayMaya is both an Electronic Money Issuer (EMI) and Virtual Asset Services Provider (VASP), licensed by the Bangko Sentral Pilipinas (BSP). With this development, there is no need to register for another account, apply for an upgrade, or use another app. Customers can learn to use crypto, cash into their wallets, buy and sell coins, and spend their crypto earnings, all in their PayMaya account. Upgraded PayMaya users can trade in a variety of the most popular coins directly from their PayMaya wallet in Philippine Pesos. They can also seamlessly buy and sell crypto anytime with no extra cash in and cash out fees.
Singapore passes law for crypto providers; bitcoin rises
Singapore’s parliament has approved a law that will tighten the rules for cryptocurrency providers in the city-state. The new legislation will require virtual asset service providers in Singapore, which only do business overseas, to be licensed. This move is widely being seen as Singapore’s tentative embrace of the crypto industry. At present, crypto entities in Singapore are not regulated for anti-money laundering or terror financing. The new law comes in the wake of a recent move by Singapore’s financial regulator to discourage companies in the cryptocurrency space from advertising their services to the public, further underscoring the county’s cautious approach to crypto.
Articles that may interest you on this subject:
Ronin Hackers Attempt to Hide Stolen Ether; Crypto Asset In-Flows Reached $180M Last Week => here
Chancellor asks Royal Mint to create NFT => here
Metaverse economy could hit $13 trillion by 2030 - Citi => here
Barclays addresses potential CBDC fragmentation in new paper => here
European Commission opens new consultation on digital euro => here
Meta plans virtual currency, creator coins for its apps => here
Worldpay to offer merchants direct settlement in USDC => here
Online checkout giant Bolt to buy Wyre to add crypto payments => here
HONG KONG
Livi Bank Rolls Out Financing Products, Enables Account Opening for Mainland Visitors
HSBC launches metaverse portfolio for wealthy Asian clients
Airwallex launches new expense management solution for businesses
Livi Bank Rolls Out Financing Products, Enables Account Opening for Mainland Visitors
Hong Kong’s virtual bank Livi released new financing products for their customers. For business customers, Livi provided Franchise Financing Solutions to support their customers looking to start a franchising business such as 7-Eleven convenience store chain with franchising loan options with loan tenures up to 60 months. For individual customers, Livi launched Policy Financing solution in partnership with BOC Life, Sun Life and China Life to offer their customers flexible financing options through their fully paid single premium life insurance policies, at low interest rate and speedy approval process. In its latest development, Livi has also allowed mainland visitors coming to Hong Kong to open account with them.
HSBC launches metaverse portfolio for wealthy Asian clients
HSBC Holdings has launched a fund to capture investment opportunities in the metaverse for its high-net-worth clients, ultra-high net worth professional investors and accredited investor clients in Hong Kong and Singapore. The bank's Metaverse Discretionary Strategy portfolio will focus on five key segments in the virtual ecosystem - infrastructure, computing, virtualisation, experience and discovery, and interface. The move comes shortly after HSBC acquired its own plot of land in the metaverse to engage and connect with sports, esports and gaming enthusiasts.
Airwallex launches new expense management solution for businesses
Global FinTech platform Airwallex is pleased to announce the launch of its global Expenses platform, providing a modern solution for businesses to manage their expenses in a fast and seamless way. With workforces increasingly distributed and remote, expense management has evolved into a significant administrative burden for businesses operating globally. Airwallex solves the problem by automating parts of the expense process that are traditionally time consuming and manual. Together with Airwallex’s virtual and physical multi-currency cards – for corporates and employees – the new solution streamlines the expenses process by offering a single integrated platform to manage spending. Businesses will be able to seamlessly upload receipts for approval, reconcile expenses and gain real-time visibility over card transactions.
SINGAPORE
Azalea launches its first sustainability fund, co-seeded with Singlife with Aviva
Hugosave obtains MAS licence to operate as major payment institution
BNPL firm Pace launches Virtual Card
Four in five Singaporean Gen Z have tried to go fully cashless
Azalea launches its first sustainability fund, co-seeded with Singlife with Aviva
Azalea Investment Management has launched a sustainability fund, which will be co-seeded with Singlife with Aviva. The fund, the Altrium Sustainability Fund 1, will invest in ESG-focused opportunities alongside private equity (PE) financial returns. Azalea Group and Singlife with Aviva have each committed US$50 million to kickstart the fund. ASF 1 is a PE equity fund of funds. It will back funds which invest in scalable, commercial solutions to solve pressing issues across 5 core themes - climate, resource management, healthcare, education and financial inclusion. Azalea will select "high quality'' managers for ASF1, that address the global challenges reflected in the United Nation Sustainable Development Goals. The fund will mainly focus on buyout and growth strategies.
