Ledger Uncovers Criminal Ring That Tampered Hardware Wallets Sold Across Southeast Asia
A highly organized criminal group spent millions of dollars buying genuine Ledger devices, implanting custom hidden components designed to steal recovery phrases during initialization, then funnelling the compromised units back into circulation through Southeast Asian distributors. Ledger confirmed its chips, operating system, and servers were not breached; the attack occurred within the distribution chain after devices left its control. Ledger has now ordered authorized distributors in Southeast Asia and Hong Kong to suspend sales, remove products from open shelves, and deliver inventory only at point of sale, with returned devices barred from resale.
South Korean and Japanese Stock Markets Plunge, Seoul Calls Emergency Meeting
South Korea's KOSPI index closed down 7.56% at 5,554.27 after briefly falling more than 9% intraday, triggering the country's circuit breaker for the tenth time this year. SK Hynix initially closed down 11.06% and Samsung Electronics fell 9.48%. The Nikkei 225 slid 4.9% to 64,425.95. South Korean financial regulators convened an emergency meeting on the equity selloff and warned they would take stern action against market disruption, including preparing contingency plans if needed.
Bitget's $387 Million Exploit Drives Q3 Crypto Hack Losses to $1.18 Billion
Security firm Hacken reported that the crypto industry suffered $1.18 billion in losses across 107 hack incidents during the third quarter, with roughly 77% tied to compromised developer tools and supplier infrastructure. The quarter was dominated by four large events: Bitget lost $387 million, Liquid Network $320 million, Tectonic $120 million, and a Coldcard firmware vulnerability caused about $115 million in damage — together accounting for about 80% of total losses. Smart contract attacks remained the most common, with 71 incidents totaling $228 million.
Taiwan Blocks Coinbase and Kalshi Over Alleged Violations
Taiwan has restricted local access to Coinbