Category: Technology

Tiger Brokers (Singapore) Receive Approvals from SGX as Depository Agent, Clearing and Trading Member for Investor Trades

Offering a more simple, reliable and efficient process between investors and the SGX

Xiaomi-backed online brokerage Tiger Brokers (Singapore) Pte. Ltd. is pleased to confirm that it has received official approval as Clearing Member and Depository Agent of the The Central Depository (Pte) Limited (CDP) and Trading Member of the Singapore Exchange Securities Trading Limited (SGX-ST) and Singapore Exchange Derivatives Trading Limited (SGX-DT), from the Singapore Exchange Ltd (SGX).

Eng Thiam Choon, CEO of Tiger Brokers (Singapore) commented, “Tiger Brokers has always focused on bringing a superior and seamless user experience to investors. Our status as a Clearing Member of SGX’s CDP will strengthen our presence amongst Singaporean investors and financial institutions as a recognised and credible regulated online brokerage, while providing the added security and efficiency that could possibly reduce the cost and risk of settling multiple transactions among multiple parties. This will also allow us to focus on Gen Z investors and beyond, trading and investing as part of their wealth management, while gaining a higher level of trust with institutional partners to onboard our B2B platform.”

Pol de Win, Senior Managing Director, Head of Global Sales and Origination at SGX said, “Tiger Brokers has been a partner of SGX for a number of years now and we are delighted to be deepening our partnership with them. Tiger Brokers offers fast, efficient and competitive trading solutions for customers worldwide. As the first online brokerage with SGX memberships across securities trading and clearing, securities depository and derivatives trading, Tiger Brokers will enjoy even greater access to SGX’s range of investment and risk management solutions as well as a wider pool of international investors.”

On top of the Singapore Exchange, Tiger Brokers offers its investors access to five other different stock exchanges such as the New York Stock Exchange, NASDAQ, Shanghai/Shenzhen-Hong Kong Stock Connect, Hong Kong Exchange, and the Australian Securities Exchange. This membership with SGX marks one of the latest in a series of continued enhancements to Tiger Trade’s user experience when it comes to investing.

Tiger Brokers (Singapore)’s parent company, UP Fintech Holding Limited (NASDAQ: TIGR) or Tiger Brokers (including all of its subsidiaries and consolidated entities), recently shared their unaudited financial results for Q2 2021. The Company saw a total revenue at US$60.2 million, a 98.7 per cent increase as compared to the same quarter in 2020 and has 1.65 million customer accounts as per Q2 2021. The total trading volume has also increased by 118.2 per cent at US$102 billion compared to US$46.8 billion same time last year. The number of funded accounts has also increased by 215.2% to 529.1K on a year-on-year (y-o-y) basis across the globe.

Tiger Brokers (Singapore) said in earlier September 2021 that it hit a significant milestone as the number of account openings represented by Generation Z[1] (Gen Z) saw an increase of over 90 per cent as compared to Q2 last year. As of August 2021, Singapore contributes to around 40 per cent of the Group’s international funded accounts beyond China.

Earlier this year, Tiger Brokers (Singapore) joined the Securities Association of Singapore (SAS) as a Member. The membership allows them the opportunity to join other retail broking houses and institutional stockbrokers to discuss key issues concerning the industry and present collective views and proposals to regulators and authorities on a common platform. This is part of Tiger Brokers’ continuous effort to keep itself up to date on investor education in the securities and investment space, and to uplift the high industry standards through public education on the awareness towards investment products and risks involved.

Tiger Brokers (Singapore) is also proud to be a Silver Sponsor for the upcoming Singapore FinTech Festival (“SFF”) in November 2021. Tiger Brokers will be conducting a workshop together with guest speakers from Marketnode and PhillipCapital. Nasdaq has also invited Tiger Brokers (Singapore) to participate in their flagship programme – TradeTalks, which will be running throughout the SFF week.

The Tiger Trade mobile application is available for download at the Apple App Store and Google Play Store.

[1] Ages 18 to 24 years old

About Tiger Brokers (Singapore) Pte Ltd.
Tiger Brokers (Singapore) Pte Ltd (“Tiger Brokers (Singapore)”) is a brokerage firm operating with a Capital Markets Services (CMS) Licence from the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS). Its trading platform, Tiger Trade – available on both online and mobile app (Apple App Store and Google Play Store) offers complimentary real-time stock quotes, dedicated multilingual customer service during trading hours and 24/7 finance news updates. Its online and mobile app trading platform, Tiger Trade, offers complimentary real-time stock quotes, dedicated multilingual customer service during trading hours and 24/7 finance news updates.

Through Tiger Trade, Tiger Brokers (Singapore) offers retail investors in Singapore access to six global exchanges in the US (NYSE, NASDAQ), China (Shanghai/Shenzhen-Hong Kong Stock Connect), Hong Kong (HKEX), Singapore (SGX) and Australia (ASX), with access to investment offerings such as Equities, Exchange-Traded Funds (ETFs), Futures, Stock Options, Warrants, Callable Bull/Bear Contracts (CBBCs), Daily Leveraged Certificates (DLCs), and US-listed over the counter (OTC) equities, and Fund Mall.

Tiger Brokers (Singapore) is the Singapore entity of UP Fintech Holding Limited (NASDAQ: TIGR), known as “Tiger Brokers” in Asia, a leading online brokerage firm focusing on global investors. Founded in 2014, Tiger Brokers became #1 in the U.S. equity trading by volume among trading platforms catered to Global Chinese investors in less than two years. Tiger Brokers was awarded “2017 Fintech 250” by CB Insights and shortlisted for “China Leading Fintech 50” for two years in a row by KPMG China. The company was listed on NASDAQ under “TIGR” in 2019 and has offices in China, United States, Australia, New Zealand and Singapore. Tiger Brokers has over 1.4 million customers worldwide currently, with a total trading volume exceeding USD123.8 billion in Q1 2021. The company is backed by well-known investors such as Xiaomi, as well as investment guru Jim Rogers. For more information, please visit https://www.tigerbrokers.com.sg

About UP Fintech Holding Limited
UP Fintech Holding Limited is a leading online brokerage firm focusing on global investors. The Company’s proprietary mobile and online trading platform enables investors to trade in equities and other financial instruments on multiple exchanges around the world. The Company offers innovative products and services as well as a superior user experience to customers through its “mobile first” strategy, which enables it to better serve and retain current customers as well as attract new ones. The Company offers customers comprehensive brokerage and value-added services, including trade order placement and execution, margin financing, IPO subscription, ESOP management, investor education, community discussion and customer support. The Company’s proprietary infrastructure and advanced technology are able to support trades across multiple currencies, multiple markets, multiple products, multiple execution venues and multiple clearing houses. For more information on the Company, please visit: https://ir.itiger.com.

