Asia Express – Cointelegraph Magazine

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Our weekly East Asia news roundup organizes the most important developments in the industry.

Samsung’s New Bitcoin ETF

On January 13, Samsung Asset Management, a wholly-owned subsidiary of the namesake South Korean conglomerate, successfully listed the Samsung Bitcoin Futures Active ETF on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange. According to local news outlet Edaily, the ETF debuted under the symbol 3135:HK and seeks to replicate the performance of spot Bitcoin by investing in Bitcoin futures listed on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME).

The ETF will also simplify procedures for investors seeking exposure to Bitcoin products regulated in the Asia-Pacific time zone. Park Seong-jin, head of Samsung Asset Management’s Hong Kong office, commented:

Hong Kong is the only market in Asia where Bitcoin futures ETFs are listed and traded on the institutional market. It will be a new option for investors who are interested in Bitcoin as a competitive product reflecting their experience in risk management and risk management.

North Korean hackers launder 41K ETH

As blockchain sleuth ZachXBT revealed on January 16, hackers linked to the North Korean-backed Lazarus Group moved nearly 41,000 Ether ($63.5 million) from the Harmony Bridge hack to Railgun, a platform that uses zero-knowledge technology to obfuscate blockchain transactions. .

Funds were reportedly deposited on three different cryptocurrency exchanges after leaving Railgun. On the same day, Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao said the exchange, along with Huobi Global, froze some of the stolen funds and recovered 124 Bitcoin ($2.59 million).

Nomad Bridge TVL before and after the feat. Source: DéfiLlama

Last June, the Nomad cross-chain bridge was drained of more than $100 million after suspected North Korean hackers targeted the login credentials of Nomad employees in the Asia-Pacific region. After taking control of the protocol, hackers deployed automated laundering programs that moved stolen assets late into the night.

The Lazarus Group has been linked to a series of high-profile decentralized financial incidents last year, including the $600 million Axie Infinity Ronin hack, as the sanctions-plagued country turned to the hacking and ransomware to compensate for its lack of foreign currency reserves.

We have detected a movement of Harmony One hack funds. They previously tried to launder through Binance and we froze their accounts. This time he used Huobi. We helped the Huobi team freeze their accounts. Together, 124 BTC were recovered. CeFi helps keep DeFi #SAFU!

— CZ Binance (@cz_binance) January 16, 2023 Bitzlato arrested for laundering over $700 million

According to a January 18 statement from the US Department of Justice, Hong Kong cryptocurrency exchange Bitzlato has been shut down by US and European authorities following allegations that since May 2018 the exchange has processed 700 millions of dollars of funds linked to illicit activities, including millions of ransomware. process. Prosecutors alleged that illicit funds made up a significant portion of its trading volume, with Bitzlato processing only around $4.58 billion in cryptocurrency transactions since its inception.

Bitzlatos website has been taken down due to law enforcement action. Source: Bitzlato

Anatoly Legkodymov, a Russian national and majority shareholder of Bitzlato, was arrested in Miami on January 17 for running an unlicensed money transfer business. He faces a maximum sentence of five years in prison if convicted.

Legkodymov was apparently an OG in the early Bitcoin community. Source: Telegram

Legkodymov, who lives in Shenzhen, China, reportedly implemented minimum know-your-customer requirements for Bitzlato users, stating that neither selfies nor passports [are] required, and allowing users to register using information belonging to strawman registrants. Authorities said Bitzlato has become a haven for illicit transactions and serves as the biggest counterparty to the dark web market Hydra Market.

Hydra Market users traded over $700 million in cryptocurrency with Bitzlato, either directly or through intermediaries, until Hydra Market was shut down by US law enforcement and German in April 2022. Bitzlato also received over $15 million in ransomware proceeds.

Coinbase leaves Japan

In a January 18 statement, cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase said it would cease operations in Japan, citing difficult trading conditions. According to the exchange, users of Japanese yen and crypto assets have been separated, and all clients will have until February 16 to withdraw their crypto holdings. Alternatively, users can also liquidate their digital assets and withdraw yen to their fiat bank.

All remaining crypto holdings held on Coinbase on or after February 17 will be converted to JPY. In the month following February 17, Coinbase will send any JPY remaining in a collateral account to the Office of Legal Affairs in accordance with legal requirements. If customers do not take action by February 16, they will need to coordinate with the Office of Legal Affairs to recover their JPY balance.

Coinbase began expanding into the Japanese market in 2018. Another crypto exchange, Kraken, ceased operations in Japan on December 28, citing weak market conditions. Earlier this month, Coinbase announced that it would be laying off an additional 20% of its staff amid the ongoing crypto winter.

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Hodlnauts angry creditors

On January 13, Bloomberg reported that creditors at Singapore cryptocurrency borrowing and lending platform Hodlnaut had declined a corporate restructuring plan and opted to liquidate the remaining assets. Last August, Hodlnaut suspended all token withdrawal, deposit and trading services. The company is currently facing a police investigation after allegedly misrepresenting its exposure to the Terra USD (USTC) stablecoin and losing investors $190 million in the subsequent collapse of the Terra ecosystem.

Dear users, we regret to inform you that we will immediately stop withdrawals, token exchanges and deposits due to recent market conditions. We also withdrew our MAS license application. Here is our full statement https://t.co/5KfHUBzWsn Our next update will be August 19th.

— Hodlnaut (@hodlnautdotcom) August 8, 2022 Japan clarifies NFT tax rules

As first reported by local news outlet Coin Post, Japan’s National Tax Agency released a document on January 13 summarizing the general tax treatment of non-fungible tokens, or NFTs, in the country. Specifically, NFTs are taxed when an individual creates a digital collectible and sells it to a third party and when individuals resell it to another person.

In both cases, sales represent the transfer of viewing rights related to digital art and are classified as business income on primary sales and transfer income on secondary sales, where capital gains rules apply. apply. Additionally, in the event of hacking or theft of NFTs, individuals can claim a deduction for miscellaneous losses or include the lost NFT in expenses if it was a business asset.

30,000 e-CNY airdrop prizes claimed in 15 seconds

According to a January 18 report by local media Hangzhou Wang, the city of Hangzhou, in partnership with Chinese food delivery platforms Meituan Dianping and Eleme, dropped a series of digital central bank yuan digital coupons (e- CNY CBDC) for residents. . Once claimed, users could then cash them out on the namesake platforms to purchase deliverables for the upcoming Chinese New Year on January 22.

The only problem? All 30,000 e-CNY vouchers were claimed within 15 seconds of launch. Since late last year, e-CNY has expanded to include public services such as tax payment and local transportation, in addition to being included in the People’s Bank of China’s M0 calculations.

Sun Zhiyuan

Zhiyuan sun is a reporter at Cointelegraph and focuses on technology-related news. He has several years of experience writing for major financial media such as The Motley Fool, Nasdaq.com and Seeking Alpha.

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