Edgelord 3AC bets on memecoin supercycle, seeks ‘racist cult leader’: Asia Express

‘Three Arrowz Capitel' make a big fat memecoin bet

After being hailed as a multi-billion dollar powerhouse in the world of crypto investment, the founders of Singapore-based Three Arrows Capital (3AC) have shifted dramatically into memecoin territory with their latest pivot.

3AC co-founder Su Zhu recently tweeted that the public MemCoin trading game was “back on track,” with subsequent announcements of new investments like “Fat Girlfriend” and “Astrofolio” — yes, a pack of signs based on astrological signs.

Zhu's new investment thesis jumps on the so-called “memecoin supercycle.”

At the recent Token2049 conference in Singapore, meme trader Murad Mahmudov argued that memecoins offer a refreshing change in a market saturated with overhyped VC-backed altcoins. He said memecoins outperformed altcoins by exploiting retail traders' fatigue as “exit liquidity” by altcoin founders and venture capitalists.

Zhou took it a step further by boldly predicting that institutional investors would soon flock to memecoins.

“Liquid funds that previously rejected memecoins will now be asked by LP why they did not take the measures. Institutional allocation for memecoins may be history of q4 2024.

Ironically, Zhou was a leading proponent of the ultimately failed “supercycle” theory, which argued that the ultimate bull run of rising institutional investment would never end. Of course it ended, and 3AC was partly to blame, with the company's $3 billion debt included in the collapse of many crypto lenders. 3AC has now risen from the ashes like an unwanted phoenix.

After closing down crypto exchange OPNX in February, they backed a new memecoin exchange, OX.Fun, a startup trading platform that reported raising $4 million earlier this year.

The exchange's base token looks like OX, but it also has a 3AC token. Co-founder Kyle Davis recently reposted a call from the exchange's CEO, who said, “You want to grind out high-powered mags and be a part of the next billion dollar meme exchange.”

The original 3AC filed for bankruptcy in 2022 and was handed over to liquidators. The new Edgelord memecoin version of 3AC is “legal and liquid and will be established by 2024.” It is now called “Three Arrows Capital”.

According to the Fair Basic website, the new 3AC portfolio consists of Retardio, Hanbao and FatGF, with job openings for “Solana Dumper”, “Chinese Sniper” and “Racist Cult Leader”.

The 3AC boys seem to have been sold on hedge fund gravitas for the MemCoin craze.

Whether Zhu's new vision is brilliant or a desperate attempt to cash in on the modern cycle remains to be seen, but one thing is certain: Three Arrows Capital has embraced the 4chan style memecoin spirit, for better or worse.

Did we run out of kimchi?

The “kimchi premium” unique to South Korea's cryptocurrency market has been inverted throughout the week, according to data from CryptoQuant.

South Korea has an undisguised cryptocurrency investment environment due to its regulatory structure.

To trade fiat on crypto-regulated exchanges, investors must hold a local bank account that has an official partnership with the exchange, linking their crypto activities to their official identity.

This structure effectively makes it difficult for foreigners or institutions to trade on South Korean exchanges, but retail demand has kept local Bitcoin prices higher than global averages.

Now showing a “reverse kimchi premium”, Bitcoin is trading at a low price in South Korea.

The inverse premium can be attributed to South Korea's lower trading volume compared to overseas exchanges, where demand is increasing.

South Korea's market structure limits its ability to compete with international exchanges that use broad investor access.

Globally, there has been an influx of institutional interest driven by the potential of bitcoin exchange-traded funds – a trend that can also be seen in the wider investment scene in Asia.

A new report from Aspen Digital shows that 76% of private wealth in Asia has invested in digital assets, and a further 18% are planning future investments.

The Hong Kong-based wealth management platform surveyed 80 family offices and high net worth investors across the continent. More than half of the respondents had exposure through funds or ETFs.

But South Korea may still have an opportunity to follow global trends.

The Financial Services Commission in South Korea is said to be planning to set up a committee on virtual assets. The committee advises on whether to allow corporations to open cryptocurrency trading accounts and issue cryptocurrency spot ETFs.

Former mayor linked to human trafficking, pork butchery and failed crypto exchange

Disgraced ex-Philippines mayor Alice Guo, accused of human trafficking, is part of a vast international fraud network and the now-defunct Hong Kong cryptocurrency exchange AAX has been reported by local newspaper Rappler.

Guo is fighting espionage charges and faces more than 1,200 years in prison.

A Rappler investigation linked Guo and her business partner Huang Xiang to an associate named Dinkai Wang.

Guo and Huang co-founded Baofu Land Development Inc. in 2019 to rescue hundreds of human-trafficked individuals whose assets have been manipulated into crypto scams. Huang and Wang owned nominal shares in Sun Valley Clark, a complex that allegedly defrauded more than 1,000 victims and put them to work as crypto-pig-mill scam operators.

Wang used a Cambodian passport to obtain a pensioner's visa in the Philippines, but fled after the invasion of Sun Valley in May 2023.

The Sun Valley franchise is owned by Hanip Ltd., one of two British Virgin Islands companies that shares a Hong Kong address with Vico Capital Ltd., which is linked to AAX's former management.

AAX founder Su Wei is listed as co-owner of two Hong Kong companies with Wang.

AAX closed in late 2022 and Hong Kong police arrested two of its executives. The platform has been accused of misusing and defrauding customers' funds.

Investigations across Southeast Asia have revealed an alarming amount of human trafficking and crypto fraud, and Cambodia appears to be at the center of it all.

This year, Indian officials say they have rescued 250 nationals who were lured to Cambodia with false promises of work but ended up in illegal cyber activities.

Award-winning Cambodian journalist Mech Dara was recently jailed, with activists saying the arrest was linked to his investigative work exposing crypto scam sites and linking him to Senator Lee Yong Phat.

Phat, who was recently cleared by the US Treasury Department, has been accused of human trafficking and forced labor in connection with the cryptocurrency scam, which the Cambodian government has publicly denounced.

Heavy killers continue to beat the token

Global clearing and settlement specialist Euroclear has announced that it has acquired a strategic stake in Singapore digital infrastructure firm MarketNode for an undisclosed financial term.

The strategic investment will enable Euroclear to contribute to building Asia-Pacific's digital infrastructure to streamline cash flow management and accelerate settlement processes, MarketNode said in a press release.

Euroclear, which managed €37 trillion ($40 trillion) as of September 30, 2023, also has an experienced blockchain background.

In the year In October 2023, the World Bank issued its first digital securities on Euroclear's blockchain platform to raise 100 million euros ($108.6 million).

Marketnode was founded in 2021 by the Singapore Exchange and state-owned investment fund Temasek, and has an investment infrastructure based on tokenization and blockchain.

In addition to its founding members, Marketed also received investment from HSBC, a British bank with a capitalization of $160 billion.

HSBC and Marketnode participated in Project Guardian Financial Authority of Singapore.

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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.