Asia Express– Cointelegraph Publication

Our weekly roundup of news from East Asia curates the market’s crucial advancements.

Yet another crypto scandal in Hong Kong

Fraudsters impersonating financial investment specialists presumably attracted 145 victims to tip $18.9 million into the unlicensed Hong Kong crypto exchange Hounax.

According to reports previously today, the cops stated financiers were presumably guaranteed as much as 40% return per year with “no threat” in its ads. After users transferred their funds, they were not able to withdraw them. On Nov. 1, the Securities & & Futures Exchange (SFC) of Hong Kong noted Hounax on its signboard of suspicious crypto exchanges however clarified that since Hounax was unlicensed at the time of the occurrence, it was exempt to the regulator’s enforcement actions.

This was the 2nd scandal including a crypto exchange in Hong Kong in current months. In September, another unlicensed exchange, JPEX collapsed after accusations of a Ponzi plan unsurfaced, resulting in 66 arrests and an approximated $205 million in financiers’ losses.

In spite of the scandals, Hong Kong regulators appear to stay unfaltering in their dedication to changing the city into a significant Web3 center. On Nov. 27, SFC CEO Julia Leung described that “even if the grace duration ends tomorrow, scams will still take place, so there is no intent to customize the grace duration and other steps for the time being.”

Under existing guidelines, a grace duration for crypto exchanges to run without registration will end in June 2024. On Nov. 30, the SFC mentioned that it looks for to legitimize preliminary coin offerings in the city to develop more profits for the nationwide spending plan.

In other Hong Kong crypto news, the banks Interactive Brokers and Success Securities today revealed they had actually protected crypto licenses, with the previous partnering with certified crypto exchange OSL to instantly supply Bitcoin and Ethereum trading services to its Hong Kong customers.

And on Nov. 29, Darryl Chan, deputy president of the Hong Kong Monetary Authority, revealed an international effort to develop a cross-chain bridge for China’s digital yuan reserve bank digital currency. Called “mBridge,” the procedure looks for to minimize deal charges and enhance speeds for cross-border usages of the digital yuan CBDC. The very first pilot tests will start in mainland China and Hong Kong.

Foreign banks sign up with e-CNY pilot screening

Basic Chartered, HSBC, Hang Seng Bank, and Taiwan-based Fubon Bank have actually started checking the digital yuan in cross-border deals.

According to regional report on Nov. 28, the 4 foreign banks will likewise incorporate digital yuan transfer services for their customers and allow them to deposit and withdraw digital yuan. Individual banking accounts will likewise support the main digital yuan app and self-custody wallet. Yuesheng Tune, president and vice-chairman of Hang Seng China, commented:

” The reserve bank’s launch of the digital RMB, a legal currency in digital type, is an essential action for China to check out the advancement of digital currency and promote the internationalization of the RMB. Hang Seng China follows the nationwide monetary advancement policy advocacy and actively supports the application and advancement of the reserve bank’s digital currency.”

In the very first 3 quarters of 2023, making use of the digital yuan in deals was up 35% year-on-year, reaching $1.39 trillion, China Daily reported. On Nov. 29, the first-ever digital yuan trainee loans were provided in the province of Suzhou, with $26,230 worth of loans being provided straight into the digital wallets of 13 receivers.

HTX back to typical

HTX exchange (previously Huobi Global) has actually resumed deposits and withdrawals after a destructive hot wallet hack that drained pipes the exchange of $30 million on Nov. 22.

According to the Nov. 26 statement, the exchange has actually considering that resumed deposits and withdrawals on the Bitcoin, Ethereum and Tron networks.

” Huobi HTX as soon as again guarantees to totally make up for the losses brought on by this attack and 100% assurance the security of user funds. The quantity of funds lost by Huobi HTX this time represent an extremely percentage of the overall funds of the platform,” the exchange stated.

The company has actually likewise revealed that an unique airdrop will occur in December developed to reward its “faithful users.” Airdrop tokens will apparently originate from “upcoming premium jobs,” and the total up to be gotten will be figured out by a users’ typical net possessions on the HTX exchange denominated in Tether (USDT).

Right away after the occurrence, Justin Sun, creator of the Tron environment and de-facto owner of the HTX exchange, commented, “we will cover the loss and all possessions are SAFE.” In spite of guarantees, nevertheless, this was the 4th make use of including the HTX environment within the previous 2 months. Around the very same time as the HTX make use of, the HTX Community Chain (HECO) bridge was hacked for $87 million.

On Nov. 10, Poloniex, an exchange obtained by Sun in 2018, was hacked for $100 million due to presumably jeopardized personal secrets. The exchange resumed withdrawals on Nov. 30. On Sept. 25, HTX was drained pipes of $8 million in a security occurrence. The exchange has actually considering that clawed back $8 million in taken funds and provided a 250 Ether bounty to the hacker.