The governors of two central banks endorsed the Ethereum (ETH)-based remittance system developed by blockchain company Everex, the firm reported in a press release shared with Cointelegraph today, April 5. The service is set up to send payments between Thailand and Myanmar. The system was reportedly presented by the startup, along with its partners, state-owned Krungthai Bank of Thailand and Shwe Bank of Myanmar, at the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) central bank governors and finance ministers meeting on April 4. The Everex press release cites Veerathai Santiprabhob, the governor of Thailand’s Central Bank, as commenting on the project: …

The recent crypto market jump could be linked to algorithmic trading, Bloomberg writes on Wednesday, April 3. Algorithmic trading — a method that uses automated software to detect trends and determine when trades should be made — has been on the rise in the last few months, according to Bloomberg. The industry has seen 17 new algo or quantitative funds launched since September, an amount that purportedly comprises 40 percent of crypto hedge funds started during this period. While crypto funds in general lost around 72 percent due to the 2018 bear market, these algo funds reported on gains of …

United States-based institutional cryptocurrency exchange Seed CX has partnered with Singapore-based fintech company Hydra X to offer its trading service in Asia. Seed CX announced the development in a press release published on March 21. Per the announcement, Seed CX will join the list of supported digital asset trading venues available on the Sigma trading platform offered by Hydra X, which is currently in public beta. The partnership will also reportedly allow institutional Sigma users to access Seed CX’s fiat-crypto gateway. Seed CX is a licensed digital asset exchange for both spot market and U.S. Commodities and Futures Trading Commission …

Monday, March 11: Bitcoin (BTC) led a broadly stable start to trading in cryptocurrency markets today, with the largest cryptocurrency barely moving over the weekend. Market visualization from Coin360 Data from Coin360 and CoinMarketCap confirmed the continuing stability for Bitcoin and many major altcoins on Monday, with BTC/USD down around 0.15 percent to trade around $3,900. The area just below the $4,000 price point has proven attractive for Bitcoin for the past five days, ever since it entered from trading closer to $3,700. As Cointelegraph reported, cracking $4,000 has proven too difficult a test in recent times, with an earlier …

North Korea has reportedly amassed $670 million in fiat and cryptocurrencies by conducting hacking attacks, Asia-focused financial newspaper Nikkei Asian Review reports on Friday, March 8. The publication cites a U.N. Security Council report. The report, prepared by a panel of experts, was presented to the Security Council's North Korea sanctions committee ahead of its annual report. According to the documents obtained by Nikkei, the hackers attacked overseas financial institutions from 2015 to 2018 and purportedly used blockchain “to cover their tracks.” As cited by Nikkei, the report states that the attack were allegedly conducted by a specialized corps within …

International tech and IT firm Cisco Systems has opened a Co-Innovate Center in Singapore, the Bangkok Post reports on Feb. 25. Cisco CTO Dave Ward reportedly said that the new center — there are 14 worldwide — will help stimulate the development of new technology in the region. The branch in Singapore will purportedly concentrate on cybersecurity, the Internet of Things (IoT) and blockchain technology. The IT firm will reportedly offer various prototypes and display potential applications of new technology in different commercial contexts, as well as in public administration and education. The center will purportedly showcase the Rotterdam Project, …

Smart contracts auditing firm Hosho has laid off 80 percent of its staff, citing an increased amount of automated tooling, the firm’s co-founder and president Hartej Sawhney told Cointelegraph on Feb. 1. Sawhney noted that while Hosho has laid of a significant portion of its team, it continues to be one of the leading firms in the industry of smart contract auditing and security, specifically in penetration testing. The Hosho president explained that the staff reduction was caused by a complex set of circumstances, including the downturn in the amount of initial coin offerings (ICO), which is in part due …

High-volume Coinbase Pro and Prime users in Europe and Asia can now fund their accounts via international SWIFT wire transfer from non-United States bank accounts, a post on the official Coinbase blog announces Jan. 22. The post also notes that “select Coinbase Prime customers globally will also have access to our US and European over-the-counter (OTC) trading desks and Coinbase Custody.” Coinbase Custody — which focuses on serving institutional customers and storing large amounts of cryptocurrencies — recently obtained approval to operate in the state of New York, after launching in July. According to the announcement, the OTC trading desk …

The Pakistan-based subsidiary of global telecommunications giant Telenor has launched a blockchain-powered cross-border remittance service, according to a press release published Jan. 8. Per the announcement, the Pakistan-based Telenor Microfinance Bank (TMB), Valyou — a Malaysian fintech subsidiary of Telenor — and Telenor’s Easypaisa have jointly launched a blockchain-based international remittance service in Pakistan. The service is reportedly powered by blockchain technology developed by Ant Financial’s online payment platform, Alipay. The new service is reportedly geared to significantly increase the speed and efficiency of remittances between Malaysia and Pakistan. Pakistan currently receives about $1 billion in home remittances from Malaysia, …

CoinfloorEX, a unit of the United Kingdom cryptocurrency exchange Coinfloor, has been reorganized to offer trading of physical Bitcoin futures on the Asian market. The CEO of the company has revealed this in an interview with Bloomberg on Monday, Jan. 7. The rebranded CoinFLEX — short for Coin Futures and Lending Exchange — is reportedly owned by a consortium that includes Roger Ver, an early Bitcoin (BTC) entrepreneur and the supporter of the most recent controversial Bitcoin Cash (BCH) hard fork. The consortium behind CoinFLEX also includes another early BTC investor Mike Komaransky, United States investment banking firm Dragonfly Capital, …

Henri Arslanian, the Asia fintech and crypto leader of PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) Hong Kong, has predicted that many institutional players will enter the crypto industry in 2019. Arslanian made this claim during an interview with Bloomberg published on Dec. 24. When asked about his outlook on crypto for the next year, Arslanian said that he thinks “there’s a lot of exciting things that the crypto ecosystem is looking forward to in 2019.” Arslain explained that he expects the next year to be different from 2018 because of the increasing regulatory clarity. Arslanian also declared that he expects “many more big banks” …

Cryptocurrency businesses find it “almost impossible” to get insurance and this is deterring investors, Big Four auditor PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) told Reuters Dec. 20. In comments focusing on the global fintech market, Henri Arslanian — the firm’s fintech and crypto leader for Asia — highlighted the contradictory status quo industry businesses face trying to attract funding. “Most institutionally-minded crypto firms want to buy proper insurance, and in many cases, getting adequate insurance coverage is a regulatory or legal requirement,” he told the publication, continuing: “However, getting such coverage is almost impossible, despite their best efforts.” The paradox is made more painful …