What Beijing says about Southeast Asia rarely reaches the people most affected by it. China’s state media, academic journals and official commentary produce a constant stream of analysis, framing and messaging about the region — in Mandarin, for a domestic audience, through channels that English-speaking readers rarely access. The result is a significant blind spot: governments, businesses and analysts making decisions about Southeast Asia without visibility into how the region’s most influential external actor is thinking, messaging and positioning itself. Each month, Access Asia Group’s senior regional analyst Chris Taylor reads, translates and unpacks the most significant Chinese-language commentary on […]

On July 26, CME Group — the world’s largest derivatives marketplace — will moves its 1-ounce gold futures to 24/7 trading. Three days later, on August 30, it will launch a new 10-barrel WTI crude oil contract, also trading around the clock. CME’s Senior Managing Director Derek Sammann was direct about what’s driving it: “Traders are increasingly looking to diversify their portfolios across commodity markets in the face of geopolitical uncertainty. Our new WTI and Gold futures provide regulated products that are right-sized and available 24/7, ensuring traders can manage exposure whenever news breaks.” “Whenever news breaks” is the key […]

ASEAN is a quagmire of chokepoints – and in a region in which shortages abound. Unfortunately, nothing concrete has been done to head off the inevitable. Today’s risks were never unforeseeable. Alternatives to the Malacca Strait – a canal or a land bridge across Thailand’s Kra Isthmus – have been argued over for nearly three centuries, and the latest version has sat on a drawing board since 2023. It took an actual war closing an actual strait to move it, however marginally, toward execution. On Wednesday, as ASEAN’s foreign ministers wrapped their meeting in Manila, US Secretary of State Marco […]

Ask which Southeast Asian economy to watch in the second half of 2026 and most answers default to Indonesia, on sheer size, or the Philippines, on services momentum. But the country that should actually be turning heads is Vietnam: 7.7% GDP growth in the first quarter of the year, easing only slightly from an 8.5% fourth quarter in 2025 — the fastest pace since 2007. Full-year 2025 growth came in at 8%, the strongest since 2011. The sharper number is foreign direct investment, or FDI. Registered foreign investment hit USD 34.65 billion in the first half of 2026 alone, up […]

On August 30, 2026, CME Group — the world’s largest derivatives marketplace — will launch a 10-barrel WTI crude oil futures contract available 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Covering the announcement, The Financial Times was explicit about what drove it: “The move comes after popular crypto-trading platforms such as Hyperliquid and Binance began offering retail traders 24/7 access to commodity-linked products.” For a publication that covers global finance, explicitly crediting crypto exchanges with forcing the world’s largest derivatives marketplace to change its product offering is a a very significant and notable moment. What CME Is Actually Launching […]

Price tells you what the market thinks today. Revenue tells you what users are actually paying for. In crypto, those two numbers often diverge — and right now, the divergence is telling a genuinely interesting story. The Solana blockchain generated $91 million in monthly application revenue in May 2026 versus Hyperliquid’s $53 million and Ethereum’s $52 million. And for the ninth consecutive quarter, Solana topped all blockchains in decentralised application revenue — a streak running since early 2024. That is the headline. The context behind it is more interesting than the number. Three Networks. Three Revenue Models. Three Different Stories. […]

Something historic happened on June 12, 2026. SpaceX listed on Nasdaq under the ticker SPCX — raising $75 billion in the largest IPO ever recorded and valuing Elon Musk’s rocket, Starlink and xAI group at approximately $1.75 trillion. The same day — simultaneously — tokenized SpaceX shares went live on the Solana blockchain. Not a synthetic derivative. Not a price tracker. A real 1:1 backed equity token, with each SPCX custodied by Backpack Securities — a regulated US broker-dealer — redeemable into any US brokerage account through full ACATS/DTCC settlement. Bidirectional. Regulated. Live from day one. Trading 24/7. As Backpack […]

When the CEO of Intercontinental Exchange — the company that owns the New York Stock Exchange — calls a decentralised crypto exchange “bigger than NASDAQ,” something fundamental has shifted. That moment arrived this week. What The CEO Said Speaking at a Bernstein conference on May 27, Jeffrey Sprecher, CEO of ICE, called Hyperliquid “bigger than NASDAQ” in trading activity, praised its core team of 11 people as “very, very smart people,” and disclosed that his team has met the founders multiple times. “This Hyperliquid that we’re talking, if you haven’t heard about it, it’s bigger than NASDAQ, okay? It’s 11 […]

There is a quote from crypto.news that captures everything about where we are right now: “Hyperliquid has become the market’s 24/7 war desk.” That is not hyperbole. It is a precise description of what has happened to a decentralised crypto exchange since February 28, 2026 — the night the US and Israel launched Operation Epic Fury against Iran, and the world’s oil markets needed to move. The Night Everything Changed On February 28, perpetual futures tied to oil prices on Hyperliquid surged more than 5% after coordinated US and Israeli missile strikes on Iran — all happening on a Saturday […]

Two oil markets exist right now. And they are telling completely different stories. The paper price — Brent and WTI futures on CME and ICE — sits around $100-$106 per barrel. Elevated. But manageable. Priced for diplomatic resolution. The physical price — what Asian refiners actually pay for a real delivered barrel — has been trading at $130-$150 per barrel. The gap between them? $30-$50 per barrel. The widest sustained divergence between paper and physical oil markets in modern history. As veteran investor George Noble stated bluntly: “Paper oil settled at $90 on Friday. Physical oil traded at $144 two […]

When Intercontinental Exchange — the company that owns the New York Stock Exchange — partners with a crypto exchange to launch 24/7 oil futures, something fundamental has changed. That moment has just arrived. What Happened Intercontinental Exchange (ICE) and the cryptocurrency exchange OKX announced the launch of perpetual oil futures based on ICE’s regulated Brent crude and WTI benchmark prices — giving OKX’s 120 million retail users access to the world’s most important energy benchmarks, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, with no expiration date. ICE Senior Vice President Trabue Bland stated:“Oil markets are critical to the world […]

