For much of the past decade, the Asia Pacific was treated as crypto’s permissive frontier. A region where innovation could move faster than policy, where scale often came before supervision, and where enforcement lagged ambition. That era is ending. As the region heads into 2026, crypto is no longer being tested on its ability to grow. It is being tested on its ability to comply. What is emerging across the Asia Pacific is a coordinated tightening of standards that increasingly resemble those applied to systemically important financial institutions. In effect, the region is running a stress test on its crypto ecosystem, one that will expose which players are built for institutional participation and which were designed for regulatory arbitrage. TRM Labs’ Global Crypto Policy Review & Outlook 2025/26 captures the scale of this shift. Eighty per cent of reviewed jurisdictions, including APAC, now have financial institutions that have actively launched digital asset initiatives, a signal that regulatory clarity is no longer a constraint on adoption, but a prerequisite for it. Source: TRM Labs The impact is already visible. In Hong Kong, a safety-first regulatory framework has coincided with a 233% YoY increase in the total transaction amount of digital asset-related products and tokenised assets in banks, reaching HK$26.1 billion in the first half of 2025 alone. Rather than suppressing activity, tighter oversight has begun to channel it toward compliant venues and regulated use cases. Similar dynamics are unfolding elsewhere. Indonesia’s transfer of crypto oversight to its Financial Services Authority, alongside the region-wide enforcement of the FATF Travel Rule, marks a decisive shift in how digital assets are governed. Compliance is now an operating condition. This is where the real test begins. How these policy shifts unfold across the Asia Pacific, and which markets, models, and players are structurally prepared for the next phase of crypto regulation, will define the region’s digital asset landscape over the next 12 months. 2025 Was the Year Regulation Became APAC’s Cornerstone In 2025, at the risk of stating the obvious, crypto adoption across the Asia Pacific accelerated because of regulation. The significance of this shift was growth, coupled with the fact that participation became viable for institutions operating at scale. While global attention often gravitated toward US policy momentum, the APAC region quietly reinforced its position. Its regulators doubled down on clear, proportionate rules and frameworks that translated directly into institutional participation, product rollout, and economic use cases. Angela Ang, Head of Policy for Strategic Partnerships APAC at TRM Labs, elaborated, Angela Ang “APAC continues to define what forward-looking crypto regulation looks like — from tokenization to stablecoins to next-generation payments.” Hong Kong emerged as one of the clearest examples of this shift. The launch of its stablecoin licensing framework, alongside the steady expansion of permissible services for licensed virtual asset platforms, marked a decisive move toward institutional-grade crypto infrastructure. Singapore, meanwhile, leaned into its long-held regulatory philosophy of credibility over speed. It tightened AML controls, expanded licensing requirements for offshore-facing crypto entities, and advanced its MAS-regulated stablecoin framework. The immediate effect was a higher bar for entry. The longer-term effect was consolidation around fewer, better-governed players capable of supporting institutional use cases. Japan and South Korea advanced stablecoin licensing and institutional trading pilots, reducing ambiguity around how traditional financial institutions could engage with digital assets. Indonesia, meanwhile, completed a landmark transition by moving crypto oversight to its financial regulator, embedding digital assets more firmly within the securities framework. Source: TRM Labs Australia, Taiwan, and others pushed forward with licensing regimes, tax reforms, and custody rules that lowered uncertainty for banks and asset managers exploring digital assets. For institutional participants, this clarity was critical. It allowed risk, compliance, and treasury teams to evaluate crypto exposure within familiar regulatory boundaries. Stablecoins increasingly became the entry point for adoption, particularly for payments, settlements, and cross-border use cases. As frameworks matured, financial institutions reinforced a broader conclusion: validating the idea that regulation, when designed well, functions less as a constraint and more as an accelerator. Global Enforcement Bodies Raise the Compliance Bar While local regulators shape the rules on the ground, the Financial Action Task Force sets the global baseline that APAC markets must meet to stay relevant. Source: TRM Labs In late 2025, FATF expanded its list of jurisdictions with “materially important” crypto sectors from 58 to 67. Select APAC markets were included, sending a clear message: these ecosystems need operate with supervision. Crucially, 85% of these hubs have already implemented the Travel Rule. By 2026, sharing sender and recipient information will be a basic requirement for firms operating in the region. The focus is also shifting. In 2026, FATF attention moves from whether rules exist to whether they are being enforced properly. A dedicated review of stablecoin risks is expected in early 2026, which will put additional pressure on payment providers across Asia. For financial hubs like Hong Kong and Singapore, aligning local regulations with FATF standards is essential for maintaining access to global liquidity, correspondent relationships, and institutional capital. Firms that fall short risk exclusion from international markets. From Blueprint to Hard Launch The Asia-Pacific region is entering 2026 with a synchronised, high-stakes operational calendar that shifts the industry from policy debate to technical execution. The timeline below makes one thing clear: 2026 will be the year of the hard launch. Source: TRM Labs APAC crypto regulation in 2026 will change extensively. On 1 January 2026, Vietnam’s DTI Law officially takes effect, while the OECD’s Crypto-Asset Reporting Framework (CARF) begins its reporting period in over 50 jurisdictions, mandating automated tax transparency. Next, Hong Kong will be issuing its first stablecoin licenses early in the year, and by 30 June 2026, ASIC’s “no-action” relief for Australian digital asset businesses will expire, requiring firms to have secured an AFSL or notify of an intent to apply. Singapore has taken a more cautious approach, deferring the implementation of its bank crypto-asset capital rules to 2027. The decision follows industry feedback highlighting the need for additional time and greater global coordination. MAS has said it will continue monitoring international regulatory developments and advances in blockchain technology before finalising the implementation date. To conclude, in APAC, the regulatory phase shift is actively in the works. The next twelve months will decide who is structurally viable in an institutional financial system that has already moved on. Featured image edited by Fintech News Singapore based on image by thanyakij-12 on Freepik The post Why 2026 Will Be the Stress Test for Crypto Compliance in Asia Pacific appeared first on Fintech Singapore.

iProov, a provider of biometric identity verification solutions, announced that an attack scenario demonstrated by its in-house Red Team has been published by MITRE ATLAS, a global knowledge base for AI security, threat mitigation, robustness, and privacy. The case study confirms a high-risk vulnerability in remote identity verification processes, exposing users worldwide. iProov’s contribution includes a detailed procedure showing how face-swapped imagery injection attacks can bypass mobile Know Your Customer (KYC) systems. The study places iProov alongside contributions from organisations including Microsoft, NVIDIA, IBM, Intel, Cisco, Palo Alto Networks, Kaspersky, CrowdStrike, and Trend Micro, all working to inform the development of future AI defence frameworks. Doug Robbins “Contributions from across industry, academia, and government, ranging from red-team findings to operational threat insights, are essential to advancing the accuracy and completeness of the MITRE ATLAS knowledge base. When organisations openly share data and expertise, we collectively enhance the security and resilience of AI-enabled systems,” said Doug Robbins, Vice President, MITRE Labs. Andrew Newell, Chief Scientific Officer at iProov, added: Andrew Newell “We’ve seen an explosion in attack vectors relating to identity verification over the last 12 months, largely driven by advances in generative AI and the wide availability of low-cost tools. The publication of this latest MITRE ATLAS case study is part of the vital process of identifying and documenting such methodologies.” The Red Team demonstrated that AI-generated deepfakes and virtual camera applications can bypass active liveness detection. This system analyses image artefacts and user movement. By streaming deepfake video feeds during mobile KYC, the team successfully authenticated under a fictitious identity. This highlights risks to banking, financial services, and cryptocurrency applications. iProov’s research reinforces the need for continuous verification. It also underscores the importance of adherence to rigorous standards, such as the European CEN 18099, which sets robust testing protocols for liveness detection. The work aims to inform security analysts and AI developers across sectors. It encourages collaboration to strengthen AI security, threat mitigation, and privacy practices.     Featured image credit: Edited by Fintech News Singapore, based on image by sumitbiswas35244 via Freepik The post iProov Red Team Reveals Vulnerability in Mobile KYC Systems appeared first on Fintech Singapore.

