Our weekly roundup of news from East Asia curates the industry’s most important developments.
Hong Kong regulators consider adding staking to spot EtherETFs
Hong Kong regulators are considering allowing crypto ETF issuers inthe East Asian cityto stake their custodied Ether. According to reports, talks for greenlighting ETH staking arecurrentlyongoing, and there is no clear deadline for a decision. If approved, staking on the Ethereum network would allow issuers to earn a yield of up to 3.6% per annum by validating transactions.
But since their launch on April 30, Hong Kong spot Ether ETFs haveseen little tonotraction.Three funds have custodied a cumulative $44.9 million, and net outflows have totaled $2.2 million. On certain days, the Ether ETFs experienced no inflows whatsoever. Fee-wise, the spot crypto ETFS charge upwards of 1% per annum, compared to less than 0.30% for their U.S. counterparts.
Worldcoin reprimanded in Hong Kong
OpenAI CEO Sam Altman’s flagship crypto project, Worldcoin, has been sanctioned in Hong Kong due to alleged privacy violations.
According to local reports citing the Office of the Privacy Commissioner for Personal Data, authorities have requested Worldcoin to cease collecting data of local residents from the firm’s iris scanning devices.
Investigators alleged thatprior toscanning their biometrics, participantswere not properlty informedaboutthe collection oftheir private data, which would “be retained for up to 10 years to train the artificial intelligence model for the identity verification process.”
In response, Worldcoin has stated that the firm “doesn’t seek to know, share or profit from a person’s identity or personal information, only to verify that they are human and unique.”
Over 10 million users worldwide have signed up for Worldcoin since its launch in June 2023. Users who scan their irises can receive the WLD token as an incentive.
Sam Altman standing beside a Worldcoin iris scanner. (X)
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