The Strait of Hormuz has been effectively closed for over ten weeks. The US Treasury has frozen $344 million in Iranian crypto wallets. Financial surveillance has become a weapon of war. And the cryptocurrency Zcash (ZEC) is up over 100% in 30 days. These facts are connected. While price reporting and predictions are not a focus of this newsletter, they do send an important signal of crypto trends. And one of the hottest crypto trends at the moment is the privacy narrative. ZEC is a privacy-focused cryptocurrency launched in 2016. Like Bitcoin, it has a fixed supply of 21 million […]

When the United States and Israel launched Operation Epic Fury against Iran on 28 February, traditional markets were shut for the weekend. Traders who needed oil exposure right then had nowhere to go — except to decentralized crypto exchanges like Hyperliquid. That single weekend changed everything. It proved definitively that crypto infrastructure could serve as the world’s emergency trading venue when traditional markets go dark. Within days, a Hyperliquid rival, Aster Dex, also launched oil futures. Binance, the world’s largest crypto exchange, followed shorty later. Since April 9, Binance has been steadily gaining share, hitting approximately 49% of oil perp […]

For 175 years, Western Union has been synonymous with one thing: sending money across borders. Now it is betting its future on blockchain — and the implications for Southeast Asia are profound. The Announcement Western Union CEO Devin McGranahan confirmed on 27 April that USDPT — the company’s US Dollar Payment Token — will launch in May 2026, ahead of its original schedule. The USDPT stablecoin will run on the Solana blockchain, a fast growing blockchain known for its speed and scalability. Many analysts contend that Solana is “tailor-made for financial markets” and will be among the top benefactors of […]

The popular retail investment and trading platform Robinhood, which has some 26 million users and manages some $255 billion in assets, has just received approval from the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) to operate brokerage services in the city-state. Robinhood is especially popular among retail crypto traders after launching its crypto trading app in 2023. The firm has been rigorously expanding into crypto services, as well as offering tokenized equities that trade 24/7 on the blockchain. It has also made Singapore its regional base for expansion in Asia, where crypto adoption is soaring. “Singapore’s world-class regulatory environment, high rates of […]

The Nasdaq-listed software firm Strategy has just announced that it bought US$2.5 billion worth of Bitcoin last week. The “billion” is not a typo. The Bitcoin bullish firm now holds US$61 billion in BTC and last week’s buying spree marks its largest weekly purchase since November 2024.   Strategy’s holdings now amount to over 3.8% of BTC’s fixed supply of 21 million coins. This percentage is actually higher considering that several million BTC has been lost to forgotten seed phrases / passwords, discarded thumb drives, or deaths of investors without instructions to access their stash. The company – which is […]

This past week saw some major, yet relatively quiet, developments by Wall Street making major moves into the crypto market. Citi Bank has announced institutional Bitcoin custody, Morgan Stanley has told clients it plans to operate as a “crypto bank” and Goldman Sachs has filed for a Bitcoin Premium Income ETF. Shortly prior to this, Charles Schwab announced it will offer crypto trading later this quarter through Schwab Crypto. Regime shift Bitcoin analyst Joe Consorti framed Goldman’s April 14 ETF filing as a regime shift in a video titled “Goldman Just Pointed $144 Trillion at Bitcoin.” Consorti argued the industry […]

Leading investment bank Morgan Stanley with some $9.3 trillion in client assets has just launched its first spot Bitcoin ETF – and the firm is not stopping here as it plans a deep foray into digital assets. The bank’s head of digital-asset strategy told Decrypt in an interview this week.: “We’re not going to stop at just Bitcoin…It’s really about the longer-term journey, and there’s quite a long way to go.” As reported by Decrypt, the bank has already filed applications for ETFs tracking Ethereum and Solana, while it is also eyeing a tokenized money-market fund. Bitcoin-based yield and lending […]

Financial giant Charles Schwab is set to open the doors to crypto trading later this quarter, marking another milestone for crypto adoption and expansion by traditional finance. The firm revealed that “Schwab Crypto” is in development and will be offered through Charles Schwab Premier Bank, “positioning the product as a gateway for retail investors seeking direct exposure to leading cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin”. The company has opened a waitlist for clients interested in early access, though availability will be subject to regulatory approval and eligibility requirements. This is a notable shift for Schwab, which until now has limited crypto exposure […]

As global liquidity and capital piles into Gold, driving a spectacular, parabolic rally, crypto watchers are closely anticipating a catch-up rally for Bitcoin. According to many analysts such as macro investor Raul Pal, gold typically moves first in major market rallies, while Bitcoin tends to catch up later in the cycle. According to Pal, this is not really about gold itself, but about where the global economy sits in the business cycle. As Pal was recently quoted in media: “Gold simply reflects financial conditions. When governments face rising debt and interest costs, they often inject liquidity into the system. That liquidity […]

In one of the biggest developments yet of traditional finance moving onto the blockchain, The New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) has just announced plans for the tokenization of US equities and ETFs, allowing for 24/7 trading and instant settlement. The around-the-clock operations would rely on digital tokens mirroring the shares of listed companies, the NYSE’s parent company said in a statement. The move is pending approval by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), and if approved, would amount to a major transformation of how global capital will move the market. It would also put blockchain technology and infrastructure at the […]

In another major move of traditional finance moving onto the blockchain, Visa has started allowing US banks and payment partners to settle transactions using USDC, a dollar-backed stablecoin. Cross River Bank and Lead Bank are among the first institutions to use USDC settlement with Visa, which is done on the Solana blockchain. A wider rollout is planned in 2026. Tailor-made for financial markets The Solana blockchain offers fast transaction finality and high throughput, which supports institutional settlement volumes. Many analysts contend that Solana is “tailor-made for financial markets” and will be among the top benefactors of TradFi moving on-chain. Visa […]

