The Seoul Southern District Court sentenced Delio CEO Jeong Sang-ho to 15 years in prison for defrauding investors of approximately 250 billion won ($180 million). The court noted the severity of the crime and Jeong's attempts to shift blame to other companies. The ruling comes about three years after Delio suspended withdrawals in June 2023, leaving thousands of customers unable to access funds. This case highlights South Korea's aggressive crackdown on crypto fraud following the Terra collapse.

South Korea's Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU) and Financial Supervisory Service (FSS) announced that from August 20, the registration review for virtual asset service providers (VASPs) will extend to major shareholders. Operators must notify authorities 30 days in advance if major shareholders or legal compliance frameworks change. The review will cover the largest shareholder, shareholders with over 10% stake, and parties with special relationships to the largest shareholder. This move tightens oversight of exchange ownership structures in one of Asia's largest crypto markets.

Japanese listed company Metaplanet disclosed an unrealized loss of $1.15 billion on its Bitcoin holdings for the six months ended June 30. The company held 43,000 BTC at quarter-end. Despite the paper loss, Metaplanet continues to hold its entire position. CEO Simon Gerovich clarified that a recent transfer of 5,014 BTC between custodial addresses was routine wallet management, not a sale. Metaplanet has become one of Asia's most prominent corporate Bitcoin treasuries, often compared to Strategy in the US.

ChangXin Memory Technologies (CXMT) closed with a market capitalization of 3.54 trillion yuan, surpassing Tencent Holdings, which fell 4.46% to a market cap of approximately 3.44 trillion yuan ($480 billion). This marks a historic shift in China's equity landscape, as a semiconductor memory maker dethrones the internet giant. The move reflects booming investor demand for domestic chip companies amid China's push for technological self-reliance. CXMT's rise has also impacted crypto markets, as the stock's volatility has drawn derivative traders.

Lenovo Group's Hong Kong-listed shares rallied more than 20% to a record high after the company reported quarterly revenue growth of 43% year-over-year, far exceeding analyst expectations. The stock has now gained over 290% this year, making it the best performer on the Hang Seng China Enterprises Index. Citi analysts said the results reinforced the structural growth story driven by AI demand. Lenovo also announced plans to launch AI PCs powered by Nvidia's RTX chips later this year.

South Korean financial giant Mirae Asset is injecting approximately 50 billion won ($36 million) into Korbit, the crypto exchange it acquired in July. Korbit's operating company has been renamed to DigitalX. The capital injection signals Mirae Asset's commitment to expanding its crypto footprint despite a challenging market. Korbit is one of South Korea's five licensed won-based exchanges, though it trails Upbit and Bithumb in volume. This move could intensify competition in the Korean exchange market.

Hyperliquid founder Jeff announced that in the next network upgrade, the Hyperliquidity Provider (HLP) will automatically rebalance underutilized USDC into its lending sub-strategy. The change comes as HLP's yield approached zero. Jeff noted that portfolio margin and lending services have reached production scale with strong demand, and order book liquidity has matured enough that HLP's liquidity is no longer essential in large-scale scenarios. This upgrade aims to improve capital efficiency for the protocol's treasury.

A phishing campaign using Google paid advertisements impersonating Hyperliquid has resulted in approximately $550,000 in losses, according to FlashRescue co-founder DarcyAri. The attacker's addresses have been published, and users are warned to be cautious of Google ad phishing risks. This incident underscores the growing sophistication of crypto scams targeting users of popular Asian-facing platforms. Hyperliquid has seen rapid adoption in Asia due to its low fees and high-performance trading.

Tencent's CodeBuddy suite, including WorkBuddy, IDE, plugins, and CLI, has fully upgraded to the DeepSeek V4 Pro model. This integration gives millions of Chinese developers access to advanced AI coding capabilities. DeepSeek V4 Pro has shown strong performance in terminal agent benchmarks, scoring 87.9 on Terminal Bench. The move reflects the rapid adoption of domestic AI models by major Chinese tech platforms amid US export restrictions.

Plaintiffs Susquehanna International and Citadel Securities have narrowed the alleged insider trading case involving Futu and Tiger Brokers options to 45 individuals controlling 47 accounts. The estimated illicit profits have increased to $155 million. Most suspects reside outside the US, primarily in mainland China and Hong Kong. One individual controlled three accounts, with some earning tens of millions of dollars. This case highlights regulatory scrutiny of cross-border options trading flows from Asia.