For media enquiries, please contact:
PRecious Communications for Tiger Brokers (Singapore)
Email: Tiger@preciouscomms.com

This advertisement has not been reviewed by the Monetary Authority of Singapore.
Any views shared with Prospective Clients (“Prospects”) are suggestive in nature and on a sample basis only. This may also be predicated on assumptions that are made by Tiger Brokers (Singapore) Pte Ltd about the Prospects’ investment objectives and risk profile. Our suggestive and sample views extended to Prospects are not to be considered as recommendations made by the Company. Suggestions provided are also based on information that may be shared by the Prospects, the accuracy and comprehensiveness of which Tiger Brokers in not in a position to verify.

Tiger Brokers (Singapore) Pte Ltd (herein “Tiger Brokers”) may, to the extent permitted by law, participate or invest in other transactions with the issuer of the products referred to herein, perform services or solicit business from such issuers, and/or have a position or effect transactions in the securities or options thereof. The information herein is for recipient’s information only and not an offer to sell or a solicitation to buy. Any date or price information is indicative only and may be changed without prior notice. All opinions expressed and facts referred to herein are subject to change without notice. The information herein was obtained and derived from sources that we believe are reliable, but while reasonable care has been taken to ensure that stated facts are accurate and opinions are fair and reasonable, Tiger Brokers does not represent that it is accurate or complete and it should not be relied upon as such. The information expressed herein is current and does not constitute an offer, recommendation or solicitation, nor does it constitute any prediction of likely future stock performance. Investment involves risk. The price of investment instruments can and do fluctuate, and any individual instrument may experience upward or downward movements, and under certain circumstances may even become valueless. Past performance is not a guarantee of future results. In preparing this information, we did not take into account the investment objectives, financial situation or particular needs of any person or affiliated companies. Before making an investment decision, you should speak to a financial adviser to consider whether this information is appropriate to your needs, objectives and circumstances. Tiger Brokers assumes no fiduciary responsibility or liability for any consequences financial or otherwise arising from trading in securities if opinions and information in this document may be relied upon.

Hatten Land Forms Renewable Energy JV with Nestcon Berhad; Solar Panels at Melaka’s Largest Mall will provide Solar Power for Digital and Blockchain Activities

  • Joint venture will expand the Group’s business presence in renewable energy market to jointly secure, supply, construct, develop and manage solar panel facilities in Malaysia
  • In first project more than 6,000 solar panels, capable of generating 3.19MWp, will be installed on the roof of Melaka’s largest mall, Dataran Pahlawan Melaka Megamall, which is managed by Hatten Group conglomerate
  • JVC will enter into power purchase agreement with majority owner of the mall and manage rooftop project for 21 years
  • Hatten Land expects green energy generated from project will reduce approximately 72,248 tons of carbon dioxide over project lifespan, equivalent to planting more than 137,000 trees

Hatten Land Limited announced today it will form a joint-venture company (JV”) with Bursa-listed Nestcon Berhad (Nestcon) to pursue renewable energy activities including installing over 6,000 solar panels on the roof of Melaka’s largest mall.

SGX Catalist-listed Hatten Land (the Company, and together with its subsidiaries, the Group)’s wholly-owned subsidiary, Hatten Renewable Energy Sdn. Bhd. (Hatten Renewable Energy) has signed a joint-venture agreement (JVA) with Nestcon Sustainable Solutions Sdn. Bhd. (NSS), a wholly-owned subsidiary of Nestcon.

The JVA follows the Group’s announcement in September 2021 that it had formed a strategic partnership with Nestcon for solar energy activities. The JVA is part of a strategic pivot undertaken by Hatten Land to re-purpose its malls in Malaysia for digital and blockchain activities including cryptocurrency mining enabled by renewable energy.

The JVC’s first project is to develop a 3.19MWp solar photovoltaic plant and facility (“SPPF”) involving more than 6,000 solar panels to be installed on the rooftop of Dataran Pahlawan Melaka Megamall and to manage it for 21 years. The mall – the largest mall in the historical city – is managed by the Hatten Group conglomerate, which has a mall footprint with a combined floor area of more than six million square feet.

Upon completion of the project in 2022, the project will generate approximately 3,900 MWh per year, the equivalent of powering more than 1,100 three-room flats for an entire year. The green energy generated over the lifetime of the project will reduce approximately 72,248 tonnes of carbon dioxide, equivalent to planting more than 137,000 trees.

The Company and Nestcon will also collaborate with other potential partners to jointly secure, supply, construct and manage large-scale solar photovoltaic (“LSSPV”) facilities, targeting 100 MWp, in Malaysia.

Enhancing Synergies for Hatten Land’s “Green” Technology and Digital Initiatives

Aligning its business model with the growth trends of the digital economy, Hatten Land is re-purposing its malls in Melaka and has announced various plans that include the following:
– Installation and operation of 3,000 crypto mining rigs with two partners;
– Creating a ‘metaverse’ digital twin of historical Malaysian city and to develop a dedicated token system, create digital assets, including nonfungible tokens (“NFTs”); and
– Setting up a joint venture with Hydra X to develop and operate cryptocurrency exchanges focused on “green” and “clean” cryptocurrencies and tokens, which are believed to be the first such exchanges worldwide.

Adopting a sustainability approach for its technology and digital initiatives, the JVC will allow the Group to reduce Hatten Land’s net carbon footprint, enhance ‘green’ cryptocurrency mining capacity, lower energy costs and improve business synergies among its operations.

Significant Opportunities in Renewable Energy Market under the Reforms of Malaysia Electricity Supply Industry 2.0
Malaysia has an encouraging future in renewable energy adoption, complemented by a broadly attractive investment environment. Renewables currently contribute 23% to Malaysia’s energy mix, dominated by hydropower technologies.