In another major move of traditional financial markets onto the blockchain, JPMorgan Chase is launching its first tokenized money-market fund on the Ethereum blockchain, seeding the private vehicle with $100 million of its own capital. The new vehicle, called My OnChain Net Yield Fund, or MONY, is being introduced by the bank’s $4 trillion asset-management arm. Like traditional money-market funds, MONY holds baskets of short-term debt securities and is designed to offer yields typically higher than bank deposits, with interest paid and dividends accrued daily. “There is a massive amount of interest from clients around tokenization,” JPMorgan Asset Management Head […]

In one of the first debt issuances ever executed on a public blockchain, banking giant JP Morgan has just issued a short-term corporate debt instrument for Galaxy Digital – and it chose to launch the product on the Solana blockchain. Franklin Templeton and Coinbase have purchased Galaxy Digital’s debt tokens in “a landmark transaction” executed on Solana, a high performance blockchain that is “tailor-made for financial markets”. “Today’s transaction is an important step toward understanding the role blockchain will play in the future of financial markets,” JPMorgan’s Head of Digital Assets was quoted as saying by media. “This trade demonstrates institutional […]

The reclusive Himalayan Kingdom of Bhutan is among the few nation-states in the world that has incorporated blockchain and cryptocurrency into a core national development strategy. Surprisingly and quietly, the country has become the fifth largest government holder of Bitcoin in the world – and has done so in a novel way by mining Bitcointhrough hydropower, capitalizing on their vast water resources. Bhutan is also one of the few countries in the world with a partnership with Binance – the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange – enabling a national crypto payment system for visitors. And now the conservative yet crypto progressive […]

In a major new development that will have a massive impact on both the crypto and banking sectors, US banks have just been given approval to broker cryptocurrency trades for their customers. In other words, US banks can now offer crypto services in a manner similar to traditional brokerage activities. In a twist of irony, banks have historically been among the biggest opponents of the crypto sector – now they may become among the biggest deal makers for the asset class. The green light came from The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency [OCC], stating that US national banks may […]

Following up on our Crypto Finance Asia report yesterday on Ethereum’s massive $6 trillion in stablecoin volume this quarter – far surpassing the transactional volumes of Visa and Mastercard – market analysts are noting that the supply of ETH on exchanges has dropped to an astonishingly low of 8.7% of the total supply, marking a 43% decline since July. While price predictions are not a focus of our newsletter, this low percentage essentially means that more and more ETH is being accumulated by long-term holders and less and less ETH is available for purchase on exchanges. In other words, demand […]

The Ethereum blockchain has processed nearly US$6 trillion in stablecoin volume this quarter, a volume surge that is reflective of real economic activity as traditional financial markets are rapidly moving onto the blockchain. In the last day, stablecoin volume has surged past $85 billion. For comparison, Visa processes about US$8 trillion in transactions a year – a figure that Ethereum stablecoins may hit this quarter. It is clear that blockchain is reshaping finance and is steadily gaining significant market share from traditional payment rails. As the CEO of the company that issues the USDC stablecoin stated: “We are at the […]

The legacy payment provider Western Union is seeking to transform itself into relevance again with a major overhaul of its system onto the blockchain. After announcing the launch of a dollar-backed stablecoin to allow its 100 million customers to send money internationally detached from local currency fluctuations and risks, the firm is now set to roll out a “stable card” for high-inflation economies. Speaking at the recent UBS Global Technology and AI conference, the firm’s CFO said the new initiative builds on the company’s investor-day reveal that it is moving beyond traditional cross-border payments and into a multi-pillar digital asset […]

In yet another major development of traditional finance moving onto the blockchain, Japan’s Sony Bank plans to issue a  US dollar-denominated crypto stablecoin next year. According to reports, Sony hopes that US customers will pay for Sony subscriptions in its stablecoin throughout its ecosystem, thereby reducing payment fees incurred through traditional payment methods – typically credit cards such as Visa and Mastercard. This is no small move. US customers make up approximately 30% of Sony Group’s external sales, while its flagship gaming product PlayStation generates billions of dollars in sales through its online storefront. The CEO of the crypto research […]

Chainlink, a mid-cap cryptocurrency and protocol that supplies key infrastructure across blockchain networks, can now be traded on the New York Stock Exchange with the launch of a new Grayscale ETF, GLNK. Its debut on Tuesday drew $41 million in capital inflow, signaling strong demand for regulated altcoins. Chainlink’s appeal lies in its key infrastructure role; the network supplies on-chain applications with external data, enabling price feeds, cross-chain transfers and tokenized assets to function reliably. It offers a decentralized oracle network that connects smart contracts with real-world data in a secure manner – a technology that plays a pivotal role […]

Last night when I turned on CNBC news for my ritual pre-sleep business news update, for the first time ever I saw a discussion on Solana – a high performance blockchain governed by the sixth largest cryptocurrency, SOL. On the show was Anthony Scaramucci, the founder of Skybridge Capital, a global alternative investment management firm headquartered in New York. My young daughter excitedly told me “this guy is talking about money!” In an evident signal of crypto turning mainstream, here was a discussion on CNBC on the power and integration of blockchain technology with traditional finance. And to be clear, […]

Blackrock, the world’s largest asset manager with over $13.4 trillion in assets under management, says that the tokenization of assets on the blockchain is shaping the next evolution of global markets and will act as a bridge between the crypto industry and traditional finance (TradFi). In an opinion piece penned by Blackrock’s Larry Fink and Rob Goldstein published in The Economist, the authors wrote that tokenization won’t replace the existing financial system any time soon, but predict it will help merge the two industries. “Think of it instead as a bridge being built from both sides of a river, converging […]

In a major reversal from a year ago, the world’s second-largest asset manager says it will now allow crypto ETFs and mutual funds to be traded on its platform.   As reported by Bloomberg, Vanguard is responding to pressure from retail and institutional clients citing changes that the crypto market “has matured” and “investor preference continues to evolve.” The significance? $11 Trillion This is a major development and yet another signal of traditional finance embracing this once frowned upon sector: Vangaurd manages over $11 trillion in assets and services some 50 million brokerage customers, who up until today could not gain […]

