OKX has completed an extension of its March fundraising round at a $25 billion valuation, adding Standard Chartered's venture arm SC Ventures, Circle, Ripple, and quantitative hedge fund Qube Research & Technologies as backers. The exchange did not disclose the round size, but noted that Intercontinental Exchange (ICE), parent of the New York Stock Exchange, invested about $200 million at the same valuation in March. OKX global managing partner Haider Rafique said the capital will reinforce the exchange's long-term market infrastructure development.

South Korean retail investors sustained roughly 2.3 trillion won ($1.7 billion) in losses between May 27 and August 14 from leveraged single-stock ETFs and notes tracking Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix, according to data cited by a lawmaker's office from the Financial Supervisory Service. Seoul regulators have since July imposed temporary bans on new leveraged single-stock product listings, raised minimum cash margin requirements, and strengthened investor education to curb risk. The losses underscore the concentrated exposure Korean retail traders have taken to domestic AI semiconductor names through derivative products.

Tokenization platform Securitize has signed a memorandum of understanding with Korean tech giant LG CNS to jointly develop tokenized asset and digital asset infrastructure for Korean financial institutions. The two firms will explore tokenized funds, equities, and stablecoins, while targeting opportunities across the broader Asia-Pacific market. The partnership arrives as Korea's Financial Services Commission prepares to implement tokenized securities rules, with the proposed framework expected to take effect in February 2027.

The Monetary Authority of Singapore said it does not consider decentralized trading platform Hyperliquid to be within its regulatory jurisdiction, and noted it is unclear whether the platform is regulated in any major jurisdiction, according to the Financial Times. Hyperliquid Labs confirmed it operates unregulated and has never claimed to hold an MAS license, while expressing willingness to engage constructively with authorities. The derivatives-heavy platform, which relocated to Singapore in 2024, has become one of the most active venues for leveraged perpetual trading.

Sui announced a partnership with Alibaba Cloud to bring the Chinese cloud giant's services onto Sui Agent Payments, enabling AI agents to automatically invoke services based on preset budgets and settle per-use in stablecoins on the Sui network. The integration marks one of the first direct collaborations between a major Asian cloud provider and a Layer-1 blockchain for autonomous machine-to-machine payments. It underscores growing momentum for AI agent commerce infrastructure across Asia's tech ecosystem.

Upbit parent Dunamu disclosed that its full share swap with Naver Financial has been postponed from December 31 of this year to March 31, 2027, with the extraordinary shareholder meeting moved from November 19 to February 26. The exchange ratio remains unchanged, with each Dunamu share converting into 2.5422618 Naver Financial shares. Once completed, Naver Financial will become Dunamu's wholly owned parent company, consolidating Korea's dominant crypto exchange under one of the country's largest internet firms.

Google Cloud has posted a position for an Industry Principal Architect for Web3 in Hong Kong, requiring institutional-grade experience in stablecoin payment networks, tokenized deposits, and digital asset custody. The hire will serve as Google Cloud's technical lead for Web3, digital assets, and decentralized technology ecosystems across Asia-Pacific, supporting blockchain protocol foundations, institutional exchanges, digital asset custodians, and financial institutions advancing real-world asset tokenization.

OKX founder and CEO Star told the Token2049 audience in Singapore that AI is transforming back-office functions including compliance and risk management, with OKX already using AI to assist in identifying risks and supporting suspicious transaction investigations. The exchange maintains human decision-making for final compliance and risk determinations. Former New York Governor Andrew Cuomo, an OKX board director, added that clear regulatory rules remain the essential foundation for fintech firms to expand services and build public trust.

Binance co-founder He Yi said the exchange is pursuing an all-in AI strategy aimed at achieving financial and information parity, speaking at a Chinese-language AMA for the company's new intelligent products. Binance unveiled a three-tier AI product stack: the free Finance AI for beginners, AI Pro for advanced traders, and AgentOS for developers to connect large language models with Binance trading, wallet, and liquidity infrastructure. Finance AI is set to open to all users within seven days.

Japan's cabinet approved additional sanctions against Russia, freezing assets belonging to 33 military-related entities and nine individuals, including groups involved in using crypto assets to evade financial sanctions. Tokyo also banned services for 35 vessels in Russia's so-called shadow fleet that secretly transports crude oil. The move highlights growing official concern over crypto's role in circumventing sanctions regimes in the region.