For decades, the holy grail of financial technology was invisibility. The industry spent billions waging a war on friction, relentlessly shaving seconds off transaction times until payments became instant, seamless, and largely thoughtless. We succeeded. Today, money moves across borders and counters at the speed of a tap, often faster than we can second-guess the purchase. Nowhere is this acceleration more palpable than in Singapore, a market so saturated that the average consumer now juggles up to four credit cards. But this victory over friction has come with a hidden cost. As barriers to payment fell, vulnerabilities rose, creating an infrastructure that is efficient for legitimate users but increasingly lucrative for fraudsters. In this hyper-competitive landscape, the speed race is already won. The new contest is for safety and meaningful engagement. Hasan Khan, Head of Cards and Lending at Trust Bank, speaks with the urgency of someone who sees the industry at a turning point. Sure, payments have evolved more in the past five years than in the previous fifty. But Hasan shares that same acceleration has exposed consumers to the unprecedented risk of fraud, with nearly $4 billion lost by Singaporeans in the last five years. @fintechnewsnetwork Is faster always better? Real-time payments used to be cool. Now? They’re just table stakes. Here is the scary reality: Singaporeans lost $4 Billion to fraud recently. Hasan Khan (Trust Bank) argues that money moves fast, but fraud moves faster. The new battleground isn’t speed. It’s safety. We spent a decade removing friction. Now, smart banks are adding it back in to protect your wallet. @Trust Bank Singapore #fintech #digitalbanking #payments #singapore ♬ original sound – Fintech News Network – Fintech News Network For Khan, real-time payments are no longer a differentiator; they are “table stakes.” The next leap forward is making payments “smarter, more intuitive, and safer”. And to get there, he says the industry must do something counterintuitive: abandon its obsession with eliminating friction and instead introduce “strategic friction”. This intentional slowing down of specific high-risk processes acts as a crucial circuit breaker, shielding consumers from the emotional manipulation behind modern social engineering scams. Turning Risks into Rewards Khan speaks with a kind of infectious optimism when he talks about reimagining banking from a dry utility into something entertaining and even fun. He shares that traditional financial tools like charts, graphs, spending dashboards rarely resonate with the average consumer. To change that, Trust Bank looked to social media and gaming for inspiration. The result was “Budget Buddy,” a playful feature where a character grows and prospers as the user spends, turning routine transactions into a catchy visual narrative. @fintechnewsnetwork How Trust Bank Made Budgeting Fun (Finally) “The more you spend, the fatter they become.” Budgeting is boring.Trust Bank figured a more fun way to do it. @trustbank.sg fintech digitalbanking banking finance ♬ original sound – Fintech News Network – Fintech News Network But engagement goes beyond gamification. Khan highlights Trust Bank’s bold decision to eliminate Foreign Exchange (FX) fees entirely. By offering 0% FX fees, the bank turned a traditional revenue stream into a massive engagement tool, encouraging customers to use their cards globally without fear of hidden costs. There is a clear thread of empathy running through Khan’s thinking. He understands that people want to manage their money without feeling overwhelmed or bored. This extends to the bank’s hyper-personalisation strategy, where users choose their own cashback categories instead of being forced into rigid, pre-set rewards. “We’ve just launched this year, a cashback card where you can choose your own cashback category, so you’re customising it for yourself.” When Payments Disappear Into the Background Beyond the user interface, Khan points to a deeper structural shift toward embedded finance, where payment is no longer a separate “transaction” but an invisible part of a broader lifestyle ecosystem. Modern consumers, he says, expect to “shop, pay, and borrow” within a single, uninterrupted experience. Meeting that expectation requires banks to move past real-time settlement and into real-time decision-making. Khan illustrates this with a simple scenario: a customer buying a mobile phone. Instead of waiting days for a paper credit application to be approved, the bank can now assess creditworthiness instantly at the point of sale, allowing the user to convert the purchase into instalments on the spot. “We’ve recently launched, in partnership with Visa, instalments at purchase (Trust Visa Instalments). When people do large purchases (at participating merchants), they can use their Trust (credit) card right then and there and convert that into equal monthly instalments at 0%, solving a customer pain point.” By removing the traditional administrative lag, the bank ensures that financial support appears exactly at the moment a customer intends to buy, when it matters most. The Tech Stack That Makes Speed and Control Possible Behind these consumer-facing innovations is a rigorous technological foundation that Khan describes with the confidence of a tech-native executive. He attributes the bank’s agility to its cloud-native infrastructure on AWS and its modular partnership with Euronet through the Ren Payments Platform, delivering the “reliability at scale” required of a fully digital bank. The impact is tangible. Trust Bank can onboard a new customer, from application to digital card issuance, in three minutes. Hasan elaborates, Hasan Khan “In Singapore, we have the fastest, actually the world’s fastest onboarding journey. The customer starts the application after downloading the app. From the start of the application to the decisioning, then card issuing for the digital card to be provisioned in an Apple Pay or a Google Pay transaction,  it is in net 3 minutes. These are all the capabilities that we built in partnership with Euronet. Euronet helps us as a key strategic partner, not just as a vendor.” And this speed extends well beyond onboarding. The same architecture enables real-time control features, such as instantly locking a card or disabling overseas usage. This reinforces Khan’s view that technology should go beyond merely moving money faster to giving customers immediate, flexible control over their financial lives. The Race for Intelligence As Hasan reveals, the race for intelligence has just begun. Trust Bank’s strategy acknowledges a candid reality: in a market where the average Singaporean holds three to four credit cards, being “fast” is no longer enough to win share-of-wallet. The winning differentiator is now experience, specifically, the balance between “strategic friction” for safety and hyper-personalisation for engagement. Looking ahead to 2026, Khan points to agentic AI as the next frontier, moving beyond simple transaction monitoring to predictive models that can autonomously block anomalies before a scam occurs. By combining this high-tech security with gamified features like Budget Buddy, Trust Bank is positioning itself beyond a utility and closer as a lifestyle partner. In doing so, they are proving that while payments must be invisible, the feeling of safety and control should be unmistakable. Watch as Hasan Khan and Chief Editor Vincent Fong discuss how the bank is preparing for the era of Agentic AI. Catch the full episode, The Next Chapter in Payments: Safety, Experience & Speed, right here. The post Trust Bank Is Putting Control Back Into Their Customers’ Hands appeared first on Fintech Singapore.

Drukair, Royal Bhutan Airlines, has entered into a strategic partnership with Worldpay to adopt a global payment gateway for its online booking platforms. Under the arrangement, Drukair will use Worldpay’s acquiring network and transaction routing capabilities to process cross-border card payments more efficiently, with the aim of reducing declined transactions for international customers. The integration supports real-time payment processing and includes fraud prevention tools to strengthen transaction security. The airline said the setup allows passengers to use a wider range of international credit and debit cards when booking flights online, improving reliability for customers booking from outside Bhutan as Drukair expands its international presence. Tandi Wangchuk “As we continue expanding our international footprint, it’s vital that our digital systems keep pace. Our partnership with Worldpay ensures we can deliver a world-class payment experience that is secure, efficient, and user-friendly. It reflects our commitment to continuous innovation and operational excellence,” said Tandi Wangchuk, Chief Executive Officer of Drukair. Phil Pomford “Secure, streamlined payments are essential to Drukair’s mission of delivering outstanding travel experiences. By joining Worldpay’s network of leading airlines in Asia, Drukair can offer reliable and consumer-friendly payment options to travellers wherever they book. This partnership reinforces Worldpay’s leadership in airline and travel payments across APAC and globally, supporting our clients’ growth and innovation,” said Phil Pomford, General Manager, Global E-Commerce, of Worldpay. The Worldpay payment gateway is expected to be rolled out across Drukair’s online booking channels in the near term. Featured image: Edited by Fintech News Singapore, based on image by thongden_studio via Freepik The post Bhutan’s National Airline Drukair Taps Worldpay for Global Card Payments appeared first on Fintech Singapore.

