The Southeast Asian nation of Vietnam now ranks among the top nations adopting cryptocurrencies. Indeed, the country has ranked first on Chainalysis’ Global Crypto Adoption Index for two years in a row. Chainalysis’ research methodology took into account population-adjusted adoption in crypto platforms ranging from centralized exchanges to peer-to-peer (P2P) payment networks. Web traffic to major crypto networks was analyzed to determine countries with the highest interest and adoption percentages. That said, Vietnam’s high adoption rate is a puzzling phenomenon, begging the question: Why is crypto adoption so high in the country? No cryptocurrency taxes There are numerous reasons why …

Animoca Brands co-founder Yat Siu thinks that GameFi has the biggest opportunity for growth in Asia, as gamers there don’t hold the same vitriol towards nonfungible tokens (NFTs) as they do in the West. Sitting down with Cointelegraph during Asia Crypto Week, Siu argued that Asia generally has more of a welcoming culture towards gaming and advancements in tech such as NFTs, digital property and Play-to-Earn (P2E). “I think that Asia has the potential to really lead in blockchain gaming, at least in the short term. And there's a couple of reasons why I think that's the case. Not just …

Nonfungible tokens (NFTs) may be the biggest driver of crypto adoption in Central, Southern Asia, and Oceania (CSAO), a new report has found. According to a Sept. 21, Chainalysis post titled “Crypto Adoption Steadies in South Asia, Soars in the Southeast,” NFT-related actions accounted for 58% of all web traffic going to cryptocurrency services from this region in the second quarter of 2022. Meanwhile, another 21% of traffic in the quarter went to websites of play-to-earn (P2E) blockchain games, with majortitles including Axie Infinity, STEPN and Battle Infinity. Chainalysis noted that P2E blockchain games are “intimately related” to NFTs, as …

Half a year after the military junta in Myanmar revealed its plans to launch a digital currency, the country’s government, ousted in a coup in 2021, voices its own intention to launch one using frozen national funds. In a Sept. 6 interview with Bloomberg, the minister of planning of exiled Myanmar’s National Unity Government, Tin Tun Naing, asked for the “U.S. blessing” to use “virtually” the country’s reserves, frozen by the Federal Reserve Bank of New York since Feb. 2021. The funds Naing mentions have been frozen on Singaporean, Thai and Japanese accounts and could amount to billions of dollars …

Cryptocurrency companies have been moving to improve compliance worldwide amid the bear market of 2022, with many platforms increasingly securing licenses and approvals. As one may find it difficult to track all global regulatory milestones in crypto, Cointelegraph has picked up some of the latest compliance developments over the past couple of weeks. Global crypto firms have recently been active in growing presence and compliance in North America, with exchanges like China-founded Huobi Tech entering Canada. Huobi Technology Holdings announced on Aug. 23 that its subsidiary Hbit Technologies has successfully obtained a Money Services Business (MSB) license from the Financial …

The Securities Commission (SC) of Malaysia issued a statement on Aug. 22 regarding Huobi operations in the country. According to the statement, the crypto exchange is now on the SC’s Investor Alert List. Malaysian financial regulators say Huobi has been operating a digital asset exchange in the country without official registration with the SC. Huobi Global [https://t.co/la9Y3ntGuq] has been added to the SC’s Investor Alert List for operating a digital asset exchange (DAX) in Malaysia without being registered with the SC. pic.twitter.com/z3IGgnCa0t — SC Malaysia (@SecComMY) August 22, 2022 In a follow-up tweet, the SC said that any operations which …

After the rising wedge formation was broken on Aug. 17, the total crypto market capitalization quickly dropped to $1 trillion and the bulls' dream of recouping the $1.2 trillion support, last seen on June 10, became even more distant. The worsening conditions are not exclusive to crypto markets. The price of WTI oil ceded 3.6% on Aug. 22, down 28% from the $122 peak seen on June 8. The United States treasuries 5-year yield, which bottomed on Aug. 1 at 2.61%, reverted the trend and is now trading at 3.16%. These are all signs that investors are feeling less confident …

Before the COVID-19 pandemic in Asia there was a strong division between the crypto and financial markets in general. Now, that border has got thinner and the situation demands additional regulatory measures, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) believes. In a blog post from Aug. 21, a group of IMF economists shared their concerns over the dynamics of Asian markets, where the integration of crypto in the larger financial system appears to be growing swiftly. This poses certain risks to financial stability, the economists stated, adding: “While the financial sector appears to have been insulated from these sharp movements, it may …

The government of Uzbekistan, which has previously made significant steps toward a moderate approach to crypto, announced Wednesday that it has restricted access to a number of large international crypto exchanges due to accusations of unlicensed activity. In a statement from Aug. 10, the National Agency of Perspective Projects (NAPP) projects informed that “various electronic platforms” provide services for trade and exchange of crypto-assets without obtaining the required license in violation of the existing legislation and thus access to them was restricted. However, the tone of the statement suggested that after obtaining a license and fulfilling the requirement to deploy …

Two organizations have established a new partnership in their quest to establish an even bigger presence across South East Asia. The memorandum of understanding between Morpheus Labs and PingCap was signed on July 28. Morpheus Labs, which is incorporated in Singapore, says its goal is to ensure everyone can succeed when creating and implementing Web3 blockchain applications. It offers an industry-leading blockchain development toolbox that reduces the time and effort associated with rolling out DApps — and boasts a library of tried-and-tested applications that developers can build upon. Meanwhile, PingCap provides cloud-native, distributed SQL databases that are designed for real-time …

Com2uS, the mobile game developer, wants to create its own version of Web3, “where it is free to play and own.” This is according to the company’s president Kyu Lee, who spoke at Korea Blockchain Week 2022 in Seoul, revealing the plan to launch a new blockchain. XPLA, which roughly represents the words explore and play, will be a blockchain network focused on the needs of the company’s gaming community, along with metaverse experiences. For Lee, blockchain was the obvious next step for the company’s presence in the gaming industry: “It was almost a no-brainer, [wouldn’t] you like to play …

Decentralized-finance (DeFi) aggregator 1inch Network has revealed plans to expand within the Asian market, according to its co-founder Sergej Kunz. Speaking to Cointelegraph during Korean Blockchain Week (KBW) 2022 on Aug. 8, Kunz said that despite the DeFi market being relatively small in Korea and Asia, there are a number of Asia-based Web3 companies that 1inch is looking to partner with. However, Kunz also added that the biggest barrier to entry appears to be a lack of understanding about DeFi and how to use crypto wallets: “As soon as people understand that they can [yield] farm, they can swap, they …