Europe’s largest asset manager, Amundi, which manages some €2.2 trillion in assets and serves over 100 million clients worldwide, has just gone blockchain! And it has chosen Ethereum, the blockchain of the world’s second largest cryptocurrency by marketcap, ETH. The Paris-based financial giant has just made history by launching the first tokenized money market fund in Europe on the blockchain. “This groundbreaking move bridges traditional finance with digital assets in a way never seen before in Europe,” reported industry media on the development. The new, tokenized fund is a digital version of Amundi’s existing €5 billion AMUNDI FUNDS CASH EUR […]

The crypto asset manager Grayscale has just filed to convert its Zcash Trust into the first US spot ETF tracking this privacy-focused cryptocurrency. Zcash (ZEC) is a niche privacy coin created in 2016 – a generation ago in crypto time – and is the first cryptocurrency to develop zero-knowledge encryption for private peer-to-peer payments. “Encrypted Bitcoin” “If Bitcoin is digital gold, Zcash is encrypted bitcoin, or digital cash,” Tyler Winklevoss – a major investor of ZEC – posted on X. Winklevoss Capital recently  led a funding raise of $58.9 million to pivot an obscure biotech firm, Leap Therapeutics (LPTX), into […]

The world’s largest Ethereum (ETH) treasury company, BinMine, has just bought another US$ 200 million worth of ETH. The NYSE-listed firm now holds 3% of ETH’s total supply, worth about US$10.2 billion. The company on Monday also said it owns 192 bitcoin, a $38 million stake in Eightco Holdings, and $800 million in cash. The company aims to continue investing in ETH until it holds 5% of the coin’s supply. A pivotal moment in the modernization of finance The firm’s chairman, Tom Lee, expects ETH to enter a supercycle as it capitalizes on a transformative shift of traditional financial markets […]

In major institutional shift and a huge victory for crypto adoption, the world’s most-used cross-border payments system, SWIFT, has just chosen an Ethereum layer 2 blockchain for its upcoming cross-border payments pilot. The decades-old (i.e antiquated) system is going onchain – and the implications are massive. “This move marks the biggest adoption of Ethereum Layer-2 by traditional financial institutions to date,” reported Binance Square, a news platform of the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange, Binance. “With 30+ major banks participating, this pilot could reshape how international payments are processed, making transactions faster and cheaper.” The selected Layer 2 blockchain is Linea, […]

This is a big week for Solana, the sixth largest cryptocurrency by marketcap and the governing token of the high performance Solana blockchain. Three major investment firms, VanEck, Canary Funds, and Fidelity are launching a series of Solana ETFs this week, with VanEck being the first to launch (which ocurred on Monday). VanEck’s VSOL debuted on exchanges with zero fees. These ETFs follow the launch of Bitwise’s BSOL and Grayscale’s GSOL, launched in late October. According to Fortune Crypto, BSOL was the most successful ETF launch of 2025 in any asset class. Going mainstream Solana is just the third cryptocurrency […]

In major development bridging de-centralized finance (DeFi) with traditional finance (TradFi), the world’s largest DeFi crypto lending platform, Aave, is set to roll out a consumer yield App on Apple’s App store. With the Aave App, users will be able to earn up to 9% annualized yield – higher than money market funds –  and can deposit funds directly from bank accounts, debit cards or in stablecoins. The App also offers up to $1 million in balance protection. According to an Aave blogpost on the product: “Unlike traditional savings accounts, your interest compounds every second, so you watch your savings […]

The billionaire Winklevoss twins, involved in the creation of Facebook and who later went on to establish the crypto exchange Gemini and Winklevoss Capital, have made a bold new move into a relatively obscure mid-cap cryptocurrency, Zcash (Zec). Zcash is a niche privacy coin created in 2016 – a generation ago in crypto time – and is the first cryptocurrency to develop zero-knowledge encryption for private peer-to-peer payments. The Winklevoss deal involved a $58.9 million funding raise led by Winklevoss Capital to pivot an obscure biotech firm, Leap Therapeutics (LPTX), into a Zcash treasury firm. The firm purchased $50 million […]

The Czech National Bank has become the first central bank in the world to add Bitcoin to its balance sheet. While the sum is minimal at a test US$1 million, the significance and implications are massive. It is also another milestone for Bitcoin. “This is a psychological unlock,” wrote Marc Baumann, the founder and CEO and the crypto research firm 51 Insights. “For years, Bitcoin maxis kept saying: Central banks will 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 to own BTC. They were right and now it begins… Earlier this year, Christine Lagarde publicly mocked the idea of a central bank buying Bitcoin. Now? A European […]

JP Morgan, the largest bank in the United States and also among the world’s largest, has just made a major move into Ethereum (ETH) through the purchase of 1.97 million BitMine shares worth $102.5 million.  BitMine is the world’s largest Ethereum treasury firm, holding 3,395,422 tokens worth about $11 billion. JP Morgan’s move underscores growing interest from Wall Street in companies tied to Ethereum accumulation and infrastructure. The demand for ETH is being driven by its blockchain technology and use of smart contracts, which is gaining strong traction for the movement of traditional financial markets onto the blockchain. Flipping Bitcoin Recently, […]

A new consortium of seven crypto firms has just been formed to establish common standards for cross-chain stablecoin transfers. For those not following the explosion of stablecoins to transfer funds – including cross-border payments settled almost instantly for pennies – crypto stablecoin transfer volume reached US$27.7 trillion in 2024 – surpassing the combined volumes of Visa and Mastercard by 7.7%. This is not a fringe sector, rather one that is about to dominate the traditiional finance payments industry. Outdated systems such as SWIFT will need to adapt to blockchain technology, or die in the likes of Kodak, Nokia, and the fax […]

Ripple Labs, the developer of the XRP cryptocurrency and the RLUSD stablecoin, are teaming up with Mastercard, the US bank WebBank, and the crypto exchange Gemini to test using the RLUSD stablecoin to settle fiat credit card transactions over the XRP Ledger blockchain. In a pilot program, WebBank, which is the issuer of the Gemini Credit Card, will explore settling Mastercard transactions using RLUSD on the XRP Ledger blockchain. If implemented, this would be one of the first instances of a regulated US bank settling traditional credit card payments using a stablecoin on a public blockchain. “The goal is to […]