Google Pay is pushing further into financial services in India with a new UPI-linked digital credit card. The updates span payments, credit and merchant services on a platform that now serves more than 530 million users and 23 million merchants in the country. The product, called Flex, is a UPI-powered, RuPay-based, co-branded digital credit card that allows users to apply for and receive a card digitally, manage repayments and earn rewards within the Google Pay app. Users can convert eligible purchases into three- or six-month EMIs and compare repayment plans before confirming. The card has launched first with Axis Bank as the Google Pay Flex Axis Bank Credit Card and is being rolled out in phases, with users required to join a waitlist. Google Pay said it plans to add more issuing bank partners. Google Pay has also introduced Pocket Money, a feature that gives children supervised access to digital payments. Built on the UPI Circle framework, it allows parents to set a monthly spending limit of up to Rs.15,000 or approve individual transactions. Parents receive instant notifications, can track all activity and can pause access at any time. For small businesses, Google Pay has added new tools aimed at improving visibility and customer engagement. Merchants can now receive customer ratings immediately after a transaction, with those reviews linked to their Google Maps listings. The company has also launched a GenAI-powered advertising feature within the Google Pay for Business app that instantly generates ad content, allowing merchants to preview and launch campaigns within minutes. On security, Google Pay said it prevented Rs.13,000 crore in attempted fraud over the past year and displayed more than 41 million warnings for suspected scams since October 2024. Recent updates include alerts for Android 11 and above that warn users if Google Pay is opened during screen-sharing calls with unknown contacts, offering a one-tap option to terminate the call. Google Pay has also expanded the use of an agentic AI chatbot to handle fraud reports, which it said has increased scam detection rates by 21 percent.     Featured image: Edited by Fintech News Singapore, based on image by EyeEm via Freepik The post Google Pay Rolls Out UPI-Linked Credit Card, Pocket Money Feature in India appeared first on Fintech Singapore.

Japan’s banks have long been admired for their discipline, risk awareness and ability to support the corporate sector through turbulent economic cycles. These strengths, built over decades of robust processes and prudent stewardship, remain a cornerstone of the industry. Today, however, the landscape is evolving rapidly. The systems that once served corporate lending so well are now being tested by the demands of a more complex, interconnected, and fast-moving global environment. This shift presents an exciting opportunity. The daily operational reality of corporate loan administration – long recognised for its sophistication – can now benefit from innovation. Japanese financial institutions manage some of the most intricate loan structures in the world, requiring high levels of coordination, precise record-keeping, and absolute accuracy. Traditionally, that has meant teams relying on manual processes, bespoke systems, and workflows shaped around legacy technology. Now, with modern tools and digital transformation, there is a chance to enhance efficiency, strengthen resilience, and unlock new levels of agility and connectivity. At the same time, the pace of change both in and beyond Japan’s borders is accelerating. Global markets are shifting: the cost of capital is rising, regulatory requirements tighten every year, and Japanese corporates are expanding across Asia faster than ever before. Loan portfolios have become more international, more structured, and far more data-driven. This evolution is stretching the capabilities of traditional lending platforms, creating a clear imperative for change. Modernising corporate lending is no longer a “nice to have”, it is a strategic imperative to stay competitive and capture growth in this dynamic environment.  A system built for yesterday’s volumes cannot support tomorrow’s ambitions Source: intanyusufwafa via Freepik Institutions increasingly recognise that long-standing, manual-heavy processes can no longer keep pace with today’s operational complexity, let alone tomorrow’s growth. A clear example comes from the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), an organisation managing a sizable and globally distributed loan portfolio. Like many lenders, JICA had reached a point where traditional tools and manual workflows were no longer sufficient to support the scale and pace of its activities. What JICA experienced reflects a broader pattern across Japanese financial institutions. As demand grows, the number of manual touchpoints grows with it. Administrative processes become heavier. The risk of delays increases. Teams are stretched. And when errors occur, even small ones, the effort required to correct them can be significant. JICA’s decision to adopt a unified platform built on Loan IQ underscores how quickly operational demands are evolving. By consolidating processes onto a single, industry-standard system, the organisation has strengthened accuracy, improved visibility and brought greater consistency to the way its portfolio is managed. Digital modernisation is not simply about automation. It is about creating a stable foundation where lending operations can scale without adding risk. It allows banks to concentrate expertise where it matters most, while technology handles the repetitive, routine and data-intensive tasks that slow teams down. The result: greater efficiency, stronger governance, and the agility to thrive in a rapidly changing market. The future of lending is end-to-end digital Source: Saim Art via Freepik For many banks, one of the biggest catalysts for change is the need for greater standardisation. Japanese institutions with growing overseas franchises are managing syndicated loans, bilateral deals and structured transactions across multiple markets.  A modern lending platform solves these challenges by bringing core processes into one integrated environment. This is particularly valuable for banks with global or multi-entity operations. When everyone works from a common system — with shared definitions, automated calculations and centrally-governed workflows — the institution gains a clearer, more reliable view of its loan book. That clarity is essential for strategic planning, stress testing, regulatory engagement and long-term risk management. From isolated systems to a connected ecosystem Source: Freepik The transformation underway in Japan mirrors a broader global trend: banks are increasingly looking at lending as part of a connected ecosystem, rather than a standalone function. Modern platforms enable seamless integration with upstream and downstream systems: origination tools, collateral platforms, document management, payment engines and even external fintech services. This connectivity reduces friction across the lending cycle, from initial documentation to ongoing servicing. Interoperability is increasingly becoming a priority for Japanese banks. Whether integrating data from headquarters, coordinating with global partners or aligning with new industry utilities, the ability to “speak the same language” across systems is becoming indispensable. Modernisation is not just about upgrading software, it is about positioning the bank within a broader network of financial infrastructure that is evolving quickly. Future-proofing Japan’s lending market Source: tawatchai07 via Freepik Japan’s lending market is entering a period of significant transition. Corporate demand remains strong, but expectations around transparency, speed and reporting are rising. Regulators are encouraging institutions to adopt more resilient digital foundations. Global partners expect consistency and reliability in cross-border syndications. And within banks, younger talent expects tools that allow them to work efficiently, not manually re-key information across multiple systems. Modernising the lending function is one of the clearest ways institutions can prepare for these shifts. It strengthens risk controls, supports growth, improves client experience and reduces the burden on operations teams. Most importantly, it allows banks to bring their deep credit expertise into a digital era where accuracy, efficiency and scale must go hand-in-hand. Japan has always been a leader in disciplined, long-term banking. With the right technology foundation, it can continue that leadership, this time in a financial landscape that demands both tradition and transformation.     Featured image: Edited by Fintech News Singapore, based on image by pranavkr via Freepik The post Japan’s Corporate Lending System at a Turning Point as Pressure to Modernise Grows appeared first on Fintech Singapore.

Akamai Technologies and Visa have partnered to address security and trust challenges as artificial intelligence agents become more active in online shopping. The collaboration integrates Visa’s Trusted Agent Protocol across Akamai Cloud, combining agent authentication with Akamai’s edge-based behavioural intelligence, user recognition, and bot and abuse protection. The aim is to help merchants verify AI shopping agents and reduce fraud risks by identifying trusted activity at the network edge before it reaches merchant systems. As agent-driven traffic grows, merchants face challenges distinguishing legitimate AI agents from malicious bots while maintaining secure transactions, personalisation, and customer relationships. Patrick Sullivan “By combining Visa Trusted Agent Protocol with Akamai’s deep user recognition and threat intelligence, we’re working to solve the dual-identity challenge that’s crucial to AI commerce. We prove both who the agent is and, critically, who it represents. This is what transforms AI agents from novelties into trusted economic actors.” said Patrick Sullivan, Chief Technology Officer, Security Strategy, Akamai Technologies. By validating both the AI agent and the consumer it represents, the approach is intended to give merchants real-time visibility into agent activity before it reaches sensitive systems. Akamai said its 2025 Digital Fraud and Abuse Report showed AI-powered bot traffic surged 300 percent over the past year, with the commerce sector recording more than 25 billion AI bot requests over a two-month period. As agent-generated traffic accelerates, the need for verifiable identity and authentication has become more critical. Jack Forestell “By collaborating with Akamai to deploy Trusted Agent Protocol, we’re delivering the real-time intelligence merchants need to support AI-driven experiences without introducing new risk. This is how we help the industry move confidently into the next era of commerce.” said Jack Forestell, Visa Chief Product & Strategy Officer. “ Visa’s Trusted Agent Protocol is designed to ensure AI agents using Visa credentials are authorised for specific shopping tasks and can securely pass payment information, including network tokens and micropayments, through existing merchant checkout flows. Built on standard web infrastructure, the protocol is designed to scale with minimal changes for merchants and is intended for use across Visa’s network of 175 million accepting locations worldwide. Akamai said the deployment across its cloud platform, which supports nine of the world’s top 10 global retailers, is expected to help merchants support agentic commerce while managing security and fraud risks.   The post Akamai and Visa to Strengthen Security as AI Shopping Agents Scale appeared first on Fintech Singapore.

