Rise of micro strategy clones, Asia dominates crypto adoption: Asia Express 2024 review

At the end of the year, Asia Express looks back at some of the most significant developments for Bitcoin and cryptocurrency in the region in 2024.

Bitcoin micro strategy design

Microstrategy has become the poster child for Bitcoin, amassing 439,000 BTC, according to BitcoinTreasuries.NET – around 2% of the total supply.

Across Asia, Saylor's Bitcoin design has inspired several companies to stake their futures on Bitcoin, and more are expected to follow.

As Asia Express reported last week, Chinese selfie app developer Meitu announced in 2015 that In the spring of 2021, he invested 31,000 ETH and 940 BTC and sold them all since November, making a clean profit.

The title of “Microstrategy of Asia” now seems to have passed for Japan's Metaplanet.

The company holds 1,142 BTC after adding 123 coins to its portfolio on November 19. CEO Simon Gerovic said Metaplanet is one of Asia's largest bitcoin holders.

But if we're going by the raw numbers, Hong Kong-based game company Boyaa Interactive has quietly amassed more from Japanese investors. At the end of November, Boyaya announced that he had converted his Ether holdings of $49 million (14,200 ETH at the time) to 515 BTC, bringing his reserves to 3,183 BTC. Maybe it's the perfect Asian micro-strategy?

Other organizations are also getting in on the action. Nasdaq-listed China-based blockchain and data services firm SOS has pledged to buy $50 million worth of bitcoin, while publicly listed Indian company Jetking Infotrain has adopted a bitcoin reserve strategy starting at 12 BTC.

Even governments are getting into the Bitcoin game. In September, Arkham Intelligence said Bhutan, through its investment arm Druk Holdings, had twice as many bitcoins stored as El Salvador.

Although the Himalayan kingdom has mined some of its bitcoins since the Arkham report, it holds 11,688 BTC as of December 19. Bhutan authorities have confirmed that the country will be mining Bitcoin from 2019.

Key Asian economies are hesitant about Bitcoin ETFs.

The year got off to a great start as the United States Securities and Exchange Commission approved 11 Spot Bitcoin ETFs in January.

The US is often seen as a transmitter of regulatory trends as the world's largest market, with the US dollar acting as the world's main reserve currency. Although it is not the first country to list Bitcoin ETFs in the market, it has certainly sparked a wave of interest.

In late April, Hong Kong, whose own dollar is pegged to the US greenback, became the first Asian jurisdiction to identify Bitcoin and Ether ETFs.

So far, Hong Kong ETFs have underperformed expectations.

Rumors prior to the approval were very encouraging about ETFs as it could open up crypto to investors in mainland China, where crypto trading is banned. Chinese investors can invest in the Hong Kong stock market through the Stock Connection program, which acts as a bridge between the two economies. However, unless the primary investors are Hong Kong residents, they are prohibited from investing in Hong Kong crypto ETFs.

US Bitcoin ETFs attracted billions of dollars in inflows in their first week, setting a high that their Hong Kong counterparts couldn't match. The Hong Kong Bitcoin ETF saw $262 million in revenue in its first week, with $14 million of transactions occurring after the listing and the majority of transactions taking place earlier. As of this week, ETFs have a total of $437 million in net assets.

Meanwhile, Singapore Exchange CEO Loh Bon Chai said the local ecosystem is not ready for such products.

South Korea has emerged as a key crypto market, with Korean wins dominating global crypto trading pairs. However, the market remains retail-driven, as it requires traders to use real-name bank accounts at licensed financial institutions. Corporations are excluded from opening such accounts, effectively shutting them out of the crypto market.

South Korea's financial regulator began discussions in October about allowing corporations to open crypto accounts.

The war on pig farms

The so-called pork scam, named after its method of fattening up victims through pre-scamming relationships, has evolved with new tools such as AI-powered face-swapping technology. According to John Griffin, a finance professor at the University of Texas, these scams have stolen more than $75 billion worldwide.