Solar energy, supported by mechanisms to promote affordability, has by far the highest technical potential in Malaysia which allows installation of panels for self-consumption. Its Net Energy Metering Programme provides a pathway to self-generation with excess energy sold to the grid. The nation’s large-scale solar projects offer a successful pathway to utility-scale solar adoption.

Dato’ Colin Tan, Executive Chairman and Managing Director of Hatten Land, said: “The joint-venture marks a significant milestone in our strategic pivot. Apart from re-purposing our malls for digital economic activities, our sustainability efforts are being implemented amid increasing environmental concerns worldwide. This joint venture with Nestcon will create new business opportunities and synergies towards the emerging ESG trends.”

Datuk Ir. Dr. Lim Jee Gin, Group Managing Director of Nestcon, said: “The joint venture with Hatten Land marks a promising enhancement of the expansion of our building and infrastructure construction business into the renewable energy segment. This joint initiative will generate sustainable revenue to our group while reducing carbon emissions by generating electricity through a greener method.”

Note: This media release is to be read in conjunction with the SGX announcement released on the same date.

About Hatten Land Limited
Hatten Land Limited is one of the leading property developers in Malaysia specialising in integrated residential, hotel and commercial developments. Headquartered in Melaka, it is the property development arm of the conglomerate Hatten Group, which is a leading brand in Malaysia with core businesses in property development, property investment, hospitality, retail and education.

Hatten Land Limited began trading on the Catalist board of SGX-ST on 28 February 2017 after the completion of the reverse takeover of VGO Corporation Limited. For more information, visit: www.hattenland.com.sg.

For Hatten Land share information, please refer to SGX: PH0; RIC: HATT.
For Nestcon Berhad share Information, please refer to KLSE: 0235; RIC: NESTCON.

Issued on behalf of Hatten Land Limited by WeR1 Consultants Pte Ltd.
Media & Investor Contacts:
Mr Isaac Tang
Mobile: +65 9178 0269
Email: hatten@wer1.net

Registration Open for Electric Vehicles & the Grid Online Workshop

Infocus International Group, a global business intelligence provider of strategic information and professional services, has launched the Electric Vehicles (EVs) & the Grid online workshop which will be commencing live on 22 February 2022.

Even without the rapid growth of EVs, our current power systems are in the midst of a disruptive transition towards cleaner, diversified and more flexible structures. If a transition from internal combustion engines (ICE) to EVs is to be achieved, what will be the impact on these systems? What are the barriers to scale and which solutions (and hence market opportunities) will be essential?

This training course is designed for investors, developers and policymakers to assess new market opportunities and risks during the integration of growing fleets of electric vehicles into transitioning electricity systems. It provides a comprehensive introduction to the multi-sector issues that must be understood and integrated, plus the competitive battles ahead, including: technology status and trends, management of electricity demand & supply, charging network players and competitors, consumer behaviour influences.

Vice President of Statkraft Development AS shared, “This was one of my best spent weeks on training all year! I found him very knowledgeable and enthusiastic in presenting the material, also enabling knowledge exchange between participants in the group. Thanks.”

“He is a professional trainer with excellent presentation skills. He is able to make simple presentations of complex issues and has a very good knowledge of renewable energy matters. I highly recommend him as a trainer!,” said the Director of IDETA.

Check out the essential guide to opportunity and risk within emerging EV charging value chains at www.infocusinternational.com/ev.

Course Sessions

– The EV market and its bulk impact on electricity systems
– Charging challenges, smart charging and EVs as grid assets
– Value chain convergence and technology disruption

Benefits of Attending

– Quantify the variables which will determine the impact of EVs on electricity supply
– Identify the key barriers to widespread EV integration and growth, from a power system perspective
– Assess where and how EVs can help the grid, through smart charging and Vehicle-to-Grid (V2G) solutions
– Get up-to-date on the most significant value chain activities and pilot study findings
– Analyse and segment the competitive landscape for EV charging
– Understand and discuss which future technologies, behavioural trends and policy influences will be crucial to creating long-term, sustainable business models

Want to learn more?

Simply email emilia[at]infocusevent.com or call +65 6325 0210 to obtain your FREE COPY of the event brochure. For more information, please visit https://www.infocusinternational.com/ev.

About Infocus International Group

Infocus International is a global business intelligence provider of strategic information and professional services for diverse business communities.

Infocus International recognises clients’ needs and responds with innovative and result oriented programmes. All products are founded on high value content in diverse subject areas, and the highest level of quality is ensured through intensive and in-depth market research from local and international insights.

Emilia Mok
Tel: +65 6325 0210 | Email: emilia@infocusevent.com | Website: www.infocusinternational.com

The VetCoin Foundation Announces the Sale of VetCoin for November 11, 2021

The VetCoin Foundation announced today the public sale of VetCoin, a new cryptocurrency designed by veterans to harness the power of cryptocurrency to connect, enable, and transform veteran communities. According to Aaron Bazin, president of the VetCoin Foundation, “The idea of VetCoin is a simple, we want to harness the power of the blockchain to give back to our service members and their families. The community is already there all we have to do is bring it onto the blockchain and enable them to use VetCoin in their everyday lives.” The foundation for the use case of VetCoin, is its smartphone app that is designed to bring the Veteran community and their families onto the blockchain in a simple, easy-to-understand way. Once on the app, veterans will be able to connect veterans to each other, veteran services, and retailers that offer military discounts. In addition to creating new access to blockchain for over 20 million U.S. Veterans, VetCoin seeks to transform the lives of veterans worldwide.

Why VetCoin?

Throughout history, as people went off to war, they returned changed, often not for the better. All things considered, it is a tragedy that today, when a service member takes off the uniform, they face life challenges that range from difficulty transition to civilian life to homelessness and mental health issues. Every year on Veteran’s Day, VetCoin will recognize the most innovative Veteran’s Charity in America with the “Burell Award for Outstanding Support to the Veteran Community.” As users buy, sell, and trade VetCoin, a small percentage also goes into a fully transparent donation wallet. The community of VetCoin holders vote on how these funds are distributed to make sure VetCoin reinforces success in the network of charities and organizations that help veterans and their families.