This is interesting. The Ethereum blockchain ecosystem now holds some US$165 billion in stabecloin reserves, positioning itself among the world’s highest. This exceeds some national reserve pools of major nation-states – including Singapore and India. “The reserve accumulation illustrates growing confidence in Ethereum’s underlying infrastructure as a foundational component of digital finance,” wrote the TradingView in a recent article. “Market observers note that [ETH market] trends resemble traditional reserve asset behavior, highlighting Ethereum’s potential as a macro-level instrument for capital allocation. Investor confidence is growing, but execution remains critical. Tokenomics, staking yields, regulatory clarity, and network performance will determine whether […]

Last week saw the launch of a number of crypto ETFs in the United States – nearly two years after the first Bitcoin ETF was launched – ushering in a new and significant wave of institutional money to the crypto market. Until last week, only Bitcoin and Ethereum had ETFs in the US. The main one that launched last week was a Solana Staking ETF, BSOL, which according to Fortune Crypto was the most successful ETF launch of 2025 in any asset class. Solana is a high performance blockchain governed by its namesake cryptocurrency, SOL, which is the sixth largest […]

The South Korean listed company, Bitplanet, has just launched a “a disciplined Bitcoin buy program” in which it will buy Bitcoin every day. Daily purchases are to reduce timing risk and to formalize Bitcoin as a strategic treasury reserve asset. The company aims to acquire 10,000 BTC over an unspecified time period (worth about $1.11 billion at today’s prices). The company has kicked off the program buying 93 BTC, which is being touted as “the first Bitcoin purchase by a publicly listed company in Korea executed entirely through regulated and compliant infrastructure”. To support this plan, the company recently raised […]

Like many traditional financial giants, Visa is shifting to the blockchain and is set to roll out support for four crypto stablecoins across four unique blockchains: Ethereum, Solana, Stellar and Avalanche. Some analysts are saying that Visa’s exploration of digital assets for cross-border payments “could be a game changer”. As reported by the Payments Journal: “[This] marks the first adoption of a stablecoin by a major payment rail that already processes the lion’s share of international transactions…By treating stablecoins as equivalent to funds on deposit, buyers and sellers can enable instant payouts without leaving capital tied up across multiple currencies […]

The first Solana ETFs are set to start trading this week on the New York Stock Exchange, a major development that will usher in a new wave of institutional money into the sixth largest cryptocurrency by marketcap. Moreover, it will mark just the third digital asset to get an ETF in the United States after Bitcoin and Ethereum – and the first to include a staking mechanism to generate yield. The Bitwise Solana Staking ETF is set to debut under the ticker BSOL on Tuesday, while Grayscale is set to launch their Solana ETF on Wednesday. “Solana is headed into […]

Ethereum (ETH), the second largest cryptocurrency by marketcap, has just flipped Bitcoin in one important metric: Corporations now hold a higher percentage of ETH’s supply than their Bitcoin counterparts do of Bitcoin’s supply. Corporations now hold 4% of ETH’s total supply, while corporations hold 3.6% of Bitcoin’s supply. Why does this matter? For one, most corporations incorporating ETH or BTC into their treasury strategies are not traders or speculators: they aim to buy and hold. Moreover, there is more incentive for corporations to hold ETH longer term due to staking revenue – ETH is a yield bearing asset  unlike Bitcoin […]

Solmate, a Nasdaq-listed Solana treasury and investment firm, has just announced aggressive expansion plans focused on M&A deals, specifically looking at candidates “across the Solana value chain” that will “supercharge SOL-per-share growth.” The firm’s CEO, Marco Santori, was quoted in media as saying that Solmate is focusing on finding companies that don’t just generate revenue, but ones that will use a Solana strategy to accelerate their business lines. Santori described Solana – the sixth largest cryptocurrency by marketcap and the governing token of one of the world’s fastest and most used blockchains – as “a perfect treasury asset because of […]

Hong Kong’s securities regulator has just approved the first Solana (SOL) ETF, the third crypto-based ETF approved in the territory following Bitcoin and Ethereum. It also marks the first Solana ETF to be approved in Asia. Solana is a high performance blockchain governed by its namesake cryptocurrency, which is gaining significant institutional traction as the blockchain is set to be among the biggest benefactors of traditional financial markets moving onchain. Hong Kong’s Solana ETF approval front-runs a number of US-based ones that are awaiting SEC approval. These were expected to be approved this month but the US government shutdown has […]

BitMine, the world’s largest Ethereum (ETH) corporate treasury firm, scooped up a mind-boggling $820 million worth of ETH last week following a sharp market correction. The firm now holds 3.24 million ETH, worth some $1.2 billion. This represents 2.7% of ETH’s total supply – and the company is not stopping here. It aims to capture 5% of the supply. Regarding last week’s buying spree, BitMine’s Chairman Tom Lee stated: “The crypto market saw one of its largest deleveraging events ever last week, and this put downward pressure on ETH prices…Given the expected Supercycle for Ethereum, this price dislocation represents an […]

This is an interesting interview of Brian Rudick, the Chief Strategy Officer at Upexi, a leading Solana treasury firm. Solana is a high performance blockchain governed by its native cryptocurrency, SOL, which is the sixth largest cryptocurrency by marketcap. A number of US-based corporations have been accumulating SOL for their treasuries as it is becoming a key benefactor of traditional finance moving onto the blockchain. As we reported in September, the top five corporations holding SOL together hold about $4.5 billion of the digital asset. Upexi is number three, holding just over 2 million SOL worth some $400 million. On […]

The world’s largest corporate holder of Ethereum (ETH), BitMine (BMNR), is set to launch a staking strategy that is expected to generate a 2.79% pre-tax yield. According to reports, this would make BMNR among the 800 most profitable firms in the U.S. In addition to holding 2.83 million ETH, representing 2.5% of its supply, the firm also holds 192 Bitcoin and $456 million in cash, giving the company about $1.3 billion in combined crypto and cash reserves. This makes the firm the second largest corporate holder of crypto, behind Nasdaq-listed Strategy. As the crypto market fell over the past week, […]