In the year In 2024, investigations into major fraud centers in Southeast Asia saw Cambodia emerge as a major hub. Elliptic security researchers have identified online marketplace Huione Guarantee as a key money laundering point for illegal actors. As of 2021, Huione Guarantee has processed more than $49 billion in crypto transactions, according to crypto forensics firm Chainalysis.

Huione Guarantee is owned by Huione Group, which also operates Huione Pay, a foreign exchange business. Elliptic has hired Hun Tho, the cousin of Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Manet, to be a director of Huion Pay. In the year In 2012, Hun To was suspected of money laundering and drug trafficking by Australian authorities, but denied all charges.

In September, a US senator indicted Yongfat on charges of human trafficking and forced labor linked to crypto scams.

Investigative journalist Mech Dara revealed that pet resorts were hubs for such operations, where trafficked individuals were forced to swindle first-world victims. Dara was arrested by Cambodian authorities on charges of “inciting civil unrest” while human rights organizations condemned the arrest as an attack on press freedom.

The Philippines has seen some high-profile cases, including that of former mayor Alice Guo, who was involved in an international fraud network. Authorities raided properties she co-founded and reportedly rescued hundreds of traffickers in a crypto scam. Guo is under Senate investigation for alleged ties to offshore gaming operators, fraud and Chinese crime syndicates.

Asia dominates crypto adoption with India and Indonesia leading the way.

In the Chinalysis 2024 Global Crypto Adoption Index, nine of the top 20 countries are in Asia, with India retaining the top spot.

Despite strong adoption in India, crypto remains unpopular with the government. The country enforces one of the strictest tax regimes in the world for crypto investors, including a 1% withholding tax on all transactions, which reduces trading volume for local exchanges.

In late 2023, nine overseas exchanges were deported after the Ministry of Information blocked their URLs. This included Binance, which continues to function in 2024. As the central bank is considering making its CBDC-backed crypto illegal, the threat of a potential kriptovalyutnyh ban has resurfaced.

Indonesia, ranked third after Nigeria, led the region by collecting $157.1 billion in cryptocurrency value received from July 2023 to June 2024.

Singapore and Hong Kong are among the top 20 players in the adoption index and are racing to establish themselves as regional crypto havens. Singapore, which has already approved licenses for major exchanges such as Gemini, OKX and Upbit in 2024, joins a roster that includes major crypto firms such as Coinbase and Ripple.

Hong Kong has been slow to issue licenses but plans to approve 11 by the end of the year, said Julia Ling, chief executive of the Securities and Futures Commission. The city is considering a crypto tax cut for the super-rich.

Aspen Digital reports that Asia's personal wealth is increasingly into crypto, with 94% of wealthy investors either investing or planning to invest in Bitcoin or other digital assets.

Lazarus strikes again… and again

In the year In 2024, North Korea's state-sponsored hacking group has stepped up its hacking and phishing efforts, targeting major cryptocurrency companies to finance the country's weapons of mass destruction.

The group has been involved in some of the biggest crypto heists of the year, including the $305 million hack of Japan's DMM Bitcoin and the $235 million hack of India's WazirX. Lazarus is also the prime suspect in additional exploits such as the $20.5 million hack of Indonesia's Indodax and the $45 million hack of Singapore-based BingX.

Beyond outright hacking, North Korean cybercriminals infiltrate crypto companies as employees, generating an estimated $250 million to $600 million in wages, according to United Nations estimates. In addition, the US Federal Bureau of Investigation has warned of access to corporate networks of government-sponsored actors who engage in social engineering campaigns, including fake job offers and impersonation.

Tech giant Microsoft has been exploiting crypto firms since 2020 by masquerading as venture capitalists from a North Korean government-backed group known as “Sapphire Sleet.” The group lures targets into video meetings, prompting them to download malware such as communications software.

John Yun

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