Crypto.com has enabled SGD and USD deposits and withdrawals for Singapore users through a new partnership with DBS Bank. The addition introduces new banking rails that allow transfers in both currencies through DBS, complementing the platform’s existing banking partnership with Standard Chartered Bank. Together, the arrangements expand Crypto.com’s local fiat infrastructure and provide users with multiple deposit and withdrawal options in Singapore. Under the partnership, DBS will support the creation of client money accounts, enabling faster and simpler transfers of SGD and USD between users’ bank accounts and the Crypto.com app. Singapore is Crypto.com’s headquarters and a key market for its regional operations. Karl Mohan “Introducing new deposit and withdrawal capabilities in Singapore underscores our commitment to offering secure and regulated fiat payment solutions. This will enhance the Crypto.com App experience for Singapore customers, makes it easier for them to interact with our products and services and is another important step in accelerating crypto adoption across the region.” said Karl Mohan, EVP, Financial Services, General Manager International of Crypto.com. Chin Tah Ang “Singapore is our headquarters and a critical hub for our growth strategy. Working with the country’s largest bank, DBS, allows us to expand our provision of seamless SGD and USD transfers for our users. Deposits and withdrawals are already supported today, but we are proud to add greater accessibility and functionality to our retail services, in line with MAS regulations.” said Chin Tah Ang, General Manager Singapore of Crypto.com.     Featured image: Edited by Fintech News Singapore, based on image by smth.design via Freepik The post Crypto.com Adds DBS as Banking Partner for SGD and USD Transfers appeared first on Fintech Singapore.

Provenir has launched a new educational initiative aimed at helping banks and financial institutions improve their understanding, adoption and use of artificial intelligence (AI). The initiative includes an AI maturity assessment that allows organisations to evaluate their capabilities across areas such as strategy and governance, data readiness, analytics and the application of AI across the customer lifecycle. Based on the results, users are directed to learning resources aligned with their stage of AI adoption. These resources range from introductory material on data science in financial services to guidance on scaling AI-driven decisioning. Provenir has also introduced a complimentary Data Science 101 for Financial Services certification as part of the programme. The certification consists of four modules, with quizzes and a final exam. Participants who complete the course receive a digital badge that can be shared on professional platforms such as LinkedIn. Mike Holmes “AI empowerment is a chief imperative for banks and financial institutions; there is a tremendous need for AI upskilling, knowledge, and competency in the workplace. Provenir is proud to be taking a leadership position in helping provide resources to further the industry’s understanding and adoption of quintessential AI knowledge and skills with a range of easy-to-access content and online tools, including our new Data Science 101 for Financial Services certification,” said Mike Holmes, Provenir’s Head of Data Science. Provenir provides AI-based risk decisioning software used by financial institutions to support credit, fraud and customer lifecycle decisions.     Featured image: Edited by Fintech News Singapore, based on image by MH Stock via Freepik The post Provenir Rolls Out AI Maturity Tool and Data Science Certification appeared first on Fintech Singapore.

Red Hat has announced the acquisition of Chatterbox Labs to integrate critical safety testing and guardrail capabilities into its AI portfolio. The deal, revealed on 16 December 2025, aims to strengthen Red Hat’s open source enterprise platform by adding a dedicated security for AI layer. As organisations move AI workloads from experimentation to production, the need for demonstrable and trustworthy models has increased. Chatterbox Labs, founded in 2011, specialises in model-agnostic AI safety and quantitative risk assessment. Their technology provides automated testing to validate data and models, offering risk metrics for Large Language Models (LLMs) and predictive AI architectures. Steven Huels, Vice President of AI Engineering and Product Strategy at Red Hat, described the technology as essential for the industry. Steven Huels “Chatterbox Labs’s innovative, model-agnostic safety testing and guardrail technology is the critical ‘security for AI’ layer that the industry needs,” Huels stated. He added that the integration supports Red Hat’s goal of enabling responsible, production-grade AI at scale. The acquisition also aligns with Red Hat’s roadmap for agentic AI and the Model Context Protocol (MCP). Chatterbox Labs has conducted investigative work into securing autonomous agents, such as monitoring agent responses and detecting action triggers. Stuart Battersby, Co-Founder of Chatterbox Labs, highlighted the importance of transparency. Stuart Battersby “It is critical that AI guardrails are not merely deployed; they must be rigorously tested and supported by demonstrable metrics,” he said. “By joining Red Hat, we can bring these validated, independent safety metrics to the open source community”. Featured image: Edited by Fintech News Singapore based on an image by user28295394 via Freepik. The post Red Hat Acquires Chatterbox Labs to Boost AI Security and Trust appeared first on Fintech Singapore.