The founder of the cryptocurrency exchange Huobi and chairman of the Hong Kong investment company Avenir Capital has just raised US$1 billion to invest in Ethereum (ETH). While details remain scant, the set-up has been reported to be through a Nasdaq-listed shell company. This company would launch a trust fund to accumulate ETH, the second largest cryptocurrency by marketcap after Bitcoin. Ethereum at the forefront of one of the most consequential shifts in corporate finance This move comes as institutional demand for ETH has surged in recent months as the Ethereum blockchain is the prime benefactor of traditional financial markets […]

Earlier this week, the Chinese fintech giant behind Alipay’s 1.4 billion-user payment network launched a new Layer-2 blockchain, built on the Ethereum network. The implication is massive: Ethereum is set to onboard 1.4 billion new users, or over 17% of the world’s population. As a representative of the Ethereum Foundation stated: “This isn’t another startup experiment. It’s a signal that the next phase of global finance is being built on Ethereum rails…In China, Alipay isn’t an app; it’s an infrastructure layer for daily life, payments, loans, insurance, identity, mobility, and more. And now, Ant Group is taking that infrastructure onchain.” […]

Luxembourg has just become the first Eurozone nation to invest in Bitcoin. The country’s Intergenerational Sovereign Wealth Fund (FSIL) has approved to invest 1% of its holdings in Bitcoin ETFs, following a revised framework that allows it to invest up to 15% of its holdings in “alternative assets” that include crypto. While not a significant amount (the fund holds only about $900 million in assets), the investment is significant in that it will likely trigger similar investments by other Eurozone states.  It is also a significant symbolic step for Europe’s financial landscape. At present, Finland, Georgia and the UK also […]

There are some staggering numbers on the latest trend in the crypto and DeFi blockchain space: monthly trading volume on DeFi perpetual trading exchanges (Perp Dexes) surpassed US$1 trillion in September. You read that right, $1 trillion! The milestone represents a 48% surge compared to August’s $707.6 billion volume and has been sparked by three major players – one of them about a month old, Aster. The other two are Hyperliquid and Lighter. Aster gained significant traction after its token launch on Sept. 17, boosted by a high-profile public endorsement from Changpeng “CZ” Zhao, a co-founder of Binance and regarded […]

A recent study by Apex Protocol has named Singapore as the world’s most crypto focused country. The United Arab Emirates was ranked second, the US third, and Canada fourth. For the study, each country was analysed across four key factors reflecting public engagement and infrastructure: the share of the population owning cryptocurrency in 2024, the pace of adoption since 2019, online search activity related to crypto measured per 100K people, and the number of cryptocurrency ATMs in operation. In terms of the percentage of people holding cryptocurrency, Singapore ranked second with nearly 25% of the population owning crypto. This is […]

  In a major new development for the blockchainization of traditional finance, the global payment network system SWIFT – among the most used but most outdated payment systems in the world – is now experimenting with migrating their messaging system onto the blockchain. According to reports, the migration would be to an Ethereum Layer 2 blockchain. As reported by the Block: “The [experimental] project will take several months to materialize, but it promises an important technological transformation for the international interbank payments industry.” This latest move by SWIFT shows that the payment system used by over 11,500 financial institutions across […]

Some 70 corporations and organizations – mostly US-based – are quietly leading what some analysts are calling one of the most consequential shifts in corporate finance. These entities have been stockpiling ETH, the cryptocurrency that governs the Ethereum blockchain, and now holdmore than $17 billion worth of ETH directly, while ETFs account for another $25 billion. Together, close to 10% of ETH’s circulating supply is now under institutional control. Why are these firms betting big on ETH? For one, unlike Bitcoin which often sits idle on corporate balance sheets, Ethereum treasuries are yield-bearing assets. This is done through staking, which […]

  In the latest development highlighting Wall Street’s dramatic shift to embracing cryptocurrency, Morgan Stanley has just announced it will offer crypto trading services on its E*trade platform. “The underlying technology has been proven and blockchain-based infrastructure is obviously here to stay,” Jed Finn, Morgan Stanley’s head of wealth management, told Bloomberg. “Clients should have access to digitized assets, traditional assets, and cryptocurrencies, all in the same ecosystem that they’re used to.” The wealth management bank is partnering with crypto and stablecoin infrastructure firm Zerohash to enable customers of the Wall Street giant’s online brokerage platform to trade Bitcoin, Ethereum, […]

A major decentralized cryptocurrency platform backed by the Tump family, World Liberty Financial, has just announced it will launch a crypto debit card and retail application to plug the project’s stablecoin into everyday payments, including Apple Pay integration. As reported by Coindesk, the retail app will merge peer-to-peer transfers with trading features and is expected to be at the core of World Liberty’s push into consumer markets and cutting out traditional banking intermediaries. The news follows an announcement by the popular messaging app LINE  that it will launch a stablecoin super app, allowing users to send and receive cross-border payments via […]

The messaging app popular in Asia, LINE, is set to launch a stablecoin super app, allowing users to send and receive cross-border payments. According to reports, app users will be able to deposit stablecoins to earn real-time incentives, transfer funds via messages, and make online and in-store payments worldwide with spending rewards. This move underscores the debanking revolution that is unfolding with the speed, efficiency and low transfer costs of cryptocurrencies. The losers, of course – if they fail to adapt – are the antiquated payment systems tied to banks (think SWIFT) – and the banks themselves. As we reported […]

Continuing our coverage of Solana, a high performance blockchain and cryptocurrency gaining significant traction on Wall Street as traditional finance markets and products move on-chain, the last few months have seen a wave of corporations incorporating Solana (SOL) into their treasuries. A recent article by Decrypt details the five largest corporations that have incorporated this strategy. To date, the top five firms have acquired more than $2.5 billion worth of SOL: 1. Forward Industries – 6,822,000 SOL The Nasdaq listed medical design company Forward Industries currently holds the largest Solana treasury, boasting 6,822,000 SOL it acquired for just shy of […]

