Asia's tech news: Aug 30th
In this edition: India Blockchain Forum launches; China's semiconductor developments; Binance office hit by deepfake scam; Taiwan's new Digital Affairs Ministry; Animoca Brands' Japan growth; and more
• Australia: Northern Territory Racing Commission is considering crypto gambling regulation to 'allow wagers to be placed in crypto with no fiat exchange required'
• Taiwan preps deployment of domestic drone defense system, and other related systems, in bid to counter and deter hostile drone incursions from China
• China: Nreal AR glasses firm gains $15M from South Korea's Licombined, parent of Gentle Monster sunglasses brand, in likely move towards partnership rather than single investment
• China: Digital Yuan payments trials roll out in public transport sector, with expansion of subway transport payment trials and first addition of road transport payments
“…the city of Ningbo in Zhejiang province has also introduced the e-CNY payment method for its subway lines, allowing commuters to pay using the digital yuan at 125 stations in the eastern Chinese city.”
• Microsoft partners China's ByteDance for KubeRay AI project, despite data security, surveillance, privacy, intellectual property and wider national security concerns attached to the TikTok parent
• India Blockchain Forum launches, aiming to make India a global hub for blockchain and web3 technology, alongside building an 'India Blockchain Stack' as a development template
• China: Beijing launches metaverse development plan requiring municipalities to track NFT trends and integrate metaverse-related tech into education and tourism
• India: Aero and defence startups - Altair Startup Grand Challenge 2022 is now live on the Startup India Portal
• China: Country's largest chipmaker, Semiconductor Manufacturing Int'l Corp, inks agreement for new $7.5BN foundry in Tianjin despite US sanctions, on back of near-7-nanometer chip production success
• India: Amazon Web Services and Campus Fund launch 3rd edition of Grand Challenge for student entrepreneurs, with applications closing September 15th
• Singapore: Safeheron raises $7M pre-Series A with focus on private key security for crypto transactions, looking at distributed signing
When users make a transfer from their self-custody wallet, they need to sign off on the transaction with those passphrases. Users basically become their own banks.
• Deloitte and Alibaba partner for Deloitte-Alibaba Cloud Auto Industry Center in Hangzhou to focus on computing aspects of driverless vehicles
• Japan: Defense Ministry lists combat drones, hypersonic weapons research and long-range missile mass production in record $40.7BN budget request for 2023
• Applications open for LTP Startup Challenge from Lufthansa Technik Philippines, seeking solutions in the aviation maintenance repair and overhaul industry
• Taiwan: New Ministry of Digital Affairs formally began operation on August 27th - The Diplomat provides an overview of the ministry's intentions and challenges
• Japan: Government Pension Investment Fund, one of the world's largest institutional investors, is to begin investing in Japanese startups for the first time
• Wild Digital Southeast Asia 2022 is happening on September 6-7, in-person and online from Kuala Lumpur, looking at all things tech, from Web3 to quick commerce and sustainability
• Malaysia: Securities Commission adds Huobi Global cryptocurrency exchange to Investor Alert List over operating without regulator registration
• Australia: Hello Clever raises $4.5M seed funding with 'buy-to-earn' platform, giving shoppers real-time cashback rewards on purchases
• India: Winuall raises $2M with toolset helping tutors to expand their business with customised, curated online courses
• India: Shellios Technolabs launches anti-pollution helmet fitted with air-purifying accessories and bluetooth-connected app which alerts the rider when the helmet requires cleaning
• Sequoia Capital India and SE Asia unveil 15 early-stage startups selected for cohort 7 of its Surge accelerator, working on SaaS solutions, dApp development, AI-produced video and more
• Cambodia: An overview of the Kingdom's considerations around a new digitally-driven economic model
• China: Tech majors including Huawei, Tencent and Epic Games partner universities for Joint Research Institute of Metaverse and Virtual-Real Interaction
Also in the mix is China Mobile's Migu as well as top universities including Fudan, Peking, Renmin, Zhejiang, and Nanjing, which have been named the ‘the research co-construction units for the institute’
• Malaysia's Kenanga Investment Bank, one of the largest private investment banks, partners China's Ant Group to launch crypto-friendly wallet and trading app
• Cambodia: A brief look at the recently-concluded Digital Platform Accelerator Program from Techo Startup Center, and the 3 winning startups selected
• South Korea: Startup accelerator DCamp marks 100th demo day, and celebrates a total of 6,874 startups having pitched from the first event to today
• Binance Chief Comm's Officer deepfaked by scammers using AI hologram, built using online interviews and TV footage and used to discuss Binance listings with outside project teams
“I was not prepared for the onslaught of cyberattacks, phishing attacks, and scams that regularly target the crypto community.” / in full
• Google For Startups Accelerators - applications are open for tech startups from India, Indonesia, Japan, Korea and Southeast Asia
• Japan: Animoca Brands Japan secures $45M, focusing on partnerships in Japan for NFT-related opportunities and aiming to aid famous IP holders with entry to Web3 ecosystems
• India: Loopworm insect farming startup secures $3.4M seed round, growing insects on food waste and processing them into products for the animal feed industry
ICYMI: In Case You Missed It
Wider-world tech news with Asia-Pac / Indo-Pac relevance, alongside meaningful points of reference in relevant fields.
» Lloyds of London announces its insurer groups will exclude 'catastrophic' state-backed attacks from cyber insurance policies, citing difficulties around attribution and 'knowledge of' components
» GrizzlyFI DeFi firm to launch DeFi Franc stablecoin pegged to the Swiss Franc, seen as safest currency globally, seeing opportunity for alternative to USD-pegged stablecoins
» Meta's Horizon Worlds metaverse bid: "This is bad. They should stop. It doesn't look like an actual product. There's nothing 'immersive' about this."
» Big Tech & the Metaverse: "By offering deep-pocketed tech firms the ability to indulge in their own virtual reality...it exposes their complete inability to envision anything worthwhile."
» Ransomware & government: "...when you’re going to put out a fire, the last thing you want to do is to just pour more gasoline on it. Enabling ransomware payments by governmental entities are just that."
» a16z's Ready Player Me investment: "...today, the largest games and virtual worlds are closed economies that are not interoperable with one another."
» Nike, with acquisition of RTFKT, has already made $185.3M in revenue from its NFT collections
» World's largest cryptocurrency ATM operator, Bitcoin Depot, to go public with Nasdaq listing by merging with GSR II Meteora, a special purpose acquisition company, at estimated value of $885M
» Big tech vs reality: "Further, by creating the expectation that companies must tell us they exist to do good in the world rather than to turn a profit, we are making them better at telling us lies."
» Australian gov't to intro legislation supporting a 'market for biodiversity', in which credits will be awarded to conservation projects that can prove measurable improvements to the environment
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