Crypto Finance announces New Office in Singapore

Crypto Finance has announced that it has opened a new representative office in Singapore.

The new Singaporean office will reportedly serve as the firm’s regional office, according to a discussion with Alisher Tashpulatov, the firm’s Head of Asia.

Tashpultov described the city as a regional leader from a per-capita GDP perspective, commenting on its openness to international business and innovation, as well as the complimentary nature of the Swiss and Singaporean business orientations.

“The two countries share a great rapport, and it is almost intuitive for us as a Swiss business to establish ourselves in a like-minded and innovative country like Singapore. Having spent years conquering new frontiers and climbing new peaks within the Swiss market, I am now happy to make a transition into a new, yet familiar, land,” Tashpultov said.

When asked about Crypto Finance’s interest in the region as a whole, Tashpultov noted that Asia held great potential, with the firm planning to launch best-fit models in regional business hubs in the future, though the firm’s operations in Singapore would be focussed on areas in which do not require regulatory supervision.

“Our research in various markets for receptiveness to blockchain technology and digital assets, as well as their status as financial services hubs that house banks, asset managers, family offices, and other professional investment services, identified Singapore, Hong Kong, and Japan as jurisdictions that we will focus on in the short and mid-term,” said Tashpultov.

On the decision of choosing Singapore as a regional hub, Tashpultov noted that the city-state’s FinTech festival left a very positive taste in the firm’s mouth, offering an opportunity to meet regional FinTech participants, offering an chance to grow Crypto Finance’s contacts in Asia.

Speaking more generally, Tashpultov noted a degree of emerging dichotomy between the evolution of the blockchain and digital asset space in Europe and Asia. “I still see a handful of differences between the ways our space is developing in Europe versus how it is developing in Asia. These differences arise because of Asia’s pole position with regard to emerging technologies, and the differences across Asian markets in regulatory oversight and acceptance of digital assets,” he reports.

“Unlike Europe, where businesses focus on integrating blockchain and digital assets as investment tools, the level of innovation and hands-on applications in Asia are nonpareil on a global level,” Tashpultov continued. He noted that conducting international business in Asia in becoming increasingly uncomplicated, with boundless scope to conduct productive conversations in Asia, as he would have in Europe, with people in both locals offering constructive discussions.

When contemplating the path ahead for the blockchain and digital asset space in Asia, Tashpultov was complimentary of the region’s high degree of technological expertise and adoption of solutions and products which incorporate digital assets or blockchain, adopting said solutions more efficiently so than elsewhere, he reports.

“With the topic of central bank digital currencies (CBDCs) present in several major jurisdictions, and a sophisticated financial technology infrastructure throughout the region, I believe that the first true CBDC to be adopted by a user base of over 100 million people take place in an Asian market,” said Tashpultov.

“Additionally,” reports Tashpultov, “current estimates place over half of the traded crypto asset volumes in Asia, and I do not see this trend slowing down. While adoption increases globally, I see that this rate of crypto asset volumes traded in Asia positions this region to eclipse the global average, and with countries like India moving ahead with more favourable regulation of crypto asset trading, I believe that this metric will continue to improve.”

Speaking from an institutional standpoint, he notes that there is steady progress being made in the adoption of blockchain technology and digital assets by large financial services firms in the region; he draws particular attention to the continual proliferation of challenger banks in the region, appearing in jurisdictions such as Hong Kong, Singapore, and Thailand, with new digital offerings appealing to a region which boasts a digitally-savvy, young prospective customer base.