North Korea drives onchain malware surge, CoinEx shuts: Asia Express

North Korea and Iran account for the majority of onchain malware, while Malaysia has been named among the most crypto curious Islamic nations.

South Korea

South Korean police have referred 18 Polymarket users to prosecutors in an illegal gambling investigation that had identified 26 users in total by analyzing publicly available blockchain data. The users had collectively wagered about 17.6 billion won (worth $12.7 million) on Polymarket, which does not collect users' real names or verify identities. Authorities said that Polymarket transactions constitute illegal gambling under South Korea's Criminal Act because users stake assets on outcomes that cannot be predicted with certainty.

Hong Kong

After last week's controversy over a plan to hand over as much as 20% of its fully diluted shares to executives, Metaplanet has now slashed the Series 10 stock pool. Metaplanet will reduce the number of potential shares underlying the rights from 319.464 million to 188.19 million, and reset the conversion ratio to the level it was before its September 2025 international share offering. The change will extinguish more than $220 million in warrant value and increase the company's Bitcoin per fully diluted share by about 8.8%, according to Metaplanet.

The South China Morning Post says crypto industry insiders are urging Hong Kong policymakers to seize the opportunity opened up by the failure of the CLARITY vote in the US. The delay has given Hong Kong a "critical strategic window" said Allen Ding, director of Bitfire Research. Shawn Yan, founder of Cregis Technology said the city should focus on "building infrastructure that can operate across regulatory boundaries, rather than waiting for any single jurisdiction to define the market for everyone."

The Hong Kong-founded exchange said falling trading volumes and liquidity during the bear market, along with rising regulatory and compliance costs, was responsible for the decision to shutter the business. Withdrawals remain open until Dec. 22.

India

India's securities regulator and central bank have launched a tokenized corporate bond pilot, with three companies issuing a combined 10.25 billion rupees (about $107 million) through the new market infrastructure. The Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) said Demat 2.0 allows corporate bonds to be issued and held as digital tokens on a distributed ledger owned by the country's statutory depositories. The system connects to the Reserve Bank of India's (RBI) wholesale central bank digital currency (CBDC) through its Unified Market Interface.

India's Parliamentary Standing Committee on Finance has completed its hearings on cryptocurrency policy. The government will respond next week before the committee prepares and submits its report. India's Enforcement Directorate aims to finalize economic crime investigations within 18 months and is beefing up its ability to track crimes involving cryptocurrencies.

Vietnam

Bitcoin Suisse plans to shift up to half of its Swiss jobs to Bratislava and Vietnam. Founded in Zug in 2013, the company provides crypto trading, custody, staking and lending services. It will establish a new center in Vietnam to look after many of the back office and administrative roles. Vietnamese regulators are building a supervisory mechanism covering crypto asset service providers and investor transactions. It draws upon recommendations from the Financial Action Task Force (FATF). Binance, the world's largest exchange, has signed an agreement to help develop the Vietnam International Finance Center in Ho Chi Minh City.

Singapore

Singapore Exchange has become the first major Asian TradFi exchange to get approval from the Commodities Futures Trading Commission to provide Bitcoin and Ethereum perpetual futures to US institutions. A recent decision has provided a precedent for valuing crypto assets in claims that departs from the usual breach-date damage assessment principles according to law firm Reed Smith. "The court is unlikely to allow claimants to delay mitigation for years and then seek damages at a higher present-day market price," it noted.

Six Malaysian men were sentenced in Singapore to hefty sentences up to 12 years and 11 months -plus 24 strokes of the cane - over a 2024 armed robbery involving crypto, cash, and luxury items.

Thailand

Thailand's SEC has proposed new stablecoin regulations that would prohibit users from transferring more than 5 million baht per day, worth around $151,000.

Malaysia

According to Fitch Ratings Malaysia is one of the most crypto curious Muslim majority nations, with the local Securities Commission declaring Bitcoin, Ethereum, Ripple, and Stellar sharia-compliant.