Efforts to modernise cross-border payments have accelerated over the past decade, yet retail transactions remain slower, more expensive, and less transparent than domestic instant payments. While many jurisdictions have rolled out real-time payment systems, sending money across borders continues to rely on fragmented foreign exchange processes, prefunding arrangements, and sequential settlement mechanisms that introduce cost and risk. Project Rialto, a collaborative experiment led by the BIS Innovation Hub together with the Bank of France, the Bank of Italy, Bank Negara Malaysia, and the Monetary Authority of Singapore, explores how these frictions could be addressed without dismantling existing payment infrastructures. The project focuses on retail use cases such as remittances and person-to-person payments, which are particularly relevant for emerging and developing economies across Asia. Rather than proposing a new retail digital currency or replacing domestic payment rails, Project Rialto examines how instant payment systems can be connected to an automated foreign exchange and settlement layer using tokenised central bank money. Why Cross-Border Retail Payments Still Lag Behind Retail cross-border payments account for hundreds of billions of dollars annually, yet they remain structurally inefficient. Foreign exchange conversion and settlement are the two most persistent sources of friction. Transactions involving less liquid currency corridors often face wide spreads, limited transparency, and extended settlement times. These challenges are especially pronounced in remittance-heavy regions such as Southeast Asia. Despite progress under the G20 cross-border payments roadmap, most improvements have focused on messaging standards and correspondent banking efficiency. Instant payment systems have transformed domestic payments, but their benefits stop at national borders. Project Rialto addresses this gap by asking whether instant cross-border payments can be achieved while maintaining the safety and finality associated with central bank money. Positioning Project Rialto in the BIS Innovation Agenda Project Rialto draws on a sequence of earlier initiatives led by the BIS Innovation Hub. One of these, Project Nexus, demonstrated how domestic instant payment systems could be connected through a shared hub model to support cross-border retail payments. Another strand came from Project Mariana, which examined the use of tokenised central bank money and automated market makers to enable wholesale foreign exchange settlement on distributed ledger technology. Rialto brings these two lines of experimentation together. Domestic instant payment systems continue to handle customer-facing transactions, while a cross-border distributed ledger network is introduced to support foreign exchange conversion and settlement between intermediaries. The model positions the distributed ledger component underneath current payment rails, enabling service providers to participate without maintaining digital wallets or touching the infrastructure directly. For central banks across the Asia-Pacific region, including Bank Negara Malaysia, this design holds particular relevance. It reduces the need for direct operational involvement while enabling settlement in a safe and trusted asset aligned with central bank principles. A Two-Layer Architecture Designed for Incremental Adoption At a structural level, the Rialto model is organised around two tightly integrated functional layers. One layer is anchored in domestic or regional instant payment systems, supported by an interlinking mechanism. Payments are initiated, cleared, and settled in fiat money within each jurisdiction, relying on existing infrastructures and governance frameworks. As a result, customer experience, regulatory oversight, and compliance arrangements remain largely unchanged from today’s domestic payment environment. An overview of how Project Rialto separates domestic instant payment systems from a cross-border distributed ledger used for foreign exchange and settlement. Taken from page 10. Alongside this sits a second layer built on a cross-border distributed ledger network. Within this environment, intermediaries exchange tokenised representations of central bank money to complete foreign exchange conversion and settlement. Foreign exchange and settlement activities are therefore isolated from retail payment processing. This separation allows new functionality to be introduced without requiring payment service providers to redesign their core systems. Taken together, the two-layer structure reflects a pragmatic approach to payment system innovation. Progress in cross-border payments, as the project illustrates, is more likely to come from interoperability across systems than from wholesale replacement. A mapping of the key participants in a Rialto transaction and how payment processing, compliance, and settlement responsibilities are distributed. Taken from page 14. How a Rialto Transaction Works in Practice A cross-border transaction under the Rialto model begins with a request for a foreign exchange quote. The sender provides the payment details, including the destination country, currency, and transaction amount, with the option to specify either the amount to be sent or the amount to be received. Using this information, the instant payment system interlink requests a binding exchange rate from a foreign exchange provider. Pricing is derived from an automated market maker that draws on liquidity pools backed by tokenised representations of central bank money. Fees and exchange rates are disclosed upfront, giving the sender clarity before committing to the transaction. Once the sender confirms, funds are earmarked within the source instant payment system. Both the source and destination intermediaries then validate the transaction, including compliance checks, before any settlement takes place. Only after all conditions are satisfied does settlement proceed on the distributed ledger. Tokenised central bank money is transferred from the source settlement access provider to the foreign exchange provider and onward to the destination settlement access provider. The transaction settles on a payment-versus-payment basis, ensuring that neither leg can complete without the other. Following confirmation of settlement, the destination instant payment system credits the receiver. The source payment service provider subsequently finalises the debit to the sender, completing the transaction. Automated FX with Accountability Built In Automated market makers play a central role in Rialto’s foreign exchange design. Continuous liquidity provision allows AMMs to execute currency exchanges algorithmically instead of using a standard order book. At the same time, retail payments require certainty around pricing. Exchange rates must be locked in at the point of confirmation, and consumers cannot be exposed to execution risk. To address this constraint, the Rialto model assigns regulated foreign exchange providers a clearly defined role. Rather than being displaced, FX providers are responsible for issuing binding quotes to the instant payment system interlink. Any slippage that occurs during execution is absorbed by the provider, which earns a spread or fee in return for managing that risk. Through this structure, automation is introduced without removing human accountability or regulatory oversight from the foreign exchange process. Extending Coverage Through Vehicle Currencies Currency liquidity varies significantly across regions and corridors. In many cases, direct foreign exchange between two currencies may be limited, expensive, or unavailable at scale. A demonstration of how low-liquidity currency pairs are supported using a vehicle currency within a single atomic transaction. Taken from page 19. Rialto addresses this challenge by supporting vehicle currencies within a single atomic transaction. Instead of executing a direct conversion, the system routes the exchange through a more liquid intermediary currency using two automated market makers. Both legs of the conversion are settled together on a payment-versus-payment basis. This design preserves settlement finality while expanding the range of corridors that can be supported efficiently. For economies across Southeast Asia, where remittance flows often involve less liquid currency pairs, this capability has particular relevance. Resilience and Failure Handling by Design Robust payment systems are defined as much by how they handle failures as by how they process successful transactions. Project Rialto explicitly tests scenarios involving compliance rejections, participant outages, and technical disruptions. If a transaction fails compliance checks at the destination, settlement does not occur and earmarked funds at the source are released. In cases where a disruption arises after on-chain settlement but before final crediting, predefined procedures may require a new atomic transaction in the opposite direction to mitigate financial loss. Two design elements underpin this resilience. Funds are earmarked before settlement, and settlement itself follows a two-phase process that requires confirmation from both source and destination intermediaries. Structuring transactions in this manner allows the system to lower reconciliation risks and isolate partial failures before they impact the wider ecosystem. Economic Considerations for PSPs and Banks Beyond technical feasibility, Project Rialto examines the economic implications of its proposed model. Retail remittance costs remain above international targets in many corridors, with fees and foreign exchange margins accounting for a significant share of total transaction costs. Automated foreign exchange mechanisms have the potential to improve pricing transparency and execution efficiency. However, these benefits come with trade-offs. Automated market makers require liquidity to be locked into pools, which can affect balance sheet efficiency for participating institutions. At the same time, settlement in tokenised representations of central bank money reduces credit exposure between intermediaries. This may lower the need for prefunded nostro balances, particularly in corridors where settlement risk is currently managed through conservative liquidity buffers. Profitability for payment service providers depends on how fees are distributed across the transaction chain. In the Rialto model, PSPs, settlement access providers, and foreign exchange providers each charge for distinct services. The interaction between these fees and automated pricing dynamics will play a decisive role in determining commercial viability. An illustration of balance movements between intermediaries, highlighting reduced credit exposure through settlement in tokenised central bank money. Taken from page 19. What Project Rialto Ultimately Demonstrates Project Rialto is positioned as a proof of concept rather than a deployment blueprint. It does not attempt to define an end-state architecture or mandate implementation timelines. Instead, its contribution lies in showing that instant cross-border retail payments can be combined with automated foreign exchange and settlement in central bank money. Crucially, this can be achieved while continuing to rely on existing payment infrastructures. The experiment points to a path forward that favours integration over replacement. It suggests that meaningful improvements do not require tearing down systems that already function at scale. For Asia-Pacific economies, cross-border retail flows are economically significant and operationally complex. Within this context, the approach explored by Rialto offers a realistic and incremental route to progress. As policymakers and market participants push for faster, cheaper, and more transparent cross-border payments, the project’s lessons become increasingly relevant. Progress, the experiment suggests, is most likely when innovation is layered carefully onto systems that are already trusted and widely used. Rather than prescribing a finished solution, Project Rialto presents a working model that others can build on. Its longer-term value lies in showing how cross-border payments can evolve step by step, grounded in existing infrastructure while moving toward deeper regional integration. Featured image: Edited by Fintech News Singapore based on an image by pikisuperstar via Freepik and Project Rialto. The post Project Rialto and the Next Phase of Instant Cross-Border Payments in APAC appeared first on Fintech Singapore.

Japan’s Mizuho Securities will acquire a controlling stake in India’s Avendus for up to US$523 million (81 billion yen), according to a Reuters report. The transaction comes as Japanese financial groups continue to expand in India’s growing financial services market. KKR, which first invested in Avendus in 2016, will sell part of its stake as part of the deal. Mizuho will buy between 61.6 percent and 78.3 percent of Avendus from the U.S. private equity firm, making the company a consolidated subsidiary of Mizuho Financial Group, Japan’s third-largest banking group. The acquisition reflects rising demand from Mizuho’s corporate clients to expand into India, where economic growth remains stronger than in Japan’s ageing domestic market. The deal is expected to strengthen Mizuho’s investment banking capabilities and improve coordination across its global advisory platform. Mizuho has been building out its cross-border advisory business, including through its 2023 acquisition of U.S. investment bank Greenhill. The Avendus transaction addresses a gap in its India investment banking coverage, Reuters reported. Avendus operates across investment banking, wealth management, asset management and credit solutions. The firm plans to expand hiring and increase its focus on sectors including industrials, healthcare, infrastructure and energy.     Featured image: Edited by Fintech News Singapore, based on image by Freepik The post Mizuho to Buy Majority Stake in India’s Avendus for US$523 Million appeared first on Fintech Singapore.

Amazon is in preliminary talks to invest at least US$10 billion in OpenAI and provide its Trainium chips, people familiar with the discussions told Bloomberg. The talks remain at an early stage and could value the ChatGPT developer at more than US$500 billion. As part of the discussions, OpenAI would consider using Amazon’s in-house Trainium processors, which are designed to train large artificial intelligence models. The structure and timing of any deal could still change. A transaction would support Amazon’s push into AI hardware, a market dominated by Nvidia. Nvidia’s graphics processors remain the industry standard, but large technology companies are increasingly testing alternative chips as demand for computing power grows. Trainium is central to Amazon’s strategy to differentiate its AI offering within its cloud business. The company has promoted the processors as a more cost-efficient option for training AI models. Broader adoption would also strengthen Amazon’s semiconductor unit. Amazon Web Services (AWS) is facing rising competition for AI workloads from rivals including Microsoft, a major OpenAI backer. The talks began around October after OpenAI completed a corporate restructuring, Bloomberg previously reported. As part of that process, Microsoft secured an estimated 27 percent economic stake following negotiations that lasted nearly a year. OpenAI was most recently valued at about US$500 billion in an employee share sale, briefly overtaking SpaceX as the world’s most valuable startup. The rise reflects strong investor interest in generative AI, even as some analysts warn investment levels may be running ahead of sustainable demand. Amazon and OpenAI already have a significant commercial relationship. In November, the companies said AWS would provide up to US$38 billion in cloud computing capacity over seven years. Early deployments are focused on Nvidia-based infrastructure rather than Amazon’s own chips.     Featured image: Edited by Fintech News Singapore, based on image by rawpixel.com via Freepik The post Amazon Weighs US$10 Billion Investment in OpenAI appeared first on Fintech Singapore.

