ChainCatcher news, according to Hong Kong media Ming Pao, the Vice Chairman of the Asian Financial Technology Association and a part-time lecturer at the University of Hong Kong's School of Professional and Continuing Education, Chan Wing-fung, stated that asset tokenization has become the hottest application of blockchain in the financial industry. The use of "post-quantum cryptography (PQC)" technology can maintain and even enhance the security of blockchain. Recently, a fintech startup in Hong Kong also announced plans to issue the world's first post-quantum stablecoin, using post-quantum encryption technology to protect transactions and assets. This stablecoin is pegged to the US dollar at a 1:1 ratio and uses post-quantum encryption algorithms to ensure transaction security.

ChainCatcher news, according to The Block, Ripple has launched a series of new features for Ripple Custody aimed at helping banks and fintech companies adopt crypto-supported services. These updates include the ability to tokenize real-world assets (RWA), pre-configured operations and strategy settings, integration with Ripple's XRP Ledger blockchain, and an upgraded user interface.

ChainCatcher news, the Hong Kong Stock Exchange disclosed that the Hong Kong-listed company HKE Holdings Limited released its annual performance announcement for the year ending June 30, 2024, which revealed that HKE is establishing a comprehensive fintech service platform for multiple categories of assets (including but not limited to virtual assets, listed securities, listed bonds, and alternative assets). This platform is built on trust, user-centricity, and compliance, ensuring that global users can explore and monetize the potential within different asset classes, covering traditional financial markets, such as virtual assets and Web3 assets.HKE Holdings Limited stated that the Hong Kong government strongly supports the development of Hong Kong as an international financial center for virtual assets and is confident that the fintech platform business will continue to grow and provide value-added services to various participants within the ecosystem, such as virtual asset spot trading exchange-traded fund issuers, token issuers, and investors with investment needs who require advanced virtual asset custody solutions for virtual asset trading.

ChainCatcher news, the cross-border trading fintech company Puntored announced the completion of a $2 million financing, with the Stellar Development Foundation participating through its Stellar Enterprise Fund.Puntored will use this new funding to expand its technological capabilities and enable accurate cross-border transactions in Latin America through the Stellar blockchain network, primarily exploring financial transaction services for users in rural, metropolitan, and remote areas of Mexico, Colombia, and Puerto Rico, focusing on digital wallets, embedded payment services for businesses, and credit for small and medium-sized enterprises.

ChainCatcher news, privacy-focused fintech company Biptap announced the completion of a $2 million Pre-Seed funding round. The names of the investors have not been disclosed, but it is reported that they include several Web3 decentralized investment funds, a travel service provider with a network of 2.5 million hotels, a crypto technology company that once owned a MotoG racing team, and a former founder of a crypto investment fund. Currently, its business mainly operates in the Web3 space, and the new funds will be used to expand its business into markets beyond Web3, ensuring that users can control their financial transactions with privacy at the core.

ChainCatcher news, according to Cointelegraph, IBM recently launched a brand new "lightweight engine" WatsonX.ai service, primarily aimed at enterprise customers. This lightweight engine is seen as a potential breakthrough for small and medium-sized enterprises in emerging industries like fintech to adopt generative AI. Unlike similar cloud services offered by companies like Microsoft and Google, IBM's solution supports on-premises deployment, better meeting the financial industry's requirements for data security and compliance.JPMorgan Chase recently purchased enterprise-level access to ChatGPT, providing service for all 60,000 of its employees. IBM executives stated that as companies need to deploy generative AI applications internally, they are looking for a platform that occupies fewer resources and is more lightweight. IBM's "lightweight engine" was created for this purpose, enabling software developers and enterprise developers to effectively deploy and run generative AI solutions while optimizing costs.

ChainCatcher news, according to Cointelegraph, U.S. House members voted to support legislation to establish a task force to study the illegal use of digital assets.The majority of House members approved the Financial Technology Protection Act through a voice vote. The bill was introduced by Representatives Zach Nunn and Jim Himes in April 2023, aiming to address how "rogue nations and foreign actors" exploit cryptocurrencies to evade sanctions by coordinating efforts among multiple federal agencies.Representative Nunn stated, "This bipartisan bill will help ensure that the United States is prepared to address security risks and prevent illegal money laundering while protecting the consumer choice of all Americans. We must do both to ensure the long-term integrity of digital assets."

ChainCatcher news, fintech company Caliza has completed a $8.5 million funding round, led by Initialized.It is reported that Caliza offers an API and frontend payment system that uses cryptocurrency stablecoins (specifically Circle's USD stablecoin USDC) and existing real-time payment networks to enable instant transfers, providing international merchants with U.S. digital dollar accounts.

ChainCatcher news, according to Bloomberg, Argentine fintech company Tapi has completed a $20 million Series A funding round, led by Kaszek, with participation from Andreessen Horowitz (a16z) and others. Tomas Mindlin, co-founder and CEO of Tapi, stated that the company is expanding its operations in Mexico.It is reported that Tapi is a payment processor for major Latin American consumer platforms such as Mercado Pago and cryptocurrency exchange Lemon. The company expects to process approximately $400 million in payments across the five countries it operates in this year, growing fourfold by 2023. The company has about 70 employees, most of whom are based in Argentina. The CEO stated that total payment volume is expected to increase fivefold by the end of this year, reaching 10 million transactions per month. Tapi's payment processing technology is designed to help fintech companies serve customers in multiple countries.

