Every week, we compile key updates from East Asia for the industry.
Will Google win its lawsuit against alleged Chinese crypto fraud perpetrators?
Alphabet’s subsidiary Google has initiated lawsuits in the federal court of New York against two Chinese citizens residing in mainland China for supposedly utilizing Google Play to promote and distribute deceitful crypto applications.
The deceitful apps on Google Play, such as TionRT exchange, were downloaded by more than 100,000 individuals who invested funds into the apps, saw returns, and could initially withdraw small amounts. However, they later encountered difficulties accessing their balances.
Google states it is the inaugural tech firm to take a stand against scammers and seeks to establish a legal precedent. The lawsuit asserts that the defendants purportedly made numerous false statements to Google to upload their deceitful apps to Google Play, including misrepresentations about their identity, location, and the category and features of the application being uploaded.
Shown below is an illustration of a hoax crypto app listing (Apple Store)
Google is pursuing charges under the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) Act, along with breaching contracts against the syndicate that, as per Google, published no less than 87 crypto scam apps on Google Play.
The individuals accused are Yunfeng Sun, also known as Alphonse Sun, and Hongnam Cheung, known as Zhang Hongnim or Stanford Fischer. Google claims they enticed users to download the apps via campaigns conducted through text messages on Google Voice, videos on YouTube, and affiliate marketing programs.
It is uncertain whether Google will secure penalties against the persons involved. Presently, there is no mutual legal enforcement arrangement between the U.S. and China, which implies that even if the lawsuit succeeds, Chinese authorities will not be obliged to implement it within their jurisdiction.
The renowned crypto exchange Crypto.com, with a user base exceeding 80 million globally, intends to extend its services to South Korea by the conclusion of the current month. As revealed by The Korea Economic Daily, Crypto.com is set to debut on April 29 initially offering coin-to-coin transactions and nonfungible tokens. In conjunction with the launch of the app and in compliance with regulations, Crypto.com alerted users of its acquired OK-BIT platform that services would be terminated once the Crypto.com app becomes operational.
The company’s ultimate aim is to broaden its reach to encompass the fiat Korean won to crypto market for users. Nevertheless, the country’s regulators are stringent in enforcing crypto laws. To operate fiat-to-crypto exchanges in Korea, an entity must onboard a local bank as a money transmitter partner, undergo routine financial audits, and adhere to all Know Your Customer and Anti-Money Laundering prerequisites.
Patrick Yoon, CEO of Crypto.com Korea, mentioned, “Our objective is to evaluate this and promptly support won-denominated transactions in accordance with the Virtual Asset User Protection Act scheduled to become effective in July.”
Hong Kong gaming conglomerate injects an extra $1 million into cryptocurrency
Boyaa Interactive, a Hong Kong-based gaming firm that previously pledged $200 million for crypto investments within a year, will collaborate with Pacific Waterdrip Digital Asset Fund SPC to invest $1 million in metaverse, nonfungible tokens, and blockchain infrastructure-related ventures.
The staff at Boyaa expressed on April 2, “The Board of Directors believes that this investment and collaboration will further advance the Group’s business expansion and footprint in the Web3 domain. It also signifies that the Group is delving deeper into the Web3 sector and plans to leverage the Group’s extensive experience gained in the internet gaming sector and the favorable opportunities arising from Hong Kong’s novel Web3 policies to foster a prominent listed Web3 entity.”
Waterdrip Investment, Boyaa’s partner in this initiative, is invested in over 150 Web3 initiatives, including entities such as Canadian licensed crypto exchange Virgoc, digital assets custodian Safeheron, and Bitcoin layer-2 solution Merlin Chain.
A depiction of an online casino affiliated with Boyaa Interactive.
Bitcoin layer 2 solution forges collaboration with Hong Kong-listed corporation
Sinohope, a crypto custodian organization listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange and founded by Jun Du, co-founder of Huobi, joined forces with Bitcoin layer 2 solution Merlin Chain on April 4 to enhance the security of Bitcoin scaling solutions.
Sinohope’s Bitcoin layer 2 co-management approach will facilitate multi-party shared custody for Bitcoin and BRC-20 tokens through its wallet-as-a-service (WaaS). Concurrently, Merlin Chain will assist Sinohope in linking Bitcoin and BRC-20 tokens to Sinohope’s WaaS and bolstering its fund safeguarding measures.
Developed by Bitcoin ecosystem expert Bitmap, Merlin Chain enables the exchange of Bitcoin, BRC-20, Ordinals, Atomicals, and BRC-420 metaverse assets between fungible and nonfungible tokens while also being Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM) compliant.
..
