Indonesian government will set up an official crypto exchange (1 minute read)

The Indonesian government plans to create a cryptocurrency exchange and will transfer crypto regulatory oversight from the country's Commodity Futures Trading Regulatory Agency to the Financial Services Authority over the next two years. While Indonesia has recognized cryptocurrency and digital assets as regulated financial securities, the central bank is also reportedly considering issuing a white paper on a CBDC. There were 16 million cryptocurrency investors in Indonesia in the first 11 months of 2022, with trading value shrinking to around IDR300tn ($19.2bn) during that period, compared to IDR859tn the previous year.

Binance enters Korean market, buys Gopax (5 minute read, Korean)

Binance is reportedly close to finalizing a deal to acquire Korean cryptocurrency exchange Gopax, in an effort to enter the Korean market. The acquisition will allow Binance to enter the Korean market by sidestepping regulatory barriers, which had previously blocked the company's direct entry. Binance will acquire a 41.2% stake in Gopax from CEO Lee Jun-haeng, the largest shareholder, though the exchange's management system will remain in place for the time being. Gopax is one of five major exchanges in Korea that allows users to buy and sell cryptocurrencies using Korean won.

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Turkish government launches digital identity application (2 minute read, Turkish)

Turkey has launched a blockchain-based digital identity application aimed at improving the security of E-Government systems. It is hoped the new application will enable users to access E-Government services more easily and will be able to store their digital information securely on their mobile phones. The new system will also enable users to make use of services such as e-appointments, inheritance announcements, and vehicle registration.

Binance partners with Ukrainian pharmacy chain to enable crypto payments (1 minute read)

ANC Pharmacy, one of the largest pharmacy chains in Ukraine, has partnered with Binance Ukraine to accept cryptocurrency payments through Binance Pay. The pharmacy chain, which operates over 1,000 pharmacies in the country, will initially offer the service in Kyiv. The move makes ANC the first pharmacy chain in Europe to accept cryptocurrency payments.

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•Ukrainian Investigators Raid $4m Crypto Exchange

Brazilian real estate tokenizer accelerates expansion after SEC go-ahead (3 minute read, Portuguese)

Ribus, a tokenizer and marketplace for the real estate sector, has received confirmation from Brazil's SEC that its native token, RIB, is a utility token and not a security. As a result, the token is not subject to capital and investment market regulatory oversight and can be freely listed on cryptocurrency platforms. Service providers, such as builders and brokers, will be able to receive RIB tokens as payment for their work, use them to purchase products and services on the platform, or convert them into other digital or fiat currencies.

Brazil's Financial Innovation Lab expands focus areas (3 minute read, Portuguese)

The Financial Innovation Laboratory (LAB) in Brazil has announced plans to expand its discussion on cryptocurrency and decentralized finance by adding two new focus areas: legal perspectives and issuers that involve tokenization. Two areas already being studied by LAB are market infrastructure and digital identity. The goal is to accelerate studies on crypto assets and decentralized finance (DeFi) in Brazil.

Want more Latin America and Caribbean news?
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•Federal Council of Real Estate Brokers authorizes the use of blockchain to register documents in the sector (Portuguese)
•Analysis of trends for the payment market in Brazil in 2023 (Spanish)
•How the new CVM regulation affects the Brazilian crypto market (Spanish)

Africa has the ability to leapfrog into DeFi (2 minute read)

African technology innovators present at the recent Africa Money & Defi Summit in Accra, Ghana believe that they are at the forefront of change on the continent. Sponsored by the International Trade Centre's NTF V Tech project, the summit saw fintech startups PayBox, Motito, Pal and Makewehelp exhibit alongside established firms such as MFS Africa and Paystack, and web3-focused businesses Revio and Mazzuma. David Boye-Doku, co-founder of the mobile cross-border payments startup, Paybox, believes that “Africa has the ability to leapfrog into decentralized finance (Defi) and smooth over the difficulties of cross-border finance through blockchain and web3. Decentralizing finance in Africa will give everyone access and the choice of alternative currencies; it offers financial and digital inclusion.”

South African hacker group exploits cloud computing free trials to mine cryptocurrencies (3 minute read)

A South African hacking group known as Automated Libra is behind a campaign dubbed PurpleUrchin that mass-exploited free trials for cloud computing resources to mine cryptocurrency, according to a report by Palo Alto Networks' Unit 42. Automated Libra created 22,380 GitHub accounts between September and November 2022, which could have resulted in more than $2m of unpaid bills, and also created 100,723 Heroku accounts between November 2021 and July 2022. Researchers identified over 40 individual crypto wallets and seven different cryptocurrency tokens mined and sold through the exchanges CRATEX ExchangeMarket, crex24, and Luno.

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