$830M Scam Arrested, No One Claims 3,000% Premium, Binance Snitches Get Rich: Asia Express
8 months ago Benito Santiago
East Asia's weekly news roundup reviews the industry's most important developments.
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ToggleStephen Chow NFTs are fascinating
Hong Kong director Stephen Chow, best known for the classic film Kung Fu Hustle, has launched a new NFT collection titled “Nobody”. Since its launch earlier this month, it has seen a total of over 10,609 Ether traded.
In the year On February 8th, Ray Chan, the founder of Hong Kong entertainment platform 9GAG, bought the Nobody NFT token for 19.527 Ether, representing a 3,155% premium to their current floor price of 0.6 Ether.
“An actor Stephen Chow a year for a century; there are millions of small people, but the highest wealth is incomparable; pictures are valuable, [but] Memories are priceless,” wrote Chan, admiring the collection.
Amidst his popularity, Chow himself changed his X and Instagram profile pictures to NFTs. “Anyone have any good ideas for ‘Nobody' @realnobodyxyz community events? Leave your comments,” the director wrote in a post.
None of the NFTs have a maximum supply of 10,000, a quarter of which was offered by crypto exchange OKX, which attracted more than 125,000 applicants. They were created last December in collaboration with Chinese-American rapper Jin Au-Yeng, also known as MC Jin, on the Moonbox platform he created in Hong Kong.
UBS and OSL token call order on Xiaomi stock in Hong Kong
The Hong Kong subsidiary of Swiss International Bank UBS has certified a call option on shares of Chinese smartphone maker Xiaomi using Ethereum. In a February 7 announcement, UBS disclosed that it has sold its tokenized financial derivative to Hong Kong cryptocurrency exchange OSL.
Winnie Chuck, Head of Sales, UBS Global Markets, said the product increases transparency, reduces transaction fees, streamlines settlement processes and allows for flexible trading hours.
Patrick Pan, CEO of OSL, explained that the company is “trying to simulate the entire product life cycle of an equity-linked structured product token, from a token mint, through synchronized secondary market transactions, and finally to a mature burning token.”
UBS previously facilitated the issuance of 200 million Chinese yuan ($28 million) worth of digitally structured notes on Ethereum. OSL is currently exploring options for simulating retail fund products in the region.
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Haru Investments executive commits $830M crypto loan fraud
Three executives linked to South Korean crypto lender Haru Invest have been arrested by South Korean prosecutors on fraud charges after failing to redeem digital assets worth more than 1.1 trillion won ($830 million). 16,000 customers.
Local news agencies February 6th reported that the coins, from March 2020 to June 2023, promised returns of up to 12% while falsely advertising that the investments were “risk-free due to various investment techniques” on behalf of Haru clients. per year.
On June 13, 2023, Haru Invest suspended withdrawals and deposits citing “fraudulent information” provided by the remittance operator. The decision came shortly after South Korean crypto lender Delio, which held $1.2 billion in Bitcoin and Ether at the time, suspended its deposits and funds, as well as its exposure to Haru. Criminal and civil proceedings against both companies are ongoing in South Korea.
Han Chang-jun, the mastermind behind the failed Terra Luna protocol, transferred $40 billion worth of Terraform Labs from Montenegro to South Korea on February 5.
Upon his arrival in South Korea, prosecutors charged Han with fraud for claiming 53.6 billion won ($40 million) in fraudulent transactions from Terra stablecoin and leaking 100 million customer transaction records from payment processor Chai Pay to the Terra Luna project.
Han could face up to life in prison if convicted in South Korea. Meanwhile, co-founder and former CEO Do Kwon is currently awaiting extradition in Montenegro. Both men were arrested at Podgorica airport on March 23, 2023 for allegedly using forged Costa Rican passports to flee to Dubai. On June 19, 2023, they were sentenced to four months in prison on charges of forgery.
Today, the state of Montenegro acted on the request of South Korea, and according to the decision of the Ministry of Justice, Han Chang Joon was handed over to the competent authorities of his country of origin. pic.twitter.com/OvQ1qNyxr1
— Ministry of Justice of Montenegro (@PravdaCG) February 5, 2024
Zipmax is in trouble again
Thailand's Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has filed charges against former Thai crypto exchange Zipmax CEO and director Akalarp Yimwilai for making false and misleading statements during his tenure. Thailand's SEC On February 8, Zipmex said it had transferred customers' digital assets overseas and submitted false reports to the regulator about the status of customers' accounts before suspending the exchange on May 8, 2022.
“Therefore, the SEC has filed a complaint against Mr. Akalap with the Office of the State Crime Squad to consider further legal action.”
In the summer of 2022, Zipmax filed for bankruptcy protection in Singapore after revealing $53 million in exposure to failed crypto lenders Babel Finance and Celsius. In the year On November 29, 2023, media reports Zipmax creditors will receive up to 3 cents on the dollar for first claims, with additional payments in the event of a recovery.
Snitches get rich: Binance
Cryptocurrency exchange Binance has implemented a program to index tips regarding abuses against its employees. In the year
“It's very simple. [money to make] And more profitable than the rat warehouse [Chinese slang for insider trading]. Report email: audit@binance.com,” wrote the Binance co-founder.
On the same day, the price of the Ronin token, a gaming blockchain ecosystem token created by Axie Infinity developer Sky Mavis, showed significant volatility before and after its listing on Binance. It saw a 28% gain in the week before listing and then a 40% drop. Prior to the listing, the combination of token inventory shown on blockchain browsers and external communications released from Binance caused the RON inventory to accumulate by those in the know, then selling quickly after the actual token was listed, causing the price to drop. Binance has since said it will cancel any new token listings if insider information is already leaked.
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Zhiyuan Sun
Zhyuan Sun is a reporter at Cointelegraph, focusing on technology-related news. He has several years of experience writing for major financial media outlets such as The Motley Fool, Nasdaq.com and Seeking Alpha.
