China

Happy Year of Horse (TWIF - China, 2/26)

Hi fintech friends,

Happy Chinese New Year to you all! Even with the holiday festivities in full swing, things have certainly not been quiet in the world of Chinese fintechs.

Here is a roundup of the key developments you might have missed while celebrating.

Licensing & Regulations

The Hong Kong Securities and Futures Commission granted a virtual asset trading platform license to Victory Fintech (VDX), marking the first such approval since June of the previous year.
Hong Kong lawmaker proposed to issue the next round of stimulus funds in stablecoin-based vouchers.
Tether discontinued support for offshore Chinese Yuan stablecoin due to limited demand.
Binance denied reports that it fired internal investigators who discovered transactions linked to Iran.

Product & Partnership Launches

DBS Bank partnered with TenPay Global to launch a fee-free online remittance service, allowing Singapore customers to send money directly to Weixin Pay users in China via the DBS digibank app.
Ant International and CIMB Group entered a strategic partnership to enhance cross-border payment solutions and digital liquidity management for businesses in Malaysia and across the ASEAN region.
PingPong Payments became an official 3rd party merchant payment partner of Chewy, the largest pet retail platform in the US.
Ant Digital Technologies established a new regional hub in Malaysia for ZOLOZ, its AI-powered digital identity platform, to support fraud prevention and identity verification for Southeast Asian businesses.
WeChat is beta testing a few new features including sending red packets in close range without using data.
The San Francisco Giants signed a multi-year deal with Airwallex, naming the fintech firm its official jersey patch sponsor and financial software partner for corporate expense management.

Financing & Acquisition

Hong Kong-based stablecoin payments fintech RedotPay reportedly began exploring a U.S. initial public offering at a $4 billion valuation, working with major banks to target a $1 billion raise.

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