How VetCoin Works

VetCoin is an ERC-1155 token on the secure Polygon blockchain which uses a proof-of-stake mechanism to ensure security and transparency as a layer 2 solution to help scale the Ethereum
network. VetCoin offers deflationary tokenomics, static rewards, and automatic liquidity. It also funds the community donation wallet. With this design, VetCoin users will pay only low gas fees, allowing them to use VetCoin in their everyday lives and access special discounts with major retailers and veteran-owned businesses.

A Grass-Roots Community Driven Project

VetCoin is not just for veterans it is for anyone that wants to support veteran communities. For more information about the VetCoin Foundation and the VetCoin sale, please visit https://vetcoinhq.com

Forward-looking statements:

Except for statements of historical fact, the matters discussed in this press release are forward-looking and made pursuant to the Safe Harbor provisions. ?Forward-looking statements? describe future expectations, plans, results, or strategies, and are generally preceded by words such as ?future?, ?plan? or ?planned?, ?expects,? or ?projected.? These forward-looking statements reflect numerous assumptions and involve a variety of risks and uncertainties, many of which are beyond the company?s control that may cause actual results to differ materially from stated expectations. These risk factors include, among others, limited operating history, difficulty in developing and marketing products, intense competition, and additional risk factors.

#vetcoin #veterans #veteransday #veteranshelpingveterans #veteranssupportingveterans #crypto #cryptocurrency #cryptotrading #cryptonews #usa #usa #usarmy #usarmysoldier #usarmyrangers #usarmyveteran #instagram #life #blockchain #blockchainnews #entrepreneur #entrepreneurs #entrepreneurship #bitcoin #ethereum #startup #startupbusiness #1111 #nft #polygon #opensea #usnavy #usairforce #uscoastguard #usspaceforce #usmarines

Source: Plato Data Intelligence

Blockpass Completes Integration with Polygon, Enhancing Cross-Chain KYC Offering

Blockpass is proud to announce its recent integration with Polygon, the interoperability and scalability solution. Blockpass will provide essential KYC services for the Polygon protocol and framework as it is used to build and connect Ethereum-compatible blockchain networks. As part of this integration, the Blockpass Mobile App has already been updated to support Polygon crypto addresses.

Polygon has progressed rapidly in its mission to solve major blockchain issues and pain points like high gas fees and slow speeds, without sacrificing on security. Polygon combines Ethereum and sovereign blockchains into a full-fledged multi-chain system which allows developers to rapidly scale decentralized apps, with more than 3000 DApps having already benefited from its solution. Polygon prides itself on its security, power and openness, all in addition to being fully compatible with Ethereum’s network effects.

Blockpass is a digital identity verification provider which provides a one-click compliance gateway to financial services and other regulated industries. Through Blockpass, users can create, store, and manage a data-secure digital identity that can be used for an entire ecosystem of services, token purchases and access to regulated industries. For businesses and merchants, Blockpass is a comprehensive KYC & AML SaaS that requires no integration and no setup cost. You can set up a service in minutes, test the service for free and start verifying and on-boarding users. Currently with more than 160,000 verified user identity profiles, Blockpass facilitates instant onboarding, and to date almost 5000 services have taken advantage of this opportunity to get access to users with reusable digital identity profiles.

“We’re excited to see how Polygon has developed into something so amazing, particularly over the past year.” said Adam Vaziri, Blockpass CEO. “Removing the pain points in blockchain technology is essential for its continued growth, and working with the great team at Polygon to do it in a secure and compliant manner – without putting any undue burden on users and developers – is an honor.”

Blockpass has grown significantly in size and use since its inception, both in the number and range of users and organizations it has partnered with and the scope of its work. Blockpass continues to develop its digital identity protocol with updates and additions to improve the compliance experience. The existential need for DeFi projects to be regulatory compliant and the recent integrations have led to a surge in interest for Blockpass’ On-chain KYC(TM) solution which promises to change the way blockchains enable compliance. Through its recent work with Animoca Brands, Blockpass is developing the ability to provide KYC where the delivery of the verification result is provably sent and shown on a blockchain without sharing the underlying data. This represents a significant step towards the future Blockpass hopes to bring about where identity verification can be proved without revealing any personal information at all.

About Blockpass
Blockpass, the pioneer of On-chain KYC(TM), is a fast, fully comprehensive KYC & AML screening software-as-a-service for blockchains, Crypto, Defi and other regulated industries. With Blockpass, you get an unmatched set of benefits for any compliance service that includes pay-as-you-go, no setup cost, no integration necessary, free testing, immediate launch and at the lowest cost. Blockpass’ KYC Connect(TM) platform enables businesses to select requirements for customer onboarding that can include ID authentication, face-matching, address checking, AML ongoing monitoring and/or screening of sanctions lists, politically exposed persons (PEP), and adverse media. Through Blockpass, end-users easily create a verified portable identity that they can control and re-use to onboard with any service instantly. By integrating with Chainlink Network – a decentralized oracle solution – in early January, Blockpass introduced the first On-chain KYC(TM) solution that will service many blockchains in the years to come. The Blockpass App is available from the App Store and Google Play.

For more information and updates, please visit and sign up to the following:
Promotional video: https://youtu.be/SvO2cw3e-SI
Website: http://www.blockpass.org
Email: sales@blockpass.org

About Polygon
Polygon is the leading platform for Ethereum scaling and infrastructure development. Its growing suite of products offers developers easy access to all major scaling and infrastructure solutions: L2 solutions (ZK Rollups and Optimistic Rollups), sidechains, hybrid solutions, stand-alone and enterprise chains, data availability solutions, and more. Polygon’s scaling solutions have seen widespread adoption with 3000+ applications hosted, ~600M total transactions processed, ~60M unique user addresses, and $5B+ in assets secured.

If you’re an Ethereum Developer, you’re already a Polygon developer! Leverage Polygon’s fast and secure txns for your Dapp, get started here.

Website: https://polygon.technology/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/0xPolygon
Telegram: https://t.me/polygonofficial

Santa Casa da Misericordia de Lisboa Embraces Digital Art and NFTs With the Launch of Artentik

Santa Casa da Misericordia de Lisboa (“SCML”), Portugal’s 500-year-old social enterprise organisation and keeper of the Museum and Church of Sao Roque in Lisbon that houses one of the most important religious collections in Catholic Europe, announced today its entry into the digital world of NFTs or non-fungible tokens with the launch of Artentik, its brand and marketplace for NFTs.

