Across Asia, the crypto industry also saw a mix of regulatory developments, enforcement actions and corporate deals—from Singapore granting Gemini a payments license, to South Korea outlining a roadmap for tokenized securities, and India advancing a pilot to tokenize warehouse receipts for agricultural commodities.
Key takeaways
- Metaplanet shareholders oppose the dilution associated with an executive option pool equivalent to 20% of fully diluted shares, which expands when new shares are issued to purchase Bitcoin.
- Singapore’s crypto financing performance strengthened significantly in 2026, with private market data showing 25 funding rounds totaling $680 million.
- Gemini obtained a Major Payment Institution (MPI) license from the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS), ending the previous in-principle approval phase.
- South Korea’s Financial Services Commission introduced a three-stage plan to legally recognize tokenized securities, ultimately enabling on-chain payments linked to stablecoins.
- U.S. authorities froze more than $52 million in crypto assets linked to the suspected fraudulent marketplace XinbiGuarantee and related wallets; the U.S. Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) designated Xinbi as a significant transnational criminal organization.
Metaplanet executive option pool becomes a focal point as dilution concerns intensify
According to Cointelegraph, Metaplanet’s executive stock pool has once again become a focus of shareholder controversy. The plan is the company’s 10th executive option pool, designed to account for 20% of fully diluted shares and automatically expand as Metaplanet issues new shares to fund Bitcoin accumulation.
Investor posts cited in the report show that some shareholders are calling on Metaplanet
to cancel the 273 million additional shares created by changes to the option pool and to provide greater transparency for future decisions, arguing that the mechanism’s automatic growth could cause substantial dilution for existing holders.
In response to the backlash, Bitcoin Magazine CEO David Bailey defended the strategy, saying that allocating a 20% equity stake over five years is not “excessive.” However, the disagreement highlights a common tension in treasury-style Bitcoin strategies: while issuing tokens can fund BTC purchases, investors may view the share mechanism as insufficiently predictable or overly aggressive, inconsistent with expectations of long-term alignment of interests.
Southeast Asian financing momentum favors Singapore
Investment activity in Southeast Asian crypto-related companies accelerated over the past year.
A report cited by Cointelegraph stated that, according to private market data
from Tracxn, funding doubled from 2025 to 2026, reaching 25 funding rounds totaling $680 million in 2026.
Despite the significant overall growth, the data also showed concentration risk: the number of funding rounds declined from the previous year (46 rounds were reported in 2025), meaning more capital is flowing to fewer companies. Singapore was described in the report as the leading regional crypto hub, with 2,285 of the region’s 3,957 blockchain companies and 82.5% of all blockchain equity funding.
For investors and entrepreneurs, the implications are clear: capital availability has improved, but fundraising competition is fiercer because fewer deals are attracting larger amounts of capital. Entrepreneurs seeking growth need to strengthen differentiation, while fund managers may focus on fewer “winning” projects as financing becomes more concentrated.
Singapore and other regulators: license upgrades, tokenization roadmaps and enforcement actions
Singapore has provided greater regulatory clarity for crypto services after Gemini obtained a Major Payment Institution (MPI) license from the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS), completing the transition nearly two years after receiving in-principle approval.
Cointelegraph reported that MPI license holders can provide regulated payment services without the transaction-volume restrictions imposed on standard payment institutions.
Gemini has served Singapore customers since 2020, and the company views Singapore as a strategic hub for retail and institutional customers. This is significant because payments licenses often affect how quickly regulated exchanges and wallet providers can expand product functionality, particularly when transaction processing and cross-border settlement capabilities are involved.
Meanwhile, South Korea’s Financial Services Commission introduced a three-stage roadmap to establish infrastructure for issuing tokenized securities representing assets such as stocks, bonds and funds.
Cointelegraph reported that, starting February 4, 2027, tokenized securities will be updated under the Electronic Registration Act for Stocks and Bonds and legally recognized as digital forms of securities.
The plan will be implemented in stages: the first stage covers the legal recognition of certain tokenized products, including institutional money market funds, bonds, unlisted stocks and fractional investment securities; the second stage expands to all publicly issued securities; and the third targets on-chain payments linked to stablecoins. This sequence is important to market participants because legal status typically precedes broader market promotion.
Related to the payments economy, South Korea’s National Assembly Budget Office estimates that won-denominated stablecoins could reduce merchants’ payment costs by $275 million to $3.8 billion annually, the report said. Whether these savings materialize may depend on adoption rates and competition among payment channels.
Enforcement actions also stood out. According to Cointelegraph, U.S. authorities froze more than $52 million in crypto assets linked to the suspected fraudulent marketplace Xinbi Guarantee and its network of suppliers. The U.S. Department of Justice said its Scam Center Strike Force seized two wallets used by Xinbi to collect supplier payments, containing approximately
$12 million, and sought to freeze 47 wallets suspected of being linked to Xinbi’s money laundering. The report also said that OFAC designated Xinbi as a significant transnational criminal organization and sanctioned Singapore-based SafeW Technology and Cambodia-based Anwen Technology, accusing them of providing Xinbi with technical and financial support.
Corporate and cross-border developments: payments, tokenization pilots and treasury expansionSeveral commercial developments highlighted how crypto is being tested and integrated into traditional financial processes. According to Cointelegraph, Citigroup plans to use blockchain infrastructure to provide Japanese companies with near-instant international payment services, including outside banking hours.
In Singapore, Circle agreed to acquire Tazapay for $400 million; the company has more than 60 banking and fintech partners covering 100 markets.
The report said the move aims to deepen cross-border payment capabilities, a common intersection for stablecoins and compliant payment channels.
In India, Arya.ag is testing a system that uses a dedicated
Avalanche Layer-1 blockchain to tokenize warehouse receipts representing ownership of agricultural commodities stored in warehouses. The report said Arya.ag is working with Finternet to connect grain storage, warehouse receipts, collateral commitments and loan statuses through the network.
Devika Mittal of Ava Labs’ India team said each tokenized receipt will represent ownership of the stored goods, but the company did not disclose an expected launch date or the scale of its initial deployment.
The report also said that India’s Financial Intelligence Unit issued noncompliance notices to 15 offshore virtual digital asset service providers, accusing them of failing to implement effective anti-money laundering measures and demanding that the relevant apps and websites be taken down, alleging that they had not implemented proper controls for Indian customers. India’s Finance Ministry is expected to attend a parliamentary committee meeting on September 16 to discuss taxation and regulatory issues related to virtual digital assets.
In Hong Kong, Circle’s USDC jersey sponsorship with Chelsea Football Club has created a complex situation, reportedly linked to the region’s strict stance on unauthorized crypto promotions and local merchants’ reluctance to sell the jerseys. Cointelegraph also
reported that Hong Kong-listed gaming company Boyaa Interactive purchased an additional 115 Bitcoin, expanding its existing treasury holdings.
As these events unfold, the key issues to watch are shareholder governance at Bitcoin treasury companies, the speed at which Singapore and South Korea turn licensing and tokenization roadmaps into real market products, and enforcement signals that could tighten the cross-border operations of global payment providers and tokenized financial channels.

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