South Korean authorities called an emergency meeting on Wednesday evening to address extreme stock market turbulence, as the KOSPI index briefly crashed more than 12% before paring losses to 8%. Led by Finance Minister Koo Yun-cheol, regulators will examine structural factors beyond leveraged ETFs, including derivatives trading and investor composition. At a parliamentary hearing, lawmakers blamed part of the selloff on single-stock leveraged ETFs launched in May, which Koo admitted required more pre-launch assessment. President Yoon's office ordered a comprehensive review, acknowledging that Korea’s market amplifies global volatility due to its unique structure.

OSL Group’s Hong Kong platform will open XRP trading to retail investors on July 29, making it the first licensed exchange in the city to support the token for non-professionals. Three trading pairs—XRP/USD, XRP/HKD, and XRP/USD with lightning execution—will be available, with deposits and withdrawals via the XRP Ledger. OSL had previously offered XRP only to professional investors. The launch marks a milestone for Hong Kong’s digital asset market as it expands retail access beyond bitcoin and ether.

Binance’s bStocks, which tokenize real equities, crossed $500 million in assets under management just seven weeks after launch. The product debuted on June 11 with $5.6 million and has grown rapidly as users trade tokenized shares of companies like Apple and Amazon while holding actual equity exposure. The milestone underscores strong demand in Asia for regulated, crypto-native access to traditional stocks.

South Korea’s Financial Services Commission is working with the ruling party on a comprehensive Digital Asset Basic Act that would cover stablecoin issuance, exchange standards, and disclosure rules. Meanwhile, the opposition is advocating to abolish the planned crypto tax. Ten separate bills are currently pending in the National Assembly, with disputes over whether won-pegged stablecoin issuers should be bank-controlled and whether major exchanges should face ownership caps. The legislative push reflects Seoul’s effort to formalize crypto oversight as the market matures.

Dubai-based Emirates airline now accepts cryptocurrency payments through Crypto.com Pay, allowing UAE residents to book flights using digital assets with settlement in dirhams. Crypto.com earned a license from the UAE central bank earlier this year, making the service compliant with local regulations. Emirates joins a short list of global carriers—including Japan’s Peach Aviation—that support crypto payments, highlighting growing Middle Eastern adoption of digital assets in consumer businesses.

In a high-profile Chinese debt case involving Olympic boxing champion Zou Shiming, virtual currencies have emerged as one of the few potentially recoverable assets. Unlike real estate, luxury goods, or failed businesses, crypto holdings may still be traced via wallet addresses—analogous to how Beijing prosecutors earlier used blockchain analytics to recover RMB 89 million in illicit funds. The case underscores the growing recognition of cryptocurrency as a trackable asset in Chinese financial disputes, even as mainland China maintains a broad ban on trading.

Chinese blockchain security firm SlowMist has detected a targeted phishing campaign against Web3 professionals, in which attackers pose as recruiters and trick victims into installing a malicious “Relay” AI meeting app. The malware, affecting both macOS and Windows, steals browser credentials, wallet keys, Keychain data, and Telegram sessions. SlowMist has published details of the attack chain and urges job seekers to avoid installing unverified software during interviews—a timely alert as Asia’s crypto workforce continues to expand.

Alibaba affiliate OceanBase, the distributed database born inside Ant Group, is in talks for its inaugural external funding round of RMB 2–3 billion ($295–443 million) to fuel AI-driven expansion. The system, which once powered Alibaba’s Singles’ Day peak of 500,000 transactions per second, is now enhancing its capabilities for unstructured data like video, aiming to bridge enterprise data with AI models and agents. OceanBase said it remains open to capital markets but declined to comment on specifics.

Uzbekistan has launched the Besqala Mining Valley, its inaugural tax-free crypto mining zone, offering operators a full exemption until 2035. Miners must pay a 1% revenue fee and double the standard electricity rate. The initiative, enabled by legislation signed in April, aims to attract hash power to Central Asia, a region increasingly active in Bitcoin mining following China’s 2021 ban.

Vietnam’s Ministry of Public Security has drafted amendments to the Electronic Identification and Authentication Law, expanding its scope to include data, applications, and digital assets. The proposal would create a unified identification framework for both physical and digital entities, including cryptocurrencies, to support the country’s growing digital economy. The move signals Hanoi’s step toward formalizing digital asset recognition amid rising crypto adoption in Southeast Asia.