In much the same way as William Caxton’s printing press opened the door to a broader appreciation of books in the 15th century, so NFTs have created a way for museums and art galleries to share their beautiful and priceless artworks and artefacts with a global audience.

Artentik will be SCML’s curated platform to share digital twins of its treasures and encourage living artists to also sell their works as NFTs. This will enable SCML to monetize and promote its unique cultural heritage to the world while continuing its extensive 500-year support to social causes.

The first NFT drop will take place in December and is drawn from SCML’s sacred art collection, one of the finest in the world.

In the first drop, Artentik will present a set of 13 assets in three art categories – Painting, Relics and Artefacts – about St. Francis Xavier, Christmas and the Nativity. They are unique pieces of an immeasurable richness and symbolism.

Future drops will be drawn from SCML’s expansive collection of art, relics, reliquaries, sculptures, music and new artists.

“In Lisbon, SCML enjoys a warm relationship with residents and visitors to the museum and church and the presentation of these NFTs will extend that relationship globally, and to new generations,” says Edmundo Martinho, President of SCML.

“There is 500 years’ worth of priceless treasures from baroque art to graffiti art that will be shared with lovers of art, antiquities and religious history. By creating a digital window, Artentik, people can view the unique cultural assets, own a digital replica of them through NFTs, and know that the proceeds will be used for social enterprise activities. This is a cultural democratisation of museums,” he added.

Artentik, www.artentik.com, is built on Polygon Layer 2 Ethereum blockchain offering faster transaction speeds, Proof of Stake leading to minimum environmental impact, and reliability. Payment for NFTs will only be accepted in cryptocurrency. Artentik is a joint venture with Boloro Global Limited, a New York City based technology company.

About SCML

SCML is a not-for-profit organisation overseen by the Portuguese Minister in charge of Social Security. Since its founding in 1498, SCML has focused on social enterprise works, and since 1783 it has held the right to operate lotteries to fund health and social initiatives. These now include various national lotteries, the Euromillions lottery and online gaming. Revenues earned from this activity are put back into society through social enterprise programmes.

Since the start of the 21st century, SCML has focused on expanding its social enterprise work to a broader segment of the population. SCML operates hospitals, invests heavily into scientific and medical research in neuroscience, funds education and training programmes, aggregates social entrepreneurship activities, runs a free paediatric dentistry service, works with other bodies to focus on the care of the 65+ population, and during the COVID-19 pandemic helped the elderly in social isolation as well as setting up a free online psychological support platform.

Over the centuries SCML has accumulated a vast artistic and cultural collection, including the Museum and Church of Sao Roque.

About Boloro

Boloro Global Limited (BGL) is a New York City headquartered technology company, specializing in proprietary platforms for non-fungible tokens (NFTs), e-commerce based lotteries and gaming, as well as unique multi-factor and multi-channel authentication that is patented in 84 countries. BGL is a member of the Vatican Council for Inclusive Capitalism as well as telecom and other industry associations. Please see www.Boloro.com for more information.

Tracer and Verofax usher Food Traceability and Sustainability in UAE with Blockchain-based Management Platform

Tracer Tech, headquartered in Sharjah Research Technology and Innovation Park (SRTIP), UAE, is set to launch its new food safety and traceability application, powered by leading asset management provider Verofax.

Tracer’s food safety solution enables CPGs (consumer packaged goods) and retailers to engage with consumers directly by making products that are digitally enabled and verifiable. Built on top of Verofax’s blockchain-based traceability platform, the Tracer App empowers consumers to choose food items based on their personal preferences such as freshness, sustainability and ethical sourcing, in a differentiated interface that drives satisfaction and loyalty. 70% of shoppers value traceability according to a recent survey, and are willing to pay a premium for brands that offer such functionality.

Capitalizing on a fast-growing fine food market that’s expected to hit $160+ bn this year, Tracer is also launching its own fine-food marketplace with traceability as a cornerstone of the offering. Traceability offers granular visibility and analytics to allow Tracer marketplace to optimize operations, storage conditions, and logistics to prevent wastage of high-value food items imported from around the world, reducing negative footprint resulting from wasted and expired products throughout the production to consumption cycle. The Tracer marketplace also ensures authentic and certified food items with traceability from source and condition of storage in transit, to be checked on Blockchain records before purchase.

Khalid Roumieh, Co-founder and CEO of Tracer, concurred on the univocal demand for traceability solutions saying “Traceability plays a key role in meeting changing shopper needs, advanced product marketing and access to affluent consumers. However, much of the ecosystem stood fragmented until now, as retailers did not have access to immutable data records on a single repository empowering retail and consumers with access to check before they buy. Traceability is accelerating fast with digital technology providers, CPG brands and retailers teaming together to facilitate omni-channel experiences based on consumer data analytics.”

Tracer had partnered with PLM, a retail specialist in the Middle East, to create a retail studio environment, which is showcasing what the future beholds for the retail industry. Mr. Roumieh further remarked, “Verofax solutions on Blockchain hosted on Azure, SAP and AWS offers our clients complete data security and automation of operations to increase operational efficiency.”

“Verofax is one of the first blockchain-based traceability platforms in the region, helping brands to turn their products digitally-enabled and engage directly with customers to boost loyalty. Validated certificates and product tracing will accelerate brand growth and create opportunities through direct marketing and channel transparency,” said Wassim Merheby, CEO at Verofax.

Verofax is supported by leading technology platforms. In partnership with Verofax, Tracer is helping the industry realize a new vision of a digital and verifiable food marketplace built on Blockchain, empowering customers with validation.

About TRACER
TRACER is a start-up with a mission to provide solutions that improve processes and deliver growth. Beyond food and retail-tech solutions, TRACER provides cold-chain solutions for logistics providers, and offers its own fine food marketplace. Visit www.tech-tracer.com or contact them on sales@tech-tracer.com.

About Verofax
Verofax is a Digital Asset Management solution provider, validated and available across Europe, Asia and the Middle East over multiple cloud environments, helping businesses achieve sustainable supply chains, one-to-one engagement with customers, and complete traceability across operations. Verofax is partnered with Microsoft Azure, AWS and SAP. Visit www.verofax.com or email info@verofax.com.

NextPlay Announces a Request for Proposals for Its Upcoming Suite of Stable Coins

NextPlay Technologies, Inc. (Nasdaq: NXTP), a digital business ecosystem for digital advertisers, consumers, video gamers and travelers, announces it is seeking partners to power a suite of digital stable coins. NextPlay’s suite of coins will be built on top of recently acquired enabling technologies from Token IQ Inc. and enabled by NextPlay’s Longroot and NextBank units.

The suite of coins will cover a broad array of assets including various fiat currencies across a group of crypto chains with the goal of maximizing both the fiat and digital currency interoperability. With this goal in mind NextPlay is soliciting information from technology, banking, exchange, and digital chain partners.

“We are seeking partnership with technology minded financial institutions and compliance minded crypto infrastructure providers throughout the world with a particular focus on Southeast Asia and Africa,” said Mark Vange, NextPlay CTO.

Initial use-cases for the stable coin span the breadth of NextPlay’s operations including video game currency, in-game advertising, travel and travel-related offers as well as banking, investment and payments. Once established, the coin suite will be offered to the general public and to partner exchanges.

“With our unique blend of licensed and compliant operations in various realms of finance, and a team with rich experience in both digital currency and games, we look forward to enabling in-app rewards, advertising as well as Non-Fungible Token based games by establishing easy on- and off-ramps for the general public,” said Nithinan (Jessie) Boonyawattanapisut, co-CEO.

To contact the coin team and schedule a preliminary call please contact inforequest@nextplaytechnologies.com.

About NextPlay Technologies
NextPlay Technologies, Inc. (Nasdaq: NXTP) is a technology solutions company offering games, in-game advertising, crypto-banking, connected TV and travel booking services to consumers and corporations within a growing worldwide digital ecosystem. NextPlay’s engaging products and services utilize innovative AdTech, Artificial Intelligence and Fintech solutions to leverage the strengths and channels of our existing and acquired technologies. For more information about NextPlay Technologies, visit nextplaytechnologies.com and follow us on Twitter @NextPlayTech and LinkedIn.

Forward-Looking Statements
This press release includes “forward-looking statements” within the meaning of, and within the safe harbor provided by the Safe Harbor Provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended. Forward-looking statements give our current expectations, opinions, beliefs or forecasts of future events and performance. A statement identified by the use of forward-looking words including “will,” “may,” “expects,” “projects,” “anticipates,” “plans,” “believes,” “estimate,” “should,” and certain of the other foregoing statements may be deemed forward-looking statements. Although the Company believes that the expectations reflected in such forward-looking statements are reasonable, these statements involve risks and uncertainties that may cause actual future activities and results to be materially different from those suggested or described in this news release. Factors that may cause such a difference include risks and uncertainties related to our need for additional capital which may not be available on commercially acceptable terms, if at all, which raises questions about our ability to continue as a going concern; the fact that the COVID-19 pandemic has had, and is expected to continue to have, a significant material adverse impact on the travel industry and our business, operating results and liquidity; amounts owed to us by third parties which may not be paid timely, if at all; certain amounts we owe under outstanding indebtedness which are secured by substantially all of our assets and penalties we may incur in connection therewith; the fact that we have significant indebtedness, which could adversely affect our business and financial condition; uncertainty and illiquidity in credit and capital markets which may impair our ability to obtain credit and financing on acceptable terms and may adversely affect the financial strength of our business partners; the officers and directors of the Company have the ability to exercise significant influence and voting control over the Company; stockholders may be diluted significantly through our efforts to obtain financing, satisfy obligations and complete acquisitions through the issuance of additional shares of our common or preferred stock; if we are unable to adapt to changes in technology, our business could be harmed; our travel business depends substantially on property owners and managers renewing their listings; if we do not adequately protect our intellectual property, our ability to compete could be impaired; our long-term success depends, in part, on our ability to expand our property owner, manager and traveler bases outside of the United States and, as a result, our business is susceptible to risks associated with international operations; unfavorable changes in, or interpretations of, government regulations or taxation of the evolving ALR, Internet and e-commerce industries which could harm our operating results; risks associated with the operations of, the business of, and the regulation of our recent acquisitions of Longroot Holding (Thailand) Company Limited (Longroot), HotPlay Enterprise Limited (HotPlay) and NextBank International (formerly IFEB); the market in which we participate being highly competitive, and because of that we may be unable to compete successfully with our current or future competitors; our potential inability to adapt to changes in technology, which could harm our business; the volatility of our stock price; risks associated with the integration of the operations of HotPlay, Longroot and IFEB, which acquisitions we recently competed; the fact that we may be subject to liability for the activities of our property owners and managers, which could harm our reputation and increase our operating costs; and that we have incurred significant losses to date and require additional capital which may not be available on commercially acceptable terms, if at all. More information about the risks and uncertainties faced by NextPlay are detailed from time to time in NextPlay’s periodic reports filed with the SEC, including its most recent Annual Report on Form 10-K and Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q, under the headings “Risk Factors”. These reports are available at www.sec.gov. Other unknown or unpredictable factors also could have material adverse effects on the Company’s future results and/or could cause our actual results and financial condition to differ materially from those indicated in the forward-looking statements. Investors are cautioned that any forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance and actual results or developments may differ materially from those projected. The forward-looking statements in this press release are made only as of the date hereof. The Company takes no obligation to update or correct its own forward-looking statements, except as required by law, or those prepared by third parties that are not paid for by the Company. If we update one or more forward-looking statements, no inference should be drawn that we will make additional updates with respect to those or other forward-looking statements.

SOURCE: NextPlay Technologies, Inc

Company Contact:
NextPlay Technologies
Richard Marshall
Director of Corporate Development
Tel (954) 888-9779
Richard.Marshall@NextPlayTechnologies.com

Phemex Pushes the Great Potential of Metaverse at World Blockchain Summit – Dubai

Phemex took part in the World Blockchain Summit in Dubai, UAE, on October 13-14. This event was attended by more than 1,500 experts from the world of blockchain, which made it especially memorable.

At this event, participants were able to:
– Establish cooperation with the largest crypto and blockchain companies;
– Meet like-minded people, opinion leaders and leading investors;
– Improve their skills and learn about innovations.

At the meeting, Phemex CEO Jack Tao gave a presentation. He said that the current banking system is unequal and more friendly to richer players.