The Nasdaq listed Forward Industries (FORD) has just closed one of the largest PIPE financings in crypto’s history: A US$1.6 billion Solana war chest funded entirely in cash and stablecoins. Solana is a high performance blockchain gaining tremendous traction on Wall Street as traditional financial markets move on-chain. FORD is set to deploy the world’s largest Solana digital asset treasury strategy, with proceeds earmarked primarily to purchase SOL and then actively deploy it across staking, lending and other on-chain strategies. The deal was led by Galaxy Digital, Jump Crypto and Multicoin Capital; the trio collectively subscribed for more than $300 […]

We end this week with more coverage on Solana, a disrupter blockchain whose native cryptocurrency SOL has just taken over Binance’s BNB token as the world’s fifth largest cryptocurrency by marketcap. SOL’s latest rally is directly attributed to some major institutional deals and investments that are shaking up the crypto, blockchain, and traditional finance space. Among these was the sealing of a private placement deal for a US-based medical company to raise $1.6 billion to buy SOL. The Nasdaq listed Forward Industries (FORD) aims to be the largest public corporate owner of Solana. To top that off, one of FORD’s […]

Canada’s SOL Strategies, a treasury and investment firm focusing on the Solana ecosystem – a high performance blockchain with its namesake cryptocurrency – has just become the first Solana Treasury firm to list on Nasdaq. Trading under the stock ticker STKE, the firm is among the top corporate holders of Solana (SOL), holding some 370,420 coins worth over US$82 million. The six largest corporate holders of Solana now hold a combined amount of nearly $1 billion. However, this amount is set to over double with the imminent entry of  Forward Industries, a US-based medical company that has just raised $1.6 […]

Forward Industries (FORD), an obscure, US-based designer of products for medical and technology firms, has just raised an impressive US$1.65 billion through a private investment in public equity (PIPE) in order to build a treasury of Solana, the namesake cryptocurrency of a disrupter blockchain. In the blockchain space, Solana is known as a high-performance public blockchain platform that provides fast transaction speeds and low fees for developers and users, especially in comparison to some of the older public blockchains such as Ethereum. The blockchain is gaining traction for hosting real world assets such as US equities and tokenized real estate. Solana holders can […]

In a major new development that shows how blockchain and cryptocurrency is revolutionizing the traditional finance sector, the world’s second-largest stock exchange is seeking approval from the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to tokenize all of its stocks. This would allow the 24/7 trading of Nasdaq equities on the blockchain – the first of its kind. In addition to 24/7 trading, this would allow instant settlement and programmable ownership. According to insiders, tokenization and settlement would occur on the Ethereum blockchain – the namesake blockchain of the world’s second largest cryptocurrency by marketcap. Ethereum as an asset is rapidly […]

The Taiwan-based crypto venture capital company Sora Ventures has just announced the launch of Asia’s first Bitcoin Treasury Fund – and the amount is nothing to scoff at. According to reports, the firm plans to acquire $1 billion worth of Bitcoin and use this primarily to investment in Bitcoin Treasury companies across Asia (companies that focus on accumulating Bitcoin for their corporate treasuries). This new fund follows a number of individual Bitcoin Treasury firms that have emerged across Asia in recent years, such as Japan’s Metaplanet (which currently holds 20,000 BTC worth over $2.2 billion), Hong Kong’s Moon Inc, South […]

Hong Kong’s Yunfeng Financial Group, which is linked to Jack Ma, has just purchased 10,000 Ethereum (ETH) worth about $44 million to begin building an ETH treasury. According to reports, Yunfeng, which provides services including insurance, brokerage, and asset management, said the Ethereum purchase will help reduce its reliance on traditional currencies while supporting its technological expansion into Web3, real-world assets, digital currencies, and AI. The firm’s entry into crypto indicates how Asia-based firms are beginning to adopt digital assets in corporate finance strategies that go beyond speculative trading. Japan’s Metaplanet leads the way with a Bitcoin treasury worth about […]

Yesterday we reported on a game-changing move by the San Fransisco-based digital bank SoFi Technologies: The innovative bank is set to become the first US bank to leverage Bitcoin’s Lighting network for blockchain-powered international money transfers. The bank’s new money transfer service will allow customers to convert US dollars into Bitcoin in real-time and route the funds across borders via the Bitcoin Lightning network, where funds are delivered directly to the recipient’s bank account in their country’s currency. The process will take seconds (not days like traditional banks), will not be stalled on holidays or after hours, and will cost […]

The San Fransisco-based digital bank SoFi Technologies is set to become the first US bank to leverage Bitcoin’s Lighting network for blockchain-powered international money transfers. Users will be able to send money internationally directly from the SoFi app, enabling the bank to compete in the global remittance market, which is valued at over $740 billion. This will put the bank in direct competition with the antiquated SWIFT system, which still uses technology from the 1960s. According to reports, SoFi’s new international money transfer service will allow customers to convert US dollars into Bitcoin in real-time and route the funds across […]

The S&P Dow Jones Indices is in discussions with major cryptocurrency exchanges, custodians and DeFi protocols to license and list tokenized versions of its benchmarks, according to Stephanie Rowton, the firm’s director of US equities and cited in the prominent crypto media outlet Cointelegraph. “By establishing these types of relationships, we hope we can work together to participate in a robust infrastructure that supports the trading and accessibility of tokenized versions of our indexes, ultimately enhancing the investor experience,” Rowton said. Rowton added that the move has already generated “an uptick in curiosity and engagement” from both traditional finance (TradFi) […]

