BeInCrypto’s Asia Crypto Roundup dives into the area’s most important updates and developments. Protecting key markets like China, South Korea, Japan, and Singapore, our roundup affords insights into Asia’s regulatory shifts, blockchain improvements, main undertaking launches, and market traits.
Final week’s notable occasions embrace Story Protocol’s profitable $80 million collection B funding spherical and Dubai’s authorized ruling that acknowledges cryptocurrency funds for salaries.
Bitpanda and RAKBANK Companion to Increase UAE’s Crypto Entry
On August 19, Bitpanda Know-how Options (BTS) and The Nationwide Financial institution of Ras Al Khaimah (RAKBANK) finalized an settlement to boost digital asset entry within the UAE. This collaboration will allow UAE residents to handle numerous digital property securely. The partnership is a strategic transfer that permits banks to take part within the digital asset economic system with out creating in-house capabilities.
On this initiative, Bitpanda Dealer MENA DMCC’s operational approval and licensing by the Digital Belongings Regulatory Authority (VARA) are essential. Equally, RAKBANK should get hold of approval from the Central Financial institution of the UAE (CBUAE).
Korean Founder Secures $80 Million from Andreessen Horowitz
On August 21, enterprise capitalist Andreessen Horowitz (a16z) introduced main an $80 million collection B funding spherical for PIP Labs, the developer of Story Protocol. The funding additionally noticed participation from Polychain Capital and notable traders like HYBE founder Bang Si-hyuk and Paris Hilton. This funding propels PIP Labs’ valuation at over $2.2 billion.
Story Protocol is a blockchain startup that helps creators defend their mental property (IP). It goals to generate sustainable income in an period the place AI-driven copyright theft is changing into more and more prevalent.
Moreover, it gives creators with a platform to register their IP, set utilization phrases, and obtain compensation for his or her work. These will successfully defend their creations from unauthorized AI utilization.
“We consider that each one mental and artistic works can fall below the class of IP, and all of them are going to face dramatic modifications on this new age of AI. […] Story is making an attempt to unravel an issue of how IP will likely be monetized when the complete web is being scraped by these AI fashions,” Jason Zhao, Chief Protocol Officer and co-founder of the PIP Labs, mentioned.
Zhao, a former product supervisor at Google’s AI lab DeepMind, co-founded PIP Labs with Lee Seung-Yoon, a South Korean entrepreneur who bought his cellular fiction platform, Radish, for $374 million in 2021. Collectively, they bring about deep experience within the tech and artistic industries to Story Protocol.
The agency has already attracted over 200 entities to register over 20 million mental properties on the platform. Story Protocol is gearing up for its mainnet launch to develop into a cornerstone for future web content material creation and monetization.
Dubai Acknowledges Crypto as Respectable Wage Cost
The Dubai Courtroom of First Occasion has not too long ago acknowledged cryptocurrency funds for salaries below employment contracts. The ruling was primarily based on Article 912 of the UAE Civil Transactions Regulation and the Federal Decree-Regulation No. (33) of 2021. It emphasizes the significance of upholding clear contractual agreements, supplied they align with public coverage and legislation.
This ruling contrasts with a earlier resolution in 2023, the place an identical declare was denied because of the plaintiff’s failure to supply a exact valuation of the digital foreign money concerned.
The latest case concerned a wrongful termination and unpaid wages declare. The plaintiff’s employment contract stipulated a wage in fiat foreign money and extra cost in EcoWatt tokens, a type of cryptocurrency.
The employer argued that the crypto funds weren’t legally enforceable. Nonetheless, the court docket dominated in favor of the worker. It validated the cost in EcoWatt tokens moderately than changing them into fiat foreign money.
Malaysia Cracks Down on Unlawful Bitcoin Mining
Following a court docket order, on August 19, Malaysian authorities destroyed 985 Bitcoin mining machines price roughly $452,500. The machines, seized throughout enforcement operations from 2022 to April 2023, had been crushed with a steamroller within the Perak Tengah district.
This motion got here after the arrest of seven people concerned in unlawful Bitcoin mining operations that allegedly stole electrical energy to energy their actions. The suspects had been detained individually final week, together with three native residents and 4 international nationals.
Sepang District Police Chief ACP Wan Kamarul Azran Wan Yusof acknowledged that these people had no prior prison information, however their unlawful actions had induced vital losses to the nation. The authorities estimate Malaysia misplaced as a lot as 3.4 billion Malaysian ringgits ($757 million) between 2018 and 2023 on account of electrical energy theft linked to Bitcoin mining.
Unlawful Bitcoin Mining Rigs Seized by Malaysian Authorities. Supply: MalayMail
Deputy Power Transition and Water Transformation Minister Akmal Nasrullah Mohd Nasir highlighted the rising prevalence of this difficulty. He emphasised the detrimental impression of electrical energy theft for crypto mining on Tenaga Nasional Berhad (TNB) and the nation.
“The theft of electrical energy by those that mine cryptocurrency happens as a result of they consider this exercise can’t be detected because of the absence of meters on their premises. Nonetheless, power provide firms have numerous strategies to detect uncommon power consumption in an space,” Nasir mentioned.
Tether Unveils UAE’s First Dirham-Pegged Stablecoin
On August 21, Phoenix Group PLC, a holding firm listed on the Abu Dhabi Securities Trade (ADX), unveiled a strategic partnership with Tether, a number one issuer of stablecoins, to introduce a stablecoin linked to the UAE dirham. Inexperienced Acorn Investments Ltd. helps this initiative, which goals to revolutionize the digital asset sector.
By merging the UAE dirham’s reliability with blockchain’s technological benefits, this stablecoin gives a dependable digital foreign money that mirrors one of many world’s most steady currencies. Furthermore, it may probably play a pivotal function in enhancing enterprise operations and increasing progress alternatives within the digital age.
Backed by Phoenix Group and Tether’s monetary energy and technical experience, this stablecoin will likely be ruled by strict regulatory compliance procedures that align with the UAE’s regulatory framework. The introduction of this stablecoin is anticipated to be globally accessible, with deep roots within the UAE’s financial energy and stability.