Having over a decade of wall street experience, he believed that users needed a more secure and stable platform for crypto trading. So in 2019, he and his Morgan Stanley colleagues launched their own platform – Phemex. At the moment, the company is in the top-10 of the world’s largest crypto exchanges for derivatives trading. It provides a secure, user-friendly interface and rock-bottom transaction fees for a variety of popular crypto pairs.

Jack Tao’s report on the World Blockchain Summit

Jack Tao shared his thoughts on the explosive trend in the crypto world – the Metaverse. The crypto space is changing and developing every day, and the Metaverse has caused stirred discussion among industry insiders.

Jack sees great potential in the concept. The Metaverse has gained its wide popularity thanks to growing global interest in cryptocurrency.

Jack noted: “The Metaverse represents a new way of interacting with the digital world, even more exciting and disruptive than our current Internet. No one knows exactly what it will look like, but that’s how it’s meant to be. You see, the Metaverse is meant to be created by each participant, not by a central authority.”

In his opinion the main driver for the development of this trend are NFTs (non-fungible tokens), which have also grown significantly.

Jack mentioned: “This year, we have witnessed massive growth, decline and a new rise in the NFT market. An eloquent sign that NFTs will stay here forever is not that several NFTs have been sold for millions of dollars but that tens of thousands of NFTs have been sold for modest amounts. This demonstrates that digital collectables are not only the playground of crypto-whales; they are spreading in the direction of mass distribution.”

Phemex predicts that in the long term, the digital sphere will offer a wide range of opportunities: “Powerful companies outside the crypto industry, such as Facebook and Epic Games, have begun to invest heavily in virtual reality, cloud games and other elements related to the Metaverse.”

Phemex supports the Metaverse

Phemex is primarily a cryptocurrency exchange that provides extensive opportunities to its users. Nevertheless, the company continues to develop and establish contacts related to the Metaverse.

In March this year, Phemex organized a major event dedicated to NFT. The result was the community-driven creation of a composite mural displaying QR codes of all participants for their Ethereum deposit addresses on Phemex. More than 1000 users were able to participate in this event. Later, after this NFT was registered and sold, the proceeds were distributed to each participant because the company takes care of its users.

Phemex is also responsible for listing coins related to the Metaverse on its platform. Among them are:

– AXS. This is the main management token for Axie Infinity. Right now, this project probably embodies GameFi more than any other.
– MANA is a native token of Decentralaland. In this game, participants can buy, own and manipulate NFTs representing digital real estate.

It is important to note that the company takes coin lists seriously in order to protect its customers from fraudulent protocols and assets.

Phemex is confident in the future of the GameFi model, and follows an approach that supports systematic development.

The company will continue to support the expansion of the Metaverse. Jack Tao stressed that “this is the most important gateway for newcomers to enter the crypto world.”

About World Blockchain Summit

World Blockchain Summit is a global series of elite gatherings that takes place in 16+ destinations across the world. It connects global blockchain gurus and technology players in this space including emerging startups – with regional businesses, government authorities, IT leaders, tech entrepreneurs, investors, and blockchain developers.

About Phemex

Phemex (phemex.com) is a Singapore-based cryptocurrency and derivatives trading platform founded in 2019 and led by former Morgan Stanley executives. Serving around 2 million active users in over 200 countries, Phemex supports 37+ trading pairs with up to 100x leverage. It was also the first major exchange to pioneer an optional premium membership model for zero spot trading fees.

For further details about Phemex, please contact:
Catherine Li
Events & Sponsorships
catherine.li@phemex.com

Study: More than half of the world’s population will use mobile wallets by 2025

The biggest report ever on the growth of mobile wallets projects that one in two people will use a mobile wallet by 2025. At the end of 2020, there were over 2.8 billion mobile wallets in use. That number is projected to increase by nearly 74% to reach 4.8 billion mobile wallets in use by the end of 2025 – nearly 60% of the world’s population. The fastest-growing markets are Southeast Asia, Latin America, and Africa & Middle East where mobile wallets are displacing cash and cards for more convenient digital payments.

Boku, a fintech pioneering the world’s first global mobile payments network, has released its 2021 Mobile Wallets Report in partnership with digital technology analyst house Juniper Research, which provides insight into mobile wallet adoption and use in leading markets across the globe. In 2019, mobile wallets overtook credit cards to become the most widely used payment type globally and the shift to online driven by the pandemic has accelerated adoption. Mobile wallets use is growing rapidly across the world with emerging markets leading the way.

Key findings

– Southeast Asia is the fastest-growing mobile wallet region
Mobile wallet use will grow by 311% between 2020-2025, reaching up 439.7 million wallets in use across Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam from 141.1 million in 2020. The rise in e-Commerce and the dominance of super-apps like Grab and Gojek, particularly in markets like the Philippines and Indonesia, is driving accelerated mobile wallet adoption.

– China reaches maturity but Japan, Korea and Taiwan set for hyper-growth
The Far East and China continue to be the largest mobile wallet region in the world with 1.34bn users in 2020. Market saturation is resulting in slowing growth in China with a CAGR of just 2.2% per year. Meanwhile, markets including Japan, Korea and Taiwan will continue to see accelerated adoption of mobile wallets with 98.4% market penetration by 2025.

– Africa & Middle East is the second biggest mobile wallet market
The second-biggest mobile wallet market is set to grow by 147% between 2020-2025. This is driven by expanded usage of mobile money services such as M-Pesa which are increasingly offering additional services such as access to eCommerce.

– Latin American growth is being supercharged by eCommerce
This region is set to increase mobile wallet use by 166% between 2020-2025. Long-held back by consumers’ preference for cash-based payments and comparatively lower smartphone penetration, this is fast-changing, and the region’s eCommerce growth is supercharging mobile wallet use.

– Slow growth in Western Europe and North America
With 65% growth in Western Europe and 50% in North America by 2025, these regions will see the least amount of mobile wallet growth in the next five years. However, markets such as the UK are seeing a rise in card-based mobile wallets due to the adoption of contactless spurred on by the pandemic and shift towards cashlessness.

“While mobile wallets are being used on a global basis, we see two distinct types being used today. One is card-based mobile wallets, like Apple Pay and Google Pay, which provide an easier way to pay with cards people already have. The other is stored value mobile wallets, like AliPay and GrabPay, that enable consumers to transact with digital cash and are popular in emerging markets with fast-growing e-Commerce sectors,” said Adam Lee, Chief Product Officer at Boku. “The markets that are set to grow the fastest are those with the lowest levels of card penetration, stored value wallets are thriving. In North America and Western Europe, which are dominated by card-based mobile wallets, we are seeing the slowest growth in mobile wallet adoption, as the technology provides merely incremental benefit.”

