How Singapore and Hong-Kong Battling to Become ‘Asian Crypto Hub’

The two major Asian crypto hubs, Singapore and Hong-Kong, strongly accept and support crypto projects. Throughout the year, major acquisitions by these two crypto hubs have been seen. But, after the FTX unexpected Chapter-11 Bankruptcy filing, how these crypto hubs are planning to tackle the crypto downfall.

Recent Updates from Asia

Singapore-backed Temasek, recently on November 17, 2022, made an official statement on FTX. It added about its investment in FTX that was US$210 Million for a minority stake of ~1% in FTX International, and US$65 Million for a minority stake of ~1.5% in FTX US, across 2 funding rounds from October 2021 to January 2022. The cost of its investment in FTX was 0.09% of the company’s net portfolio value of S$403 Billion as of 31 March 2022.

While the UK blocked China’s Wingtech Technology takeover of Britain’s largest microchip factory and cited the security concerns. Mr. Grant Shapps, Minister for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, shared a tweet on November 16, 2022, that was an order for Dutch Chipmaker Nexperia to sell its stake holdings on Newport Wafer Fab.

https://twitter.com/grantshapps/status/1592982815184162816?s=20&t=ropvs6DoQiuFmk61 agUdA

Meanwhile, Nexperia seemed shocked by the UK Government’s order.

Nexperia is shocked by the UK Government’s order to divest 86% of Newport Wafer Fab & doesn’t accept the national security concerns raised. We will challenge the order & do everything possible to keep the factory & protect our employees in Wales. Statement https://t.co/SHLJd0uzx0
— Nexperia (@TeamNexperia) November 16, 2022

The Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit starts in Bangkok and the Leaders turn Spotlight on Climate, Technology.

2022 APEC Economic Leaders’ Week, let’s go! We are here in Bangkok at the Queen Sirikit National Convention Center for the upcoming meetings of APEC officials, ministers and leaders happening this week. Stay tuned for updates and news! #APEC2022THAILAND pic.twitter.com/1woBreapC6
— APEC Secretariat (@APEC) November 14, 2022

During HongKongFinTech, the Founder of Artifact Labs, Gary Liu, shared the top three ways that Hong Kong can establish itself as the web3 innovation hub for the world.

Mr. Liu firstly stated that Hong Kong is home to major key industries with game-changing blockchain applications including logistics, services, finance, art and culture. It also has the financial infrastructure and system. Lastly, he noted that Hong Kong is the only city that has the power to connect China’s Blockchain-bases Service Network (BSN) to the rest of the world.

Hong Kong reportedly will issue world’s first tokenized green bonds by the end of this year. The city will likely be more open to retail investment activities. In a statement, its Financial Services and the Treasury Bureau said that they would conduct a public consultation about retail access, in particular, opening up the possibility of having exchange-traded funds (ETFs) of digital assets.

It can be possible for HongKong and Singapore to be Asiaian crypto hubs. But, still there is rivalry between these two global finance hubs as their strengths are complementary for Asia to become an even bigger crypto hub.