Hugosave obtains MAS licence to operate as major payment institution
Hugosave, an "all-in-one" digital account and mobile app, has obtained a major payment institution (MPI) licence from the Monetary Authority of Singapore on 1st April 2022. With the MPI licence, Hugosave can now offer account and e-money issuance and domestic and cross-border money transfers. It enabled Hugosave to provide any combination of regulated payment services, regardless of transactional volume or e-money held. It also complied with regulatory requirements to protect customer money by segregating their money into a trust account maintained and guaranteed by DBS. Founded in 2019, Hugosave allows customers to spend, save and invest - starting with gold and plan to venture into investments, international payments, varying account structures, better budgeting solutions, and allow for multiple users across one unified digital account.
BNPL firm Pace launches Virtual Card
Buy now pay later (BNPL) startup Pace has launched its first-ever virtual Pace Card in Singapore, designed to make BNPL payment simpler and more secure. The Pace Card is a new feature on the Pace mobile app, and offers users the ability to pay for online purchases with Pace merchants, with in-store purchases soon to follow. Pace merchants include Razer, Dreamcore, Robinsons, Charles & Keith and Pedro. Upon signing up for Pace, users can register for the card. Once approved, they can key in the amount of their purchase at the point of payment along with their card details. After they’ve checked out, their purchase will be split into three interest-free installments. Pace users can also use the card to access Pace’s loyalty program, Pace Perks. During every purchase made using the card, 5% of the value will be converted to perks, which can be used for discounts on subsequent purchases.
Four in five Singaporean Gen Z have tried to go fully cashless
Over four in five Gen Z Singaporeans have tried going fully cashless during the pandemic. A total of 82% of Gen Z consumers surveyed said that they have attempted going cashless, higher than the nearly three in four (74%) of Gen Y consumers who did the same. This is influencing the way they shop. Seven in 10 (70%) Gen Z consumers indicated that they are comfortable going to stores with self-checkout lines, and 70% of them are comfortable with biometric-authenticated payments. As a whole, three in five Singaporean consumers have tried going fully cashless. Amongst the reasons driving Singaporeans to go cashless is its greater speed and efficiency (47%), convenience (47%), and ease of tracking financial records (43%). Types of transactions that Singaporeans are most likely to go cashless include bill payments, with over 6 in 10 (62%) indicating this. Almost the same (59%) said that they will most likely go cashless for public transportation-related transactions, and for taxi and ridesharing payments (56%).
CHINA
China digital currency: e-CNY rollouts expand to Hangzhou and Chongqing as Chinese central bank seeks broad support for its push to go cashless
Chinese broadcaster Shandong Television pursues NFT, metaverse projects as country’s media firms tap into virtual assets
China will expand the trial of its sovereign digital currency to several Chinese cities including Chongqing, Tianjin, Hangzhou and Guangzhou, as the central bank works on incentives for banks, technology firms and local authorities to take part in its e-CNY currency, announced during People’s Bank of China (PBOC) meeting on March 31. China’s e-CNY experiment, which generally involved giving cash reward to consumers to spur usage and asking merchants to accept e-CNY payments, have demonstrated the initial feasibility of the digital sovereign currency, but additional research and exploration are needed in security, compliance and potential impact on the existing banking system, the central bank said. The e-CNY is a digital form of currency of the Chinese central bank’s fiat money, which is not freely convertible outside China and will be focused on domestic usage.
The television network of Shandong province started developing a marketplace for NFT digital collectibles, in the latest government-owned media enterprise to jump on the virtual asset bandwagon after Xinhua News Agency released 110,001 copies of NFTs via its mobile app last December. It plans to build its own blockchain infrastructure to support its digital collectibles, while developing “a series of metaverse products”. In the latest NFT development in China, state-backed Blockchain Services Network (BSN) conducted a soft launch of a nationwide infrastructure to support Chinese NFTs, creating a domestic industry that is separated from the global market and not associated with any cryptocurrencies that allows businesses to mint and manage their own NFTs on their platform.
