2019 could be the year of the securitized token. In February, Thailand became the latest country to amend regulations to pave the way for tokenized stocks, bonds and mutual funds on the blockchain. The tokenized platform is likely to be implemented this year, according to Tipsuda Thavaramara, deputy secretary-general of Thailand's Securities Exchange Commission.

2019 Dec 18th - Bloomberg - Singapore digital bank wannabes must prove they can profit
2019 Dec 04th - InternationalBanker - Who will win the digital-banking race in Southeast Asia?
2019 Nov 13rd - The coin republic - Libra Raises Stakes for National Regulators
2019 Nov 30th - EEO.COM - 2018-2019年度卓越金融企业盛典
2019 Nov 15th - CNBC - Singles Day sales hit a record high as Chinese buyers rack up their credit card bills
2019 Nov 07th - StraitsTimes - Alipay, WeChat Pay to open apps to foreigners
2019 Oct 02nd - Fortune - Why PayPal’s Approval to Enter China’s Payments Market May Be Less Than It Seems
2019 Sep 06th - Reuters - In China, P2P insiders say regulatory shortcomings have choked industry
2019 Aug 26th - Coinspeaker - After Visiting Switzerland, US Regulators Remain Worried About Facebook’s Libra
2019 Aug 25th - CNBC - Facebook’s dream of a global cryptocurrency raises political stakes — for the regulators themselves
2019 Aug 22nd - TecnNode - P2P lending platforms feel the pressure as regulators squeeze them out of the market
2019 Aug 19th - TechNode - China Tech Talk 84: Facebook’s Libra and China’s Central Bank with Zennon Kapron
2019 Aug 15th - Business Inside - Zendai has shuttered two P2P platforms worth $1.4 billion amidst Beijing's regulatory crackdown
2019 July 26th - Global Finance - Bad Loans Bite Back In China
2019 July 24th - China Economy Review - Zennon Kapron on what’s next for Chinese fintech
2019 July 15th - Finews - Four Other E-Wallet Operators Eyeing Digital Banking Licenses
2019 July 1st - Forbes - Stuck in the middle
2019 June 27th - Bloomberg - A $1,800 Drop in Minutes: Bitcoin Volatility on Full Display
2019 June 6th - FinTech Magazine - Taking the risk out of expansion
2019 June 5th - Financial Times - Chinese banks' uphill struggle to woo tech talent
2019 May 20th - Fintech Innovation - Is there a market for virtual banks in Singapore?
2019 May 20th - Bloomberg - U.S. Banks Are Terrified of Chinese Payment Apps
2019 May 8th - Financial Times - China's online banks adapt to state domination
2019 Apr 2nd - CNBC - Major cryptocurrencies are soaring after bitcoin made its first big jump in months
2019 Mar 29th - Bitcoin Exchange Guide - Ripple Insights Puts Spotlight on Why Southeast Asia is the Cradle of Payment Innovation
2019 Mar 22nd - Finews.asia - What's Next for Digitally Driven Financial Inclusion?
2019 Mar 21st - Finextra - Money 20/20 Asia: Leveraging data to provide the unbanked with credit
2019 Mar 19th - TechNode - China’s crackdown on internet finance hurts online lender Dianrong
2019 Mar 5th - South China Morning Post - Outbound travel market may be best bet for Visa, Mastercard should they finally gain access to China
2019 Mar 1st - BARRON'S - Don’t Count on Visa and Mastercard Winning in China
2019 Feb 27th - CKGSB - To solve the trade war, the US needs to understand China’s point of view
2019 Feb 22nd - Deutsche Welle - China's peer-to-peer lenders face crisis, investors face ruin
2019 Feb 22nd - Reuters - Cryptocurrency companies use 'backdoor' listings to ease into mainstream
2019 Feb 21st - TechNode - China’s online P2P lending industry is undergoing a massive shake out
2019 Feb 19th - Aljazeera - Is China taking social monitoring too far?
2019 Feb 15th - TechNode - Ant Financial’s global expansion plan bounces back with WorldFirst buyout
2019 Jan 28th - CNBC - China wants to boost loans to small businesses. Tech companies may be the answer
2019 Jan 14th - FintechInnovation - Facial recognition tech expand Chinese merchants payment options

If at first you don't succeed in buying a money-transfer company, try again. Just make sure you go shopping in a friendly jurisdiction. That strategy paid off for the Alibaba affiliate Ant Financial as it acquired the UK's WorldFirst for $700 million in mid February.

Despite its embrace of advanced technology, Japan is a country that likes cash, settling 80% of transactions with paper bills and metal coins.  It is not uncommon to find restaurants and bars in the capital city of Tokyo - the world's largest metropolitan area - that do not accept any other form of payment. If the shop is small and family owned, don't expect to pay with a credit card.

The cryptocurrency winter is getting frostier, but a blockchain spring may be around the corner in South Korea. Seoul's prudent approach to distributed ledger technology - less draconian than Beijing's but stricter than Tokyo's - just may represent the happy middle ground. A year ago, Seoul moved to ban anonymous virtual currency trading in a bid to quash crypto related crime, but stopped short of shutting down exchanges as China has done. Meanwhile, although Japan has also banned anonymous trading, it allows crypto to self-regulate, for better or worse.

Germany is pressing China to follow through on nearly two-decade-old promises to open its financial sector to foreign competition. In a January 18 dialogue in Beijing, the two countries vowed to open their respective markets wider to each other's banks and insurers. Reportedly, Beijing and Berlin signed three agreements: one between the two central banks, one regarding cooperation in securities and futures trading, and one to examine banking regulations together.

Mobile payment adoption is accelerating in Thailand as the finance sector moves to digitize. Like its Asean peers, Thailand is keen to use digital finance to boost an underdeveloped banking sector. Without the entrenched incumbents of developed economies, Asean countries tend to view digital finance as a greater opportunity than threat. Even highly advanced Singapore has embraced fintech, with an eye towards becoming Southeast Asia's fintech hub.

In 2018, Chinese banks lent a record $2.4 trillion in loans. That the credit spigot opened is no surprise: The banks had the full backing of Beijing, who looked on nervously as the Chinese economy limped - by its standards, anyway - to the finish line with just 6.5% annual growth, its worst performance since 1990. It wasn't so long ago that China could expect 9% annual growth.

The crypto community is aghast at Beijing's move to regulate blockchain, which will be effective February 15. "Blockchain under threat in China," proclaimed Coingape in January 14. report. The Invest in Blockchain site said that "the Chinese blockchain industry is about to come under heavy scrutiny" in a Jan. 13 article.

With its underdeveloped banking sector, Vietnam is a prime market for digital financial services. Thus far the pace of development has been modest, but analysts expect it will speed up considerably in the next few years. In a November report, ratings agency Moody's said that startups focused on payments were the most prevalent in the nascent Vietnam fintech segment. By some estimates, payments startups account for almost 50% of Vietnam's fintech firms. Vietnam also has about 25 fintech incubators, accelerators and innovation labs.