Banks want to run Vietnam’s crypto exchanges, Boyaa’s $70M BTC plan: Asia Express

Everything that happened in crypto news in Asia over the past seven days: Asia Express.

In this edition:

1. Boyaa Interactive lines up $70 million crypto treasury expansion
2. South Korea may be pushing for a fourth crypto tax delay
3. CoinDCX founders questioned in fraud case
4. Singapore’s carpool app adopts crypto treasury strategy
5. Banks, conglomerates bid for Vietnam’s first licensed crypto exchange
6. Bitrefill employee’s laptop hacked by Lazarus Group
7. Tax agency seeks help to handle seized crypto
8. Animoca bets on Avalanche’s Asia and Middle East expansion
9. Japan eyes up to a 10-year prison term for unlicensed crypto sellers

Boyaa Interactive lines up $70 million crypto treasury expansion

Hong Kong-listed Boyaa Interactive is seeking shareholder approval to expand its crypto treasury by up to $70 million over the next year.

The company said it plans to deploy idle cash reserves during market downturns to increase its existing holdings and support Web3 gaming development.

Boyaa currently holds about $285 million in crypto, including more than 4,000 Bitcoin and over 300 Ether.

The proposed purchases would add to its position as one of the largest corporate Bitcoin holders in Asia.

South Korea may see a fourth crypto tax delay

South Korean lawmakers have submitted a proposal to abolish the upcoming crypto income tax rules set to take effect in January 2027.

Lawmaker Song Eon-seok, the floor leader of the opposition People Power Party, said the proposed amendment seeks to eliminate tax on income generated from the transfer or lending of crypto.

Song argued that the US Securities and Exchange Commission’s classification of crypto as commodities raises concerns about applying the same tax framework used for securities.

Further disruption to the tax plan would mark a potential fourth delay. The rules were originally scheduled to take effect in January 2023, but have been postponed three times.

CoinDCX founders questioned in fraud case

Indian crypto exchange CoinDCX co-founders Sumit Gupta and Neeraj Khandelwal have reportedly been questioned by police over an alleged investment fraud.

The case stems from a complaint involving a fake website posing as CoinDCX that allegedly led to investor losses.

The company denied any involvement, calling the complaint false and part of a broader impersonation scheme targeting its brand.

CoinDCX said more than 1,200 websites have impersonated its domain between April 2024 and January 2026.

Singapore’s carpool app adopts crypto treasury strategy

A Singapore-based ride-sharing app has announced a crypto treasury strategy that will allocate a portion of its corporate reserves to Bitcoin.

Ryde began accepting Bitcoin for in-app payments in 2020 and expanded to altcoins in 2022.

Several companies adopted crypto treasury strategies throughout 2025 but have recently faced pressure from falling crypto prices.

February 2026 saw $555 million in monthly crypto treasury inflows, the lowest since October 2024.

Banks, conglomerates bid for Vietnam’s first licensed crypto exchange

Five companies in Vietnam have reportedly joined the race to launch the country’s first licensed crypto exchange.

According to Reuters, the quintet includes affiliates of private banks Techcombank, VPBank and LPBank, alongside stockbroker VIX Securities and conglomerate Sun Group.

Reflecting a broader global regulatory trend, Vietnam is moving to localize crypto trading while phasing out overseas platforms and preparing to bar local users from foreign services.

The Southeast Asian nation began accepting crypto exchange license applications in January after the finance ministry defined crypto assets as property.

Bitrefill employee’s laptop hacked by Lazarus Group

Crypto e-commerce company Bitrefill said one of its employees was targeted in a cybersecurity attack resembling tactics used by the Lazarus Group, North Korea’s state-backed hacking group.

The company said hackers compromised the employee’s laptop, enabling them to drain funds from its hot wallets and access 18,500 purchase records. The incident occurred on March 1. 

Bitrefill did not disclose the amount of funds lost.

Tax agency seeks help to handle seized crypto

South Korea’s tax agency is reportedly shopping for a private custodian after a press release shared an image of a crypto wallet seedphrase with the public.

According to media outlet ZDNet Korea, the National Tax Service is drafting criteria for custody providers and aims to select one in the first half of 2026, which is about two months away.

In late February, the tax agency issued a press release intending to tout a successful asset seizure case, but ended up losing about $5 million in crypto due to exposed passwords.

Meanwhile, South Korean police have reportedly drafted crypto seizure guidelines following a phishing attack that led to the loss of 320.8 Bitcoin in government custody. In this case, hackers later returned the stolen cryptocurrency, and prosecutors liquidated the funds last week.

Animoca bets on Avalanche’s Asia and Middle East expansion

Animoca Brands has announced a strategic investment in Ava Labs, backing a push to scale the Avalanche ecosystem across Asia and the Middle East.

The partnership will focus on sectors such as tokenized real-world assets and digital identity, with support spanning capital, integrations and regional market access.

The move positions Avalanche to target institutional and government-linked use cases in growing crypto markets.

Animoca Brands, a Hong Kong-based crypto unicorn with a portfolio of more than 600 projects, recently secured a Virtual Asset Service Provider license in Dubai.

Japan eyes up to a 10-year prison term for unlicensed crypto sellers

Japan’s Financial Services Agency (FSA) is considering a plan to impose harsher prison sentences of up to 10 years for those selling crypto without a license.

Under the proposal, the maximum prison term for violators would be raised from the current three years, while max fines would increase to 10 million yen (about $62,000).

The FSA plans to submit amendments during a special parliamentary session to reclassify cryptocurrencies from a payments category to financial instruments and strengthen penalties, local media reported.