There has been a recent and rapidly rising trend of corporations acquiring Ethereum (ETH) for their treasuries, following an earlier and consistently growing trend of companies building Bitcoin treasuries. According to Strategic ETH Reserve data, 71 ETH-focused treasury firms currently hold 3.57 million ETH, valued at some $16 billion, or nearly 3% of the coin’s total supply. Moreover, data suggests there are plans in motion for firms to acquire roughly $27 billion more of ETH, potentially capturing 10% of the coin’s total supply. The bulk of this planned investment comes from the Crypto mining and treasury company BitMine Immersion Technologies, […]

Two corporations have added a total of about USD 640 million to their Bitcoin treasuries in the past week. For anyone following the crypto / Bitcoin market, corporations massing Bitcoin is a trend to follow closely. They are literally making Bitcoin deflationary by outpacing the supply side made by mining. The Nasdaq-listed Strategy – the world’s first and largest Bitcoin treasury firm – added 4,980 BTC for $531.1 million this past week according to a June 30 filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). This brings its total holdings to 597,325 BTC, now valued at over $64 billion. […]

Thailand’s gathering clouds: a ‘judicial coup’ in the offing? The Shinawatra dynasty appears to be facing its most precarious moment since 2014, with Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra hanging by a political thread after a disastrous leaked phone call with former Cambodian strongman Hun Sen. It’s a familiar script for southeast Asia watchers: a border dispute with Cambodia, nationalist fervor, and mounting pressure that historically precedes military or judicial intervention against Shinawatra governments. Thousands protested in Bangkok demanding Paetongtarn’s resignation, with her coalition government reeling from the departure of the Bhumjaithai party, leaving a razor-thin parliamentary majority Constitutional Court proceedings and […]

Kazakhstan has just officially launched a unique version of a Special Economic Zone (SEZ). This SEZ is called the Solana Economic Zone, named after the innovative blockchain and cryptocurrency. The SEZ will be a testing ground for blockchain pilots, startup incubation, and international collaboration as part of the country’s ambition to become a regional crypto and blockchain hub. According to Kazakhstan’s Ministry of Digital Development, Innovations and Aerospace Industry, the zone is modeled after successful initiatives like the Dubai Multi Commodities Centre, which supports the growth of digital assets through regulatory clarity and infrastructure support. The country also plans to […]

This company does not get rattled. As the Israel-Iran conflict intensified last week, rattling global markets, the Nasdaq-listed Strategy added another $1 billion worth of Bitcoin to its bloated treasury – fully stacked with the world’s top cryptocurrency. Following the purchase, Strategy’s total holdings now stand at 592,100 BTC, acquired for about $41.8 billion at an average price of $70,666 per coin. The latest purchase also marked the tenth week in a row that Strategy has reported buying Bitcoin, according to the company’s website. In response to Strategy’s purchase, the CEO of Metaplanet – another corporate firm relentlessly buying Bitcoin […]

We have reported extensively on corporations diversifying their treasuries to hold cryptocurrencies, particularly Bitcoin, Solana and XRP. In a new development, two US-based firms have just announced plans to acquire a little-known but fast growing crypto, Hyperliquid (HYPE), for their treasuries. Hyperliquid is a high-speed Layer 1 blockchain optimized for perpetuals trading, has seen a wave of adoption. In the past 30 days, it has accountedfor 60% of the total onchain perps volume. HYPE ranks as the 12th-largest cryptocurrency by market cap, having surged 380% from its April low to an all-time high of $45.57 on June 16. These treasury […]

We have reported extensively on corporations diversifying their treasuries to hold cryptocurrency, particulalrly Bitcoin, Solana and XRP. Last week, a little-known US marketing firm, SharpLink Gaming, bought $436 million of Ethereum, becoming the second largest holder of the cryptocurrency after the Ethereum Foundation. “This is a landmark moment for SharpLink and for public company adoption of digital assets,” said SharpLink Gaming’s CEO in a Friday statement. “We believe Ethereum is foundational infrastructure for the future of digital commerce and decentralized applications. Our decision to make ETH our primary treasury reserve asset reflects deep conviction in its role as programmable, yield-bearing […]

Continuing on with our coverage of the cryptocurrency XRP developed by the US-based technology company Ripple Labs, a long-standing legal battle between the firm and the US Securities Commission (SEC) is set to end. The SEC and Ripple Labs have jointly asked a Manhattan federal court to dissolve a prior injunction and release $125 million currently held in escrow, according to a filing made Thursday in the Southern District of New York. Under the proposal, Ripple would pay a $50 million civil penalty to the SEC, with the remaining funds to be returned to the company. The case, which begain […]

Ripple Labs, the company behind the cryptocurrency XRP and its blockchain XRP Ledger (XRPL) continues to hog the headlines in the cryptocurrency and blockchain space with a new major institutional deal. Guggenheim Treasury Services, a major player in the commercial paper space, has brought its Digital Commercial Paper (DCP) product to the XRPL blockchain, making it the first native digital commercial paper live on this blockchain. DCP is a short-term debt product backed by the U.S. Treasuries and rated prime 1 by Moody’s. It is a key asset for institutional investors looking for safe, yield-bearing products and now it is […]

In this edition of ASEAN Business Briefs, we focus on some the broader regional concerns within ASEAN: demographics in Vietnam, continuing tariff pressure from the US, easing border tensions between Thailand and Cambodia and Thailand’s tourism blues. Vietnam ends 2-child policy Under a new regulation approved by the National Assembly Standing Committee in Hanoi last week, couples now have the right to decide how many to have, according to Bloomberg and other sources. Vietnam’s limits on the number of children per family were introduced in 1988, but have come a subject of concern after 2022, when the birthrate dropped below […]

In our latest edition of Crypto Finance Asia (Access Asia’s Linkedin newsletter covering the latest developments, innovations and investments in Asia’s crypto and blockchain space), we report on Crypto IPO fever. Following the tremendously successful debut of the USDC crypto stablecoin issuer Circle on the New York Stock Exchange last week, the US-based cryptocurrency exchange Gemini on Friday disclosed it had confidentially filed for a U.S. initial public offering. Several high-profile companies, including those in high-risk sectors such as crypto and financial technology, have launched successful listings in recent weeks, reflecting pent-up demand and renewed vigor in the capital markets. […]