ASIA
FinAccel spends US$200m for Indonesia digital banking push
Velo Labs and iRemit partner to unlock $34B cross-border payment market in the Philippines
Investing App Gotrade to Enter Indonesia
Superapp's easy access to services inaccessible to small businesses boosts SME digitization
Indian giant Tata Group to debut super app on April 7
Gojek-backed livestreaming app launches $1m fund for content creators
FinAccel spends US$200m for Indonesia digital banking push
Southeast Asian BNPL player FinAccel is moving into digital banking through the acquisition of a majority stake in Indonesia's PT Bank Bisnis Internasional. The Singapore based company, paid around $200 million to secure a 75% stake in the lender as it looks to move beyond BNPL into the online lending and digital banking space. Several tech firms have invested in Indonesian banks in recent years: Ant Group-backed Akulaku, set to raise its stake in Jakarta-based Bank Neo Commerce. Singapore's Sea last year acquired Bank BKE to gain a foothold in the fintech arena. Ride hailing app Gojek has a stake in PT Bank Jago, while its rival Grab has partnered SingTel to take a stake in Bank Fama.
Velo Labs and iRemit partner to unlock $34B cross-border payment market in the Philippines
Velo Labs, a leading blockchain infrastructure company, and iRemit, the largest Filipino-owned, non-bank remittance service provider, partnered up to provide individuals and businesses access to improved cross-border payments using blockchain technology and Velo Digital Credits. With an estimated US$34 Billion in remittances flowing into Philippines every year, high fees, costly delays, and multiple layers of intermediaries affects the cross-border payment system. By integrating with the Velo network, iRemit can now work directly with its partners to settle transactions almost instantly, without any intermediary. Powered by Velo Protocol, digital credits issuances are pegged to local fiat currency for transactions. Backed by Velo Labs utility token, it maintains a 1:1 value between the digital credits and the underlying fiat currency to hedge against the risk of volatility compared to other digital asset protocols.
Investing App Gotrade to Enter Indonesia
Gotrade, which offers stock and exchange-traded fund (ETF) investments without commissions, entered the Indonesian market after raising $15.5 million in Series A. Gotrade aim to target the Southeast Asia market by allowing users to buy fractional shares of large stocks listed on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) and Nasdaq without charging commissions but instead generates revenue by charging 0.5 percent to 1.2 percent on foreign-exchange fees for the conversion to U.S. dollars. Gotrade intends to launch their services in local languages with local deposit methods across Southeast Asia. Gotrade Indonesia was launched in a tie-up with local brokerage Valbury, the Jakarta Futures Exchange and the state-backed Futures Clearing House of Indonesia.
Superapp's easy access to services inaccessible to small businesses boosts SME digitization
Enstack allows small and medium businesses to take their first leap towards digitization and manage orders, track inventory, get paid, ship packages, and record daily business transactions on their mobile phones. The app’s innovative Single Sign-up process solves a major pain point for most small businesses – access to services usually reserved for larger companies. By submitting just an ID, a selfie, and Proof of Billing once during sign up, merchants become verified users and can offer value-added services such as digital payments and same-day delivery at discounted rates. Another user favorite, the Chat Store, also enables merchants to automatically accept orders via their linked Facebook Messenger accounts so they never miss a sale. Whether automatically accepting orders on Messenger or logging phone and in-person orders on the Cashier mini app, all orders are synced into the Enstack superapp and can be shipped out once ready.
Indian giant Tata Group to debut super app on April 7
Indian conglomerate Tata Group plans to debut its long-anticipated ‘super app,’ called TataNeu. The app clubs several of Tata Group services including some such as online grocer BigBasket and e-pharmacy platform 1Mg that the firm has purchased in recent years. TataNeu will also offer users the ability to send people money and pay broadband, electricity, water and satellite TV bills and secure loans. Tata is hoping that customers will find its one-stop shop offering and rewards lofty enough to make the bold switch. Tata plans to offer them “NeuCoins” as reward, where one NeuCoin is equivalent to one Indian rupee.
Gojek-backed livestreaming app launches $1m fund for content creators
GoPlay, an Indonesia-based livestreaming platform, has launched its 15 billion rupiah (around US$1 million) GoPlay Creator Fund to support content creators on its platform. The fund will be disbursed as a bonus to content creators based on their livestreaming frequency and the total viewers of their show. There is no genre or follower count requirements to be eligible for the program. GoPlay started as Gojek’s video-streaming arm. It offers local movies and TV series that can be accessed via subscription. Last year, the company expanded into the livestreaming business. It has also built a virtual gift feature that allows viewers to financially support content creators, who can withdraw these virtual gifts right after a show. Some of its livestreamers have received hundreds of millions of rupiah per month from the platform. Besides the Creator Fund, GoPlay also offers recording studios in Jakarta for content creators to use, as well as connections to brand partners.
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