GCR

In Case You Missed It: Our Latest Podcast is Out!

GCR speaks with Alex Shin, Co-Founder and Partner at Hashed

Hashed is a Korean blockchain project accelerator and also the largest pure play crypto investment fund in Korea. Alex Shin is a cofounder and partner of the fund. Founded in 2017, Hashed has shaped the Korean blockchain industry through its unique approach to finding and nurturing nascent projects. It has helped accelerated projects such as Terra and ICON.

When I spoke to Alex, I found him to be extremely skillful at bridge building between east and west, and he along with his partners are committed to put Korea on the global crypto map. In this upcoming podcast episode, we discuss Hashed and its investments, Alex’s view on crypto markets now, and Korea’s crypto regulator and the conglomerate participants there. 

Soundcloud| iTunes | Premium subscribers can get access to the interview transcript here.

Top News in Asia from this Week

Bitmain’s two founders to step aside as Chinese cryptocurrency giant taps software coder as new CEO. Thus far all the articles have cited this South China Morning Post article as sourcehttp://bit.ly/2FrgoWx

Cryptocurrency has little prospect of wholesale use in the next three years, most global central banks say in a BIS survey: http://bit.ly/2Fow25b

China regulators require all blockchain-based information service providers to register users using real names, censor postings, and store user data. http://bit.ly/2RkzzbU

Japanese Banks Launching Digital Currencies Could Inspire the Traditional Cash Society: http://bit.ly/2FpDE7q

Share with Friends? Most Clicked on From Last Newsletter

State of Blockchain in South Korea: a comprehensive report by OneAlpha.http://bit.ly/2RgN50b

How Is the definition of money changing in Asia?: http://bit.ly/2FiEtPo

Hong Kong investors claim they lost HK$3 million in venture of cryptocurrency promoter thought to be behind ‘money falling from sky’ stunt’: http://bit.ly/2FizCO3

Funding news

Social platform Yeecal has participated in the $4-million round of Singapore-headquartered BitRock, a blockchain-based startup it incubated. http://bit.ly/2RkTYgV

Online education startup Eruditus has raised $40 million in a Series C round of funding led by Sequoia India to offer additional educational materials in blockchain and AI.http://bit.ly/2RkwDMq

Singapore-based crypto wallet TenX has announced that its co-founder and president Julian Hosp is leaving the firm. http://bit.ly/2RnuiQH

Coins and mining

Blockchain platform Qtum is introducing Bitcoin atomic swaps to its mainnet infrastructure:http://bit.ly/2FsGnwL

Japanese IT giant GMO Internet Group has released the latest monthly disclosure on its in-house crypto mining operations, confirming that it took a steep hit in overall mining revenue:http://bit.ly/2FrhAJv

China’s second-biggest Bitcoin mining chip maker Canaan has reportedly abandoned their plans for a Hong Kong initial public offering in favor of a U.S. listing: http://bit.ly/2Fr8QTV

Exchange News

Exchange Huobi has announced that it has officially launched its services in the country of Japan, trading will begin on January 8th: http://bit.ly/2FrICkg

HBUS, the United States-based strategic partner of China-born crypto exchange Huobi, has announced the rebranding of its retail trading service from HBUS.com to Huobi.com.http://bit.ly/2RjLJla

Hong Kong-based cryptocurrency exchange OKEx has officially added TRON to its growing list of digital assets with margin trading support. http://bit.ly/2Rlu5xy

Regulation News 

Thailand has issued its first licenses to four cryptocurrency exchanges, Bx, Bitkub, Coins and Satang Pro, granting them permission to operate in the country. Another crypto exchange called Coin Asset is under extended review. http://bit.ly/2RkUzPH

Business News 

New Bot enables millions to send and receive cryptocurrencies on Facebook messenger:http://bit.ly/2Ft1Gi6

Forbes Opinion: The US is losing the AI, Blockchain & FINTECH Arms Race (But IS Crypto-Friendly); http://bit.ly/2Fp4psI

DON’T MISS IT

We released our 2019 In-House Predictions on Crypto in China, US and the rest of Asia,sharing our thoughts from a global lens on what’s going to happen to the crypto around the world. We highlight the realities of a China digital currency, outlook on the largest exchanges and US projects, the important cities you shouldn’t miss in 2019, and more. Be sure to check it out and share with your friends.

5 Books to Understanding China and its Internet Economy, including Implications for the Cryptocurrency Ecosystem

We are offering complimentary tickets to our premium readers to the TRON Summit happening in San Francisco from January 17th-18th with guest speakers including Kobe Bryant, and Justin Sun, CEO of TRON and BitTorrent. Premium readers can log in to get access to the code