‘China Micro Strategy’ Meitu Sells All Bitcoin and Ethereum: Asia Express

The ‘Asia micro strategy' comes out of crypto

Chinese selfie app developer Meitu cashed out all of its cryptocurrency holdings, making an estimated 80% profit. The company started selling crypto assets in November.

In a statement on December 4th, Meitu confirmed that it no longer holds any cryptocurrencies.

Meitu has earned the nickname Asia's micro strategy by investing 31,000 Ether and 940 Bitcoin in the spring of 2021.

The company invested a total of $100 million in cryptocurrencies and eventually sold them for $180 million, not a bad little return for three years of hoarding.

The company said the proceeds from the sale will be used for working capital, business expansion and special dividend distribution.

Headquartered in the port city of Xiamen in southeast China, Meitu operates subsidiaries in Hong Kong, Taiwan and the United States. Listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, its investment arm, Meitu Investments, is registered in the British Virgin Islands.

Maytoo's decision to liquidate its cryptocurrency holdings goes against a broader trend in Asia.

Japan's Metaplanet, now arguably nicknamed “Asia's micro strategy” with its staggering Bitcoin holdings, now holds over 1,100 BTC. Meanwhile, Hong Kong-based Boya Interactive recently exchanged $49 million worth of Ether holdings for Bitcoin.

Metaplanet also announced a partnership with SBI VC Business to host a Bitcoin giveaway lottery for 2,350 eligible shareholders.

Coinbase's SEA stablecoins

Coinbase Wallet and Base Developers in Southeast Asia are supporting apps designed to support future stablecoins tied to Thai and Philippine currencies, Nikkei Asia reports.

Thailand's oldest bank, Siam Commercial Bank, recently demonstrated ForEx payment-to-dollar-to-baht stablecoin conversions to attendees at the DevCon event via Coinbase's Ethereum Layer 2 Base crypto wallet.

A full rollout of such a product would first require the bank to review a pilot program with regulators for approval, said Base creator Jesse Pollack.

The report added that Coinbase's exchange itself has no plans to enter Southeast Asian territories. However, its Singaporean arm acquired Lion City's crypto license in October 2023.

Blockchain forensics firm Chainalysis ranks Thailand and the Philippines among the top 20 countries in crypto adoption. Among the Southeast Asian countries on this list, two stand out as the only ones with trading volumes above the global average on central exchanges.

Meanwhile, they are the only ones with a low share of DEX transaction volume compared to the global average and other DeFi activities.

Japan DMM closes Bitcoin

Japanese cryptocurrency DMM has suspended efforts to revive bitcoin operations and is going bankrupt. DMM transfers its remaining client assets to SBI VC Business.

In May, DMM Bitcoin was the subject of a $320 million cyber attack, allegedly by the North Korean government's hacking group Lazarus, which allegedly carried out a private key exploit.

The criminals stole 4,502 bitcoins in the attack, which is worth more than $450 million today.

The Hermit Kingdom's cyber agents have been listed as prime suspects in some of the major attacks on crypto companies, including attacks on Asia-based exchanges such as WazirX, BingX, and Indodex.

According to cyber sleuth ZackXBT, some of the funds stolen from the DMM Bitcoin incident were allegedly transferred to Huione Guarantee, a Cambodian marketplace that has become a money-laundering hotspot for fraudsters.

Recently, Cambodia's internet regulator reportedly blocked 102 websites, including 16 cryptocurrency exchanges, including Binance and OKX.

In August, Chinalysis said that since 2021, Huione Guarantee has processed more than $49 billion worth of crypto transactions.

Rumors of a South Korean corporate Bitcoin account

Media outlet Korea Economic Daily reported that the Financial Services Commission is expected to publish a roadmap for corporate crypto accounts by the end of the year.

The roadmap's approval levels range from local governments and universities to companies and financial institutions moving down the priority list, according to unnamed sources.

However, the FSC denied reaching a decision on the issue of corporate crypto accounts and intends to hold further discussions.

The country's crypto market is fueled primarily by retail investors due to domestic trading laws. To open an account in a local cryptocurrency exchange, the investor must first open a real-name bank account with the exchange's partner bank. Only money exchanges connected with partner banks can provide in-service and out-of-service services, and only five in the country meet these requirements.

However, corporations are currently prohibited from opening this special bank account, effectively preventing them from investing in crypto.

Retail investors have pushed South Korea as a key crypto market, with the local currency emerging as the world's top fiat trading pair earlier this year.

South Korea's crypto trading reportedly surged $35 billion in 24 hours during a six-hour martial law earlier this week, surpassing Indonesia's $30 billion January-October trade.

John Yun

Yohan Yun is a multimedia journalist who has been reporting on blockchain since 2017. He has contributed to the crypto media outlet Forkast as an editor and covered Asian tech stories as an assistant reporter for Bloomberg BNA and Forbes. He spends his free time cooking and experimenting with new recipes.