The Summit opened with a jolt when a convincing deepfake of Co-founder & Chief Strategy Officer Peter Sever took the stage, before the real Peter stepped in to shut it down. “Today, fraud is as easy as an API call,” he warned, setting the tone for a day on the race between innovation and financial crime. Peter and Co-founder & Chief Innovation Officer Jacob Sever outlined how APAC has become the epicentre of both digital transformation and digital crime, with 2.9 billion online users, thousands of fintechs, and an explosion in real-time payments. Deepfake fraud is surging, major fraud networks operate in the region, and one in four people are targeted as potential money mules. The founders noted the heavy human toll as inflexible verification standards currently lock 627 million individuals out of the digital economy. Sumsub’s response—from flexible workflows to initiatives like Greenflag and Non-Doc Verification—are aimed at building smarter bridges instead of higher walls. A Global “Fraudemic” and The Need For Coordinated Defence In his keynote, T Raja Kumar, President of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) for 2022-2024, described the world as being in a true “fraudemic era,” where cyber-enabled crime is scaling faster than defences can be implemented. Fraud losses now exceed hundreds of billions of dollars annually, including heavy losses in Singapore and across East and Southeast Asia. He spotlighted industrialised Fraud-as-a-Service, powered by AI-driven deception, money-mule networks, and cross-border scam syndicates. He called for stronger legal frameworks, cross-border cooperation, and the rapid adoption of advanced analytics and AI. Money In Motion, AI Agents, and Disappearing Funds Fireside chats explored how real-time transfers, mobile wallets, embedded finance, and CBDCs are reshaping money movement, and whether digital wallets are becoming the new “primary bank account” for millions. Panellists agreed that the future of payments will be defined by instant value, global reach, and trust. Another discussion examined AI agents as both assistants and threats. Criminals already use self-learning bots and AI-enabled spoofing to scale scams, but the same tools can power defence when paired with behavioural biometrics and adaptive ML. The panel agreed that organisations need to rapidly secure AI agents since they are not inherently good or evil. Hemanshu Parekh of Standard Chartered then walked the audience through two real investigations: a corporate fraud web using shell companies and international hubs, and a money-mule “hive” with a queen, leaders, and worker mules. His formula for defeating these invisible networks relies on IMP, which stands for Investigations, smarter Models, and deep cross-sector Partnerships. Breakouts: Crypto, AI, and The Future Of Compliance Breakout panels brought together industry leaders to discuss how the sector is weaving crypto into banking, payments, and treasury. The message was clear. Mainstream adoption is no longer about “if” but “how fast and how safely,” with compliance, custody, and operational resilience as critical enablers. A live-voting session explored AI’s dual role in financial services, examining bias, privacy risks, and automated fraud, as well as new opportunities in compliance and risk modelling. Audience sentiment shifted as speakers stressed that the real challenge is not whether to adopt AI, but how to prevent misuse while accelerating responsible innovation. A Major Research Milestone and A New Fan Favourite The Summit also marked a major milestone: a Research Collaboration Agreement between Sumsub and Nanyang Technological University Singapore, the first APAC university partner under the Sumsub AI Academic Program. The joint work focuses on human-imperceptible watermarks for personal images that prevent the global repurposing of likenesses into deepfakes and synthetic identities. On a lighter note, Sumsub unveiled the plush version of its bulldog mascot, Summy, who quickly became the “crush of 2025–2026.” The queue to win a Summy plush stretched even longer than the one for coffee. Main-Stage Compliance Discussions: 2026 and Beyond Across the main-stage panels, compliance leaders from fintechs and financial institutions shared how they scale fast while staying ahead of regulators. Centralised teams to spot global fraud patterns early, empowered local teams for nuance, and strong global frameworks with local flexibility emerged as key success factors. Panels on regulatory challenges and APAC’s compliance vision for 2026 emphasised the importance of early and ongoing engagement with regulators, as well as a shift from reactive to data-driven, design-led compliance. With regulators sharpening their focus on crypto, VASPs, and real-time monitoring, the message from the stage was consistent: in an AI-accelerated landscape, firms that harness analytics and invest in trust will define the future of safe digital finance, where the only real threat you face is your twin. Featured image by Sumsub. The post Sumsub WTF Summit 2025: Building Trust in the Fraudemic Era appeared first on Fintech Singapore.

Global payments group Zepz has partnered with Fireblocks to expand the use of stablecoins in remittances for WorldRemit and Sendwave. Zepz will use Fireblocks’ treasury, settlement and wallet infrastructure to support stablecoin-based transfers across its remittance services, with the aim of speeding up settlement and reducing foreign exchange and intermediary costs. WorldRemit and Sendwave serve more than nine million customers across over 130 countries. The integration is expected to strengthen Zepz’s ability to securely manage digital assets and automate treasury operations as stablecoin usage scales. The global remittance market is projected to reach US$895 billion by 2025, with more than 280 million migrants relying on cross-border transfers to support families and communities. However, traditional remittance channels can be slow and costly, prompting payments firms to explore stablecoins as an alternative settlement rail, particularly in emerging markets. The initiative is supported by a grant from the Solana Foundation, facilitated by Fireblocks. Zepz plans to deploy the infrastructure across remittance corridors in Africa, Asia and Latin America. Fireblocks provides digital asset infrastructure to banks and payment firms, securing more than US$4 trillion in digital asset transfers annually. Its ecosystem includes companies such as Circle, Bridge by Stripe and Checkout.com, as well as payment service providers and remittance platforms using stablecoins for settlement and treasury operations. Michael Shaulov “Global remittances represent one of the most powerful, real-world use cases for digital assets. WorldRemit and Sendwave are demonstrating how stablecoins can move real economies – delivering faster, cheaper, and more transparent payments at scale. With Fireblocks, Zepz is proving how blockchain infrastructure can power the next generation of global consumer finance.” said Michael Shaulov, Co-Founder & CEO of Fireblocks.     Featured image: Edited by Fintech News Singapore, based on image by noob via Freepik The post Fireblocks to Power Zepz Treasury, Stablecoin Settlement for Remittances appeared first on Fintech Singapore.

Databricks has raised more than US$4 billion in a Series L funding round that values the data and artificial intelligence company at US$134 billion. The San Francisco-based company said it surpassed a US$4.8 billion revenue run rate in the third quarter, growing more than 55 percent year on year, while delivering positive free cash flow over the past 12 months. Revenue from its AI products and data warehousing businesses each exceeded a US$1 billion annualised run rate during the period. Databricks said its net retention rate has remained above 140 percent, with more than 700 customers now generating over US$1 million each in annual revenue run rate. The funding round was led by Insight Partners, Fidelity Management & Research Company and J.P. Morgan Asset Management. Other investors included Andreessen Horowitz, BlackRock, Blackstone, Coatue, GIC, MGX, NEA, Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan, Robinhood Ventures, T. Rowe Price Associates, Temasek, Thrive Capital and Winslow Capital. Databricks said it plans to use the proceeds to accelerate the development of AI-driven applications built on enterprise data, expand research efforts, support future acquisitions and provide liquidity for employees. Ali Ghodsi “Enterprises are rapidly reimagining how they build intelligent applications, and the convergence of generative AI with new coding paradigms is opening the door to entirely new workloads. With this investment, we’re deepening our commitment to help every organization innovate with AI on their own data. By anchoring transactional data in Lakebase, delivering intuitive experiences through Databricks Apps, and enabling advanced multi-agent systems with Agent Bricks, we’re giving customers a unified foundation to build trusted, high-performance Data Intelligent Applications at scale.” said Ali Ghodsi, co-founder and CEO of Databricks. Insight Partners managing director John Wolff said Databricks continues to combine strong financial performance with customer adoption as companies seek to turn AI innovation into business outcomes. Databricks said it serves more than 20,000 customers globally across a range of industries.     Featured image: Edited by Fintech News Singapore, based on image by noob via Freepik The post Databricks Valued at US$134 Billion After Raising Over US$4 Billion appeared first on Fintech Singapore.