ChainCatcher news, Tanzanian fintech startup Nala has raised $40 million in Series A funding to support its B2B payment platform called Rafiki. This round was oversubscribed and led by San Francisco venture capital firm Acrew Capital, with participation from DST Global, Norrsken22, and HOF Capital.

ChainCatcher news, blockchain fintech company FreeBnk announced the completion of a $3 million financing round, led by Founderheads, with participation from ChaiTech Ventures, LVT Capital, Lavender Capital, and others.The new funding will be used to enhance its user interface and application experience, particularly for new users. The company focuses on tokenizing RWA and crypto financial services, with its technology based on multi-party computation (MPC) security to ensure the protection of users' digital assets.

ChainCatcher news, according to Bitcoin.com, fintech company Pyypl has partnered with Visa to launch virtual and physical prepaid Visa cards through a mobile application. The collaboration aims to enhance financial inclusion in the region, providing more access to financial services for underserved populations.

ChainCatcher news, according to Cointelegraph, a study supported by the Hong Kong government indicates that decentralized finance (DeFi) and metaverse technologies will become new opportunities to enhance the region's global fintech competitiveness. The research department of the Hong Kong Financial Academy (AoF), the Hong Kong Institute for Monetary and Financial Research (HKIMR), released two reports on June 25, detailing the impact of DeFi and the metaverse on the financial industry.The reports show that the DeFi market has grown from a market value of $6 billion in 2021 to over $80 billion in 2023, demonstrating its enormous potential. However, DeFi remains a largely undeveloped market, with over 70% of crypto enterprises yet to venture into this field. Despite issues such as governance, compliance, and vulnerabilities, the research remains optimistic about the unique characteristics of DeFi, believing it has the potential to offer new financial services such as liquid staking, flash loans, and automated market makers.In terms of the metaverse, although local financial institutions have shown high interest, actual participation remains moderate. Over 51% of respondents are skeptical about the future potential of the metaverse, but some Hong Kong fintech companies are actively promoting related developments.The Dean of the Hong Kong Financial Academy and Executive Director of HKIMR, Feng Haoran, stated: "Emerging technologies such as DeFi and the metaverse are closely related to the broader development of virtual assets and Web3, and may bring various opportunities to Hong Kong's financial services industry."

ChainCatcher news, the chairman of the Hong Kong FinTech Association, Chen Wenli, stated that some platforms that have withdrawn from Hong Kong have established operations in North America and Europe, but they are still exploring the feasibility of using Hong Kong as their Asia-Pacific headquarters.Hong Kong Legislative Council member Wu Jiezhuang mentioned that, to his knowledge, most platforms are willing to apply for licenses in Hong Kong, but the strict regulations do not allow them to provide services to mainland investors, which may lead to non-compliance issues for some platforms. Under strict regulation, the types of tradable virtual currencies are limited, and it is also difficult for platforms to make a profit.

ChainCatcher news, according to Bloomberg, Turkish fintech startup Colendi has raised $65 million in its latest Series B funding round, reaching a valuation of $700 million. This round was led by Citi Ventures, the venture capital arm of Citigroup, with other investors including Migros Ticaret AS, Sepil Ventures, Re-Pie Asset Management, Finberg, and Hedef Holding. Colendi co-founder and CEO Bulent Tekmen stated that existing investors also participated in this round of funding.It is reported that Turkish banking regulators have approved Colendi's application to establish a digital bank in 2023. Tekmen mentioned that the oversubscribed Series B funding round provides the necessary capital to establish Colendi Bank. The company plans to dual-list in Istanbul and London and expects to be ready for an initial public offering (IPO) by 2026. Headquartered in Istanbul, Colendi launched a new funding round in March, aiming to raise over $150 million by the end of this year. Tekmen anticipates that after this funding round, Colendi's valuation will reach $1 billion, thus becoming a "unicorn" company.Currently, Colendi has 17 million users in Turkey, with plans to expand into populous emerging markets such as Pakistan and Indonesia in the future, ultimately aiming for a target of 1 billion users. This funding will drive Colendi's mission to become a major digital banking entity in Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA), the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), and Turkic countries.

ChainCatcher news, according to News.bitcoin, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has instructed four fintech companies Moniepoint, Palmpay, Opay, and Kuda to stop creating new accounts, citing that cryptocurrency traders may use these accounts.A report from Techcabal states that shortly after the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) of Nigeria froze over 1,140 bank accounts suspected of being linked to illegal foreign transactions, the CBN issued this directive. The report also cites a statement from a fintech company indicating that the account freezes are temporary. An executive from one fintech company, who wished to remain anonymous, also confirmed the temporary nature of the suspension. The executive also linked the CBN's directive to an ongoing audit of the KYC processes of the affected fintech companies.

ChainCatcher news, according to PRNewswire, Turkish fintech startup Midas has completed a $45 million Series A funding round, led by Portage, with participation from the International Finance Corporation, Spark Capital, Earlybird Digital East Fund, Revo Capital, and others.It is reported that Midas will use the funds from this round to launch new products, including cryptocurrency trading, mutual funds, and savings accounts, with plans to double its workforce to over 400 people and expand into emerging markets.