Hong Kong's Securities and Futures Commission confirmed that the yuan counter will be included in the Stock Connect scheme before July 1 next year, allowing mainland investors to buy Hong Kong stocks directly with renminbi. In parallel, Hong Kong Monetary Authority chief executive Eddie Yue announced that CMU OmniClear, jointly held by the HKMA and HKEX, is building a digital asset platform targeting CBDC settlement support by year-end. The platform will also explore interoperability with tokenized deposits and regulated stablecoins, positioning Hong Kong at the forefront of institutional digital asset infrastructure in Asia.

The People's Bank of China's monetary policy committee, at its third-quarter meeting on September 19, called for integrating incremental and existing policy tools to strengthen the economy. The central bank said it would use and adjust monetary policy instruments as needed to keep liquidity ample and align social financing and money supply growth with economic targets. The committee also backed further reforms to the monetary policy operating framework, signaling Beijing's intent to provide sustained support for China's markets amid global rate pressure.

DeepSeek CEO Liang Wenfeng told investors that the Chinese AI firm's annualized revenue has surpassed $1 billion, more than doubling from under $500 million just months ago. The company raised API prices by 2.3 to 4.5 times last month without losing customers, Liang said. DeepSeek aims to complete a second funding round by the end of October, targeting 50 billion yuan (about $7.5 billion) at a valuation of 500 billion yuan, underscoring China's aggressive push into AI infrastructure.

South Korea's KB Securities signed a memorandum of understanding with Securitize and Optimism to launch tokenized financial products on OP Mainnet for Korean institutional investors. The first offerings will include a tokenized money market fund and a fund based on a flagship KB Asset Management strategy. The three parties also plan to explore tokenized equities, ADRs, corporate bonds, and Korean government bonds as the country's tokenized securities framework develops, marking KB Securities' first public move into tokenization.

Decentralized content blockchain Contentos announced it will terminate operations of its video creator platform COSTV and SocialFi product Channel VIP. The shutdown process begins December 1, with full closure on December 14. Users must convert COSTV wallets to self-custody wallets before December 1. The Contentos mainnet, COS Swap, and COS mainnet wallet will continue operating, but the move reflects ongoing consolidation among Asian Web3 content platforms struggling to reach sustainable scale.

The public relations head for Doubao, ByteDance's AI assistant, denied widespread layoff rumors circulating on Chinese social media. Liu Xing said the changes were an organizational adjustment, not job cuts, with part of the general Session team split into transaction and work teams. The restructuring affected 11 employees in a team of under 50, with only 3 departures, countering online speculation that the conversational AI unit was being sidelined.

Tencent is stopping new user registrations for QClaw, its local AI assistant based on OpenClaw, and will fully shut down the service on December 24. The company cited business adjustments and will support user data migration with point subsidies. QClaw, which launched as part of Tencent's 'lobster' product matrix in March, allowed users to control their PCs remotely through WeChat conversations. The shutdown highlights intense competition and rationalization in China's crowded AI assistant market.

Chinese economist Ye Tan said at a Binance-hosted event that if the world is at a Kondratieff cycle turning point, the internet era is winding down and AI has emerged as the new growth driver. She noted that AI infrastructure investment in China remains at tens of trillions of yuan with annual compound growth above 10%. However, Ye cautioned that sector-level growth does not guarantee investment profits, as sub-industry differences and market volatility persist.

Nasdaq-listed Nano Labs warned that its founder Jack Kong's X account was compromised and used to post fake project information. The Chinese chip company said it has not issued or endorsed any related token project and urged users to avoid clicking links or sending funds to any contract address. The incident reflects the persistent targeting of Asia-based tech executives in crypto-adjacent phishing and impersonation scams.

HTX Research analyst WZ said in a live session that crypto's next market cycle is being driven increasingly by external factors rather than crypto-native dynamics. He pointed to the SEC's 'innovation exemption' allowing compliant institutions to tokenize specific stocks as evidence that traditional finance and crypto are merging. WZ argued that regulatory clarity and macro liquidity have become the key variables for crypto pricing, a notable shift for Asian traders accustomed to crypto-centric narratives.