Indonesia Blockchain Week, held in Jakarta on December 10–11, is the country’s largest digital-finance gathering, bringing together many of the sector’s leading global participants. The conference featured representatives from OJK, alongside a good blend of local & global speakers and sponsors from Tether, Binance, OKX, Tron, D3 Labs, Tokocrypto, Simpan Invest, Saison Capital, Taisu Ventures, and UOB Venture. The event attracted nearly 10,000 participants, making it one of the largest digital-finance conferences in Southeast Asia. As Southeast Asia’s largest economy, Indonesia is rapidly establishing itself as a strategic hub for the global development of real-world assets (RWA). Its market is becoming a focal point where innovation, regulation, and international engagement intersect, creating a foundation for tokenised assets to scale globally. Regulatory Innovation: D-FMI Bridges Compliance and Openness For years, RWA adoption has been held back by the tension between global liquidity and local regulation. Tokenised assets are often confined to closed systems, limiting mass market participation and preventing true Web3 composability. In 2024, Indonesia took a step forward, Otoritas Jasa Keuangan (OJK), the country’s financial regulator, created a new department, ITSK (Inovasi Teknologi Sektor Keuangan), to oversee digital financial asset (DFA) development in Indonesia, where tokenised RWA is categorised under this framework as Backed DFA. “Indonesia has seen rapid growth in blockchain adoption and digital asset activities, where more consumers are entering the market, more institutions are exploring tokenisation, and more innovators are building solutions that will shape the future of finance,“ said Hasan Fawzi, Chief Executive of Financial Sector Technological Innovation, Digital Financial Asset, and Crypto Asset Supervision at OJK. In the same year, ITSK launched the OJK DFA regulatory sandbox under POJK 3/2024, allowing participants to operate RWA tokenisation related business legally in Indonesia. OJK’s acknowledgement of DFA, as a new asset class separated from the Capital market product, is a leap forward in driving global mass RWA tokenisation adoption. Allowing OJK to partner with sandbox participants in driving and drafting new regulations catered specially to this new asset class, empowering: Issuance of financial assets, and other real world products on-chain Public circulation and cross-chain transfers of compliant assets Legal participation by both retail & institutional users Listing of approved backed DFA on crypto platforms for secondary trading D3 Labs, through its flagship product Pruv Finance, is the first company approved under the Digital Financial Market Infrastructure (D-FMI) category of OJK DFA regulatory sandbox. Pruv Finance, launched by D3 Labs, is a platform for issuing tokenised real-world assets (RWAs) with access to global liquidity. Pruv is legally permitted to partner with global asset managers and leading blockchains to manage the full lifecycle of tokenised funds, from subscription and valuation to redemption and distribution across multiple blockchains. By collaborating with global asset-management partners and operating within OJK’s evolving Digital Financial Assets (DFA) framework, Pruv is among the early players helping Indonesia build compliant, interoperable infrastructure for tokenised assets. These foundational efforts support the country’s broader ambition to emerge as a regional hub for RWA tokenisation. A Mature and High-Potential Web3 Market Regulation alone isn’t enough, a mature and engaged market is also essential. Such a market not only provides timely feedback to regulators but also helps shape and encourage the evolution of regulatory frameworks. By 2025, Indonesia’s digital finance ecosystem is rapidly evolving. The country has over 20 million crypto users, mostly young and tech-savvy, with a crypto adoption rate exceeding 40%, actively engaging with innovative financial products. Total crypto trading volume has reached IDR 446 trillion (USD 26.8 billion), demonstrating the scale and liquidity of the digital asset market. Looking ahead, tokenisable assets from Indonesia are projected to reach $88 billion by 2030, spanning bonds, investment funds, infrastructure projects, and SME financing. Compared with other jurisdictions, Indonesia offers lower barriers for innovation, fostering cross-chain and cross-border product synergies. These factors create fertile ground for large-scale RWA issuance and adoption. Top Web3 Enterprises Expand into Indonesia The final, and most critical, piece of the RWA puzzle: a global liquidity distribution network. Indonesia’s supportive regulatory and market environment has attracted top Web3 enterprises, from leading exchanges, to global financial institutions and leading blockchains, all building the infrastructure to connect tokenised assets to liquidity worldwide. This emerging network positions Indonesia as a gateway, linking RWAs to global financial flows. Robinhood just announced that they will acquire Indonesian brokerage firm Buana Capital Sekuritas and licensed digital asset trader Pedagang Aset Kripto, marking the retail trading platform’s entry into one of Southeast Asia’s major crypto hubs. Binance acquired Tokocrypto, one of the largest fiat to crypto exchanges in Indonesia, to secure a full Indonesian digital asset trading license, creating a compliant base for long-term market growth and future RWA initiatives. OKX / OKX Wallet is exploring partnerships and integrations with local indonesia partners. Indonesia is becoming a key market within OKX’s global strategy. Bybit is strengthening local infrastructure through acquiring licensed local Indonesia crypto exchange, while offering Indonesian-language support, localised content, and partnerships with the Indonesia Blockchain Association on user protection. OSL Group acquired an Indonesian exchange via a USD 15 million investment, using Indonesia as a strategic entry point for Southeast Asia expansion. HashKey partnered with INDODAX to collaborate on liquidity, infrastructure, compliance, and RWA tokenisation, further establishing Indonesia as a significant player in the global Web3 ecosystem. Top-tier financial institutions are also staking their claim in Indonesia. BlackRock increased its holdings in PT Bank Rakyat Indonesia (BBRI), while AllianzG activelyI invests locally and partners with Standard Chartered Bank, making Indonesia a key focus in its Asia-Pacific strategy. Korea’s PineTree pilots tokenised bonds and cross-border digital funds, and SBI DMI is building regulated rails for compliant, institutional-grade digital assets. Leading Web3 Ecosystems such as Polygon, Avalanche, Sei, Manta, IOTA, and LayerZero are cultivating local developer communities by providing resources, mentorship, and tools, while Arbitrum, Solana, and Cardano are expanding Indonesian user bases and community networks to accelerate adoption of decentralised applications. Why Indonesia Matters RWAs unlock value by giving globally liquidity to assets with tangible worth. Making that a reality takes more than technology, it requires aligned policy, industry support, and a strong global  partner network. In Indonesia, all these elements are coming together. The country is quickly becoming a launchpad for global RWA adoption, where innovation, regulation, and market demand intersect. Indonesia is proving that a single, strategically positioned market can take experimental projects and turn them into fully integrated, institutional-grade financial products ready for the global stage.   Featured Image by D3 Labs The post Indonesia Is Emerging as Asia’s Next RWA Hub appeared first on Fintech Singapore.

SHOPLINE has received a Major Payment Institution licensce from Singapore’s central bank, allowing it to provide regulated payment services in Singapore. The license was granted to Instage Technology, a subsidiary of the commerce software provider, by the Monetary Authority of Singapore. It allows the company to offer account issuance, domestic and cross-border money transfer, merchant acquisition and e-money issuance services. The approval gives SHOPLINE a regulated base in Singapore to support payment services for more than 600,000 merchants worldwide. SHOPLINE said the license strengthens its ability to deliver secure and compliant payment services, supported by governance, compliance and operational systems, with further enhancements underway. The approval also supports deeper integration of payments within SHOPLINE’s commerce platform, including broader payment options, multi-currency support, more reliable checkout experiences and stronger safeguards around fund security. It also lays the groundwork for embedded financial services such as expense management, automated payment flows and bill management. “The MPI license marks an important milestone for SHOPLINE. It strengthens our ability to support merchants in growing their global presence and reaching customers across borders. With the license, we can partner with more global payment and financial institutions to build a suite of embedded financial solutions that help merchants manage and utilise their funds more effectively, empowering them to scale their businesses with greater confidence.” said Kimi Gong, Deputy GM of Payments, SHOPLINE. The Singapore license adds to SHOPLINE’s regulatory approvals in other markets, including a Money Service Operator license in Hong Kong, registration with Australia’s financial intelligence agency AUSTRAC and an energy listing with Taiwan’s Ministry of Digital Affairs.     Featured image: Edited by Fintech News Singapore, based on image by Freepik   The post SHOPLINE Subsidiary Secures Payment License in Singapore appeared first on Fintech Singapore.

For millions of people, crypto has shifted from a speculative asset to a critical utility. It has become the rail for sending money home, a hedge against fragile local currencies, and a bypass for legacy financial systems that are slow, expensive, or out of reach. This shift in behaviour is showing up clearly in the data: global retail transactions surged by more than 125% in between January to September 2024 and during the same period in 2025, signalling that individuals, not just institutions, are driving the next phase of growth. TRM Labs’ 2025 Crypto Adoption and Stablecoin Usage report indicates Asia as the centre of gravity for this functional adoption. According to its Country Crypto Adoption Index 2025, seven Asian nations feature prominently in the rankings, with India, Pakistan, the Philippines, Indonesia, Vietnam, the Republic of Korea, and Japan all in the global top 10. For these markets, the driver is clear: a grassroots demand for functional financial alternatives. Source: 2025 Crypto Adoption and Stablecoin Usage Report, TRM Labs Yet, the global landscape is defined by a powerful duality. While Asia drives the breadth of user adoption, the United States continues to dominate the depth of the market. US crypto activity surged by roughly 50% between January and July 2025, pushing past US$1 trillion and cementing its status as the world’s largest market by absolute transaction volume. That acceleration has unfolded alongside a clear shift in Washington. The Trump administration has moved quickly to deliver on its pledge to make the US “the crypto capital of the world,” translating campaign rhetoric into policy action. Congress has since passed the GENIUS Act, establishing the country’s first comprehensive framework for stablecoins while also advancing the CLARITY Act to set out a broader market structure for digital assets. Ari Redbord, Global Head of Policy and Government Affairs at TRM Labs, reinforces this structural divergence: Ari Redbord “Crypto adoption in 2025 is being shaped by two powerful forces — policy clarity and user-driven innovation. We’re seeing not only institutional participation accelerate in regulated markets like the US, but also grassroots adoption thrive in regions with economic volatility. The rise of stablecoins sits at the centre of both stories.” Asia’s Diverse Adoption Story The Country Crypto Adoption Index 2025 places Asia firmly at the heart of global crypto adoption, with India retaining the top position for the third consecutive year. Pakistan and the Philippines have surged into the global top five, while Indonesia, Vietnam, South Korea, Japan, and Thailand all remain within the top 15. India’s continued leadership is fuelled by a “crypto-fluent” middle class and a massive demographic dividend. Beyond retail enthusiasm, the market is maturing rapidly: a thriving developer ecosystem and rising interest from institutional and high-net-worth investors are deepening liquidity and reinforcing the country’s accelerating adoption. Pakistan has jumped to the #3 spot globally, moving up one rank from 2024. This rise is driven by a decisive policy pivot. In March 2025, the government established the Pakistan Crypto Council to foster the local blockchain ecosystem and announced plans for a dedicated regulator, the Pakistan Virtual Assets Regulatory Authority (PVARA), signalling a shift towards formal oversight. Source: Top 15 in Country Crypto Adoption Index 2025, TRM Labs Bangladesh presents a stark contrast, proving that economic necessity often supersedes the law. Despite ongoing warnings from the central bank since 2014 and the fact that, as of 21 October 2025, no platforms are licensed to operate legally, adoption thrives underground. Driven by strict capital controls and a scarcity of foreign exchange, its citizens seem to be turning to crypto as an essential alternative to the traditional financial system. Ultimately, this suggests that crypto has become an essential utility, capable of flourishing equally: where governments build regulatory bridges and where they attempt to build walls. Stablecoins Quickly Gain Traction in Crypto Adoption Stablecoins accounted for 30% of crypto transactions from January 2025 to July 2025, according to analysis from TRM Labs. The market remains overwhelmingly US dollar–centric, with more than 90% of fiat-backed stablecoins pegged to the US dollar. Tether’s USDT and Circle’s USDC together account for 93% of total stablecoin market capitalisation. Regulatory momentum has kept pace with this growth. In 2025, the US passed the GENIUS Act to establish a federal stablecoin framework, Hong Kong approved its Stablecoin Bill, and the European Union’s Markets in Crypto Assets Regulation (MiCA) came into force. As of August 2025, TRM Labs analysis shows stablecoins reaching their highest annual transaction volume on record. Transaction activity rose 83% between July 2024 and July 2025, with more than US$4 trillion in stablecoin volume recorded between January and July 2025 alone. Over the same period, leading stablecoins expanded their share of the overall crypto market by 52%, underscoring their rapidly growing role in how crypto is being used globally. The Compliance Paradox TRM Labs estimates that 99% of stablecoin activity remains licit. Yet in the first quarter of 2025, stablecoins accounted for 60% of all illicit crypto transaction volume. This concentration reflects exposure rather than misuse, as stablecoins are considered the most liquid and accessible on-chain medium. Source: 2025 Crypto Adoption and Stablecoin Usage Report, TRM Labs This imbalance reflects the same characteristics that have driven legitimate adoption: low transaction costs, speed, and wide availability on open blockchains such as TRON and Ethereum. Across both leading stablecoins and the wider crypto market, investment fraud was the largest contributor to illicit volume growth between 2024 and 2025. However, when stablecoins are excluded, sanctions-related activity emerges as the primary driver, increasing by more than US$1 billion in comparison to 2024. That pattern diverges sharply within the stablecoin segment itself. Sanctions-related volume involving leading stablecoins fell by US$5.2 billion over the same period, pointing to a possible behavioural shift among threat actors. As enforcement pressure and monitoring around stablecoins have intensified, some illicit actors appear to be moving towards alternative digital assets to evade sanctions. Within the stablecoin ecosystem, extortion and blackmail showed the fastest relative growth, with volumes rising 380% YoY between January and July 2025. The rise highlights how criminal activity adapts quickly to liquidity and reach, even as overall compliance improves. Regulation as an Accelerant The data from 2025 confirms that the crypto market is maturing in behaviour and structure. With legislation advancing globally, stablecoins are evolving from crypto-native tools into regulated financial rails. This shift underscores the defining trend of the 2025 Index: regulatory clarity is an accelerant, driving legitimate growth while narrowing the channels for abuse. Featured image edited by Fintech News Singapore based on image by thanyakij-12 on Freepik The post 7 Asian Countries in Global Top 10 for Crypto Adoption, Says TRM Labs appeared first on Fintech Singapore.

Singapore-based trade finance platform Olea has raised US$30 million in a Series A funding round. The round was led by BBVA, with participation from XDC Network, theDOCK, other investors and existing shareholder SC Ventures. The company said the capital will support new capabilities, including artificial intelligence, Web 3.0 and embedded finance. Olea plans to scale its origination activities across key markets, supported by its network of institutional funding partners. The equity round follows a separate funding facility announced in November 2024. That facility was arranged by HSBC and Manulife | CQS Investment Management. Olea operates an institutional-grade trade finance platform and holds a Capital Markets Services licence from the Monetary Authority of Singapore. Since launching in 2022, it has facilitated more than US$3 billion in financing. The company works with over 30 institutional funders and serves more than 1,000 suppliers and buyers across more than 70 trade corridors. Amelia Ng Amelia Ng, CEO of Olea, said, “This funding marks an important milestone in Olea’s journey. The confidence shown by our new and existing investors is a powerful validation of the business we’ve built – institutional-grade, scalable, and ready for the next phase of growth. We are committed to building an efficient and accessible trade ecosystem that connects capital, commerce, and technology.” BBVA said the investment would support Olea’s expansion across Europe, the United States, Latin America and Asia, with collaboration planned on digital supply chain solutions and risk analytics. SC Ventures reaffirmed its backing and said it is exploring further work in digital assets and artificial intelligence. XDC Network cited tokenised and stablecoin-based trade flows, while theDOCK pointed to new partnerships in maritime logistics. Olea is headquartered in Singapore and was founded with investment from SC Ventures and Linklogis.     Featured image: Edited by Fintech News Singapore, based on image by masaideeabdulkoday70 via Freepik The post Olea Raises US$30 Million Funding Round Backed by BBVA, SC Ventures appeared first on Fintech Singapore.