A crypto exchange has launched a brand-new contest to find the ultimate trading masters. Bityard, which is based in Singapore, says a maximum price pool of up to 60,000 USDT is up for grabs — rising incrementally from 5,000 USDT depending on how many participants decide to get involved. Competitors have the chance to band together in teams as they put strategies through their paces in the choppy crypto markets. The team that comes in first place will share 30% of the total prize pool between them, with 20% earmarked for the group in second place, and 10% for those …

DBS Private Bank, one of the biggest wealth managers in Asia outside China, has launched a cryptocurrency trust solution amid growing demand for digital assets. After setting up its own crypto exchange in December 2020, the Singaporean banking giant is now expanding its crypto services via its wholly-owned trust company DBS Trustee, The Business Times reports Friday. The new crypto trust solution allows the company’s private banking clients to invest, custody and manage cryptocurrencies. The trust offering supports four cryptocurrencies including Bitcoin (BTC), Ether (ETH), XRP, and Bitcoin Cash (BCH), which are the sole digital assets hosted on the DBS …

DBS Bank, Singapore’s largest retail and commercial bank, has announced its first-quarter financial results following the launch of its institutional cryptocurrency exchange in December 2020. DBS chief financial officer Chng Sok Hui said that the bank saw record performance as quarterly net profit surpassed $2 billion for the first time in history, doubling from the previous quarter. DBS’ newly launched crypto platform, DBS Digital Exchange, apparently played a significant role in the bank’s latest milestone, as the platform saw a tenfold increase in daily trading volumes, reaching $30 million to $40 million, DBS CEO Piyush Gupta said. The CEO announced …

Major American investment bank JPMorgan is working with Singapore’s largest bank, DBS, and state investment firm Temasek to launch a new blockchain company focused on global payments and interbank transactions. Dubbed Partior, the new firm will use blockchain technology and digitize commercial bank money to reduce the existing friction in cross-border payments, trade transactions and foreign exchange settlements. Such functionality would enable instant settlement of payments for various types of transactions, helping banks overcome global payment-related challenges in the current financial system, JPMorgan said in a Wednesday announcement. The new platform builds on JPMorgan and Temasek’s past work as part …

Blockchain associations from Australia and five Southeast Asian nations are joining forces to promote blockchain development and education. Blockchain organizations from Australia, Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Indonesia and the Philippines signed a memorandum of understanding Thursday to promote blockchain collaboration in the Asia Pacific, Business Times reports. Initiated by Blockchain Association Singapore, or BAS, the MoU aims to engage with regulators to ensure legal compliance alongside raising industry awareness and education through a new blockchain consortium called the ASEAN Blockchain Consortium, or ABC. The ABC includes BAS, Blockchain Australia, Distributed Ledger Technology Association of the Philippines, Malaysia’s Labuan International Business and …

Cryptocurrency exchange platform and card issuer Crypto.com will be providing liquidity in a new partnership with Singapore-based hybrid liquidity aggregator Finxflo. In an announcement on Tuesday, Crypto.com said it would be joining Finxflo as the firm’s first liquidity provider, reportedly allowing the exchange to increase its transaction volume and mitigate market volatility. In general, liquidity aggregators may allow crypto traders to take advantage of deeper liquidity pools and more advantageous price execution. “We want to eliminate the hurdles associated with crypto trading, and streamline the experience for new retail investors,” said Finxflo CEO James Gillingham. “As we continue to deepen …

Officials in Singapore have issued a notice to would-be Bitcoin (BTC) and cryptocurrency investors, warning them of the dangers of engaging with such a volatile market. Notably, the warning comes just 48 hours after Prime Minister of Singapore Lee Hsien Loong had his likeness appropriated by a user on the BitClout social token platform, who used the PM’s name to sell tokens worth a near combined $10,000. On Tuesday, the chairman of the Monetary Authority of Singapore, Tharman Shanmugaratnam, warned of the inherent risks involved in speculating in the cryptocurrency space, asserting that their value was not tied to any …

Lee Hsien Loong, Prime Minister of Singapore, claims someone set up a profile on the social token platform BitClout to sell tokens using the information from his Twitter account. In a Facebook post Friday, Loong urged Singaporeans to “to remain vigilant when dealing with cryptocurrency platforms.” He said that someone had used BitClout to create one of the platform’s Creator Coins using his name, Twitter account bio, and photo. According to the screenshot Loong posted, there were 27.4088 of his tokens with a market capitalization of more than $9,800, with at least one user holding $4.77 worth. “I have discovered …

Waves Enterprise has onboarded Tokenomika Pte Ltd., a Singapore-based fintech company, as an operator for its hybrid public-private blockchain. Tokenomika will operate the Waves Enterprise public permissioned network, starting in March. The expansion comes as part of a strategy shift for Waves Enterprise, focusing more on hybrid networks that can interface with public blockchains like Ethereum. In Gartner’s “hype cycle for blockchain” report, the analytical firm predicts that the enterprise world will gradually move away from fully private networks to hybrid or even fully public options. Waves Enterprise is making a bet on this prediction, focusing on creating networks that …

Cryptocurrency derivatives exchange Bybit has appointed a new general counsel to lead the firm in its global compliance matters, and to oversee its legal team. Daniel Lim, formerly head of legal and compliance for the Singapore-based investment bank, Daiwa Capital Markets, was announced in the new role on March 9. Lim joins Bybit shortly after the exchange was forced to close down operations in the United Kingdom, following the FCA’s blanket ban on retail crypto derivatives trading. Co-founder and CEO of Bybit, Ben Zhou, said Lim was appointed to bolster the firm’s “compliance posture,” in what he sees as a …

The former CEO of crypto derivatives exchange BitMEX, Arthur Hayes, is in negotiations to surrender to U.S. authorities next month concerning charges that authorities levied against four of the exchange’s executives and co-owners in October. Transcripts of a court teleconference dated Feb. 16 indicate Hayes will surrender to the U.S. in Hawaii on April 6. Hayes and his fellow executives are accused of violating the Bank Secrecy Act by the U.S. Department of Justice and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission. The transcript details the assistant U.S. attorney Jessica Greenwood’s comments to the judge presiding over the case, with Greenwood indicating …

Gemini, a cryptocurrency exchange founded by the Winklevoss brothers, continues to strengthen its global presence by tapping into the Singaporean market. On Monday, Gemini announced a roll-out of several new features for its platform in Singapore, including support for the Singapore dollar on mobile and desktop. According to the announcement, Gemini customers in Singapore can now use a debit card to buy crypto with Singapore dollars as well as use electronic funds transfer service FAST to make deposits on Gemini. In a move to support the development of local decentralized finance, Gemini now also allows Singaporeans to trade major DeFi …