“We are seeing a clear bifurcation in the market between card-based mobile wallets in developed markets and stored value mobile wallets that are ubiquitous in Asia and rapidly growing in all emerging markets,” concluded Lee.

“Southeast Asia is one of the most rapidly digitalizing regions in the world. In 2020, the region added 400 million new internet users, with 70% of the region now online. Together with consumption trends brought about due to lockdowns during the pandemic, that has led to a familiarity with e-Commerce and an exponential rise in mobile wallet use,” said Loke Hwee Wong, Vice President and General Manager, APAC at Boku. “This is also because the region was heavily dependent on cash and bank transfer before mobile wallet use, and the convenience and accessibility, especially with stored value mobile wallets, will see Southeast Asia leapfrog the rest of the world in mobile payment adoption.”

The growth and bifurcation of mobile wallet use present both an opportunity and challenge for merchants. The number of mobile wallets transacting over $1 billion per year is set to grow by 27% from 54 wallets in 2020 to 69 wallets by 2025. This provides a lucrative opportunity for merchants looking to acquire valuable customers, many of whom only use mobile wallets. However, not only are consumers using mobile wallets more, they are using more mobile wallets. Consumers in high-growth markets such as India and Indonesia use an average of 2.74 wallets. This means that not only do merchants need to accept wallets but they need to ensure broad coverage across each target market.

“We are witnessing a paradigm shift in payments driven by mobile wallets. Mobile wallets have lowered the barrier to making digital payments and in parallel ushered billions of new consumers into eCommerce. These consumers are not in North America or Western Europe, they are in emerging markets, and while they don’t have credit cards, they overwhelmingly have mobile wallets,” said Jon Prideaux, CEO at Boku. “For global merchants, mobile payment acceptance is not about accepting one type of mobile wallet or another, but ensuring that consumers in every market will have the required selection on payment types in order to monetize transactions.”

To download the 2021 Mobile Wallets Report please visit our website. 

About Boku

Boku Inc. (AIM: BOKU) is a fintech pioneering the world’s first global, mobile payments network. With 45% of global consumers using mobile payment methods to buy goods online, compared to 18% using credit cards, the future of commerce is mobile-first. Boku’s technology platform helps the world’s most demanding merchants attract, convert, and retain customers using mobile payments. By turning payments infrastructure into a source of sustainable competitive advantage, Boku safely activates a range of new merchant business models – from bundling to subscriptions.

Boku’s platform is used in over 70 countries with more than a billion verified transactions in 2020, contributing $8.5 billion to the digital economy. Customers that trust Boku to simplify sign-up, acquire new paying users and prevent fraud include global leaders such as Apple, DAZN, Facebook, Google, Microsoft, Netflix, PayPal, Sony, Spotify and Tencent.

Boku Inc. was incorporated in 2008 and is headquartered in London, UK, with offices in Brazil, China, Estonia, France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Japan, Singapore, Spain, Taiwan, Vietnam, and the US. To learn more about Boku please visit our website. 

About Juniper Research

Juniper Research provides research and analytical services to the global hi-tech communications sector, providing consultancy, analyst reports and industry commentary.

Inquiries:
PRecious Communications for Boku, Inc.
Singapore/Asia Pacific: Clarence Lim, boku@preciouscomms.com

Boku in Asia

In Asia, Boku’s payment partners for Mobile Wallets include: AliPay, Dana, GCash, GoPay, GrabPay, KakaoPay, LINE Pay, Ovo, PayMaya, PayPay, Toss, Touch ‘n Go, Truemoney.

Boku also partners with payment partners to offer Direct Carrier Billing: AIS, BSNL, Celcom, Digi, dtac, Globe, Indosat Ooredoo, Jio, Korea Telecom, KDDI, LG U+, Maxis, M1, NTT Docomo, StarHub, Singtel, Softbank, SK Telecom, Smart, Smartfren, Tata Docomo, Telkomsel, Three, TrueMove, Vodafone, XL (amongst others).

Additional insights from the Mobile Payments Report 2021

Other insights from the Southeast Asian region include:
1. Indonesia represents one of the greatest opportunities for merchants accepting mobile payments: its mobile wallet penetration is at 25.6% in 2020, and set to triple to 76.5% by 2025. The report also expects that mobile wallet transactions will increase by volume to 16 billion transactions in 2025 (from 1.7 billion in 2020), and $107 billion in 2025 (from $28 billion in 2020) – the highest in the region.
2. Malaysia mobile payment adoption is behind other Southeast Asian countries currently, at a 31.7% penetration rate, but is poised for hyper-growth over the next five years to 93.9%.
3. Philippines has one of the lowest levels of mobile wallet penetration at 22.4% of the population, but expected to grow to 63.4% by 2025 with a mobile wallet transaction value of $63.4 billion by 2025 (from $15 billion in 2020).
4. Singapore is set to reach mobile wallet penetration of nearly 95% by 2025 from 30.4% in 2020 – the highest in the Southeast Asian region, and with mobile wallet transactions projected to increase by 11x (from 101 million transaction volume in 2020, to 1.1 billion in 2025).
5. Mobile wallet penetration in Thailand is at 21.4% in 2020 and set to grow to 63.4% in 2025. The country is also set to hit $36.7 billion in transaction value in 2020 (from $10.6 billion in 2020).
6. Vietnam is primed for massive mobile payments growth – with mobile wallet transaction growth of 7x expected to 5 billion by 2025 from 674 million in 2020, and a mobile wallet penetration rate of 55.5% in 2025 (from 19.7% in 2020).

As part of the Mobile Payments Report 2021, Boku also conducted an in-depth consumer survey of 1035 respondents in Indonesia, during May 2021, which showed that:
1. Consumers use an average of 3.2 wallets in use per respondent, one of the highest in the world after India. The top reason for using more than one type of mobile wallet included different wallets giving different benefits (63%).
2. Cash was the payment type that is most in use prior to mobile wallets (at 66%), followed by bank transfers (63%) and debit cards (44%), which can likely be attributed to the extremely low credit card penetration rate in Indonesia.