Hi fintech friends,
A lot has happened in the past two weeks. China cracked down on unlicensed cross-border trading platforms such as Futu, which might only be the start of tighter outbound capital controls. Meanwhile, Hong Kong continues to develop its virtual asset regulatory framework. Beyond the regulatory scene, major players like Airwallex and Alipay are pushing aggressively into new global payment infrastructure
Let’s dive in.
Licensing & Regulations
China’s securities regulator launched a two-year crackdown on unlicensed cross-border trading, targeting Futu, Tiger Brokers, and Longbridge. The firms face severe penalties, including $338 million (2.3B yuan) in proposed fines and asset confiscations. The move aims to curb massive capital flight, following a record $1 trillion outflow from China last year—the largest since 2006. Hong Kong regulators has since tightened the compliance over mainland’s investment accounts.
The Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) and the Securities and Futures Commission (SFC) have introduced a broad set of new requirements spanning virtual asset financing, custody arrangements, and stablecoin-related activities.
Hong Kong's Securities and Futures Commission (SFC) has granted the 13th virtual asset trading platform license to NewBX Limited, the entity behind crypto exchange Bixin.
LianLian DigiTech secured a payment services license from the Dubai Financial Services Authority (DFSA) to expand regulated cross-border business.
Product & Partnership Launches
Airwallex launched a new global billing platform to manage subscriptions, usage-based pricing, and cross-border invoicing (the company acquired San Francisco-based billing platform OpenPay last year).
PingPong Payments and Visa partnered to launch card-to-account payment solution for supplier invoices.
KASIKORNBANK (KBank) and PingPong Payments are teaming up to build and launch cross-border payment solutions.
Alipay rolled out a full-stack AI payment platform for enterprises and merchants, launching AI Wallet and Token Pay.
British digital bank iFAST Global Bank rolled out Worldwide Scan and Pay, powered by Alipay+.
Alipay+ is rolling out cross-border mobile payment services in Latin America by partnering with regional fintech company PVS.
Tencent’s TenPay is linking Paypal users to its merchant network.
ByteDance is developing its own custom CPUs to power its AI infrastructure and reduce reliance on expensive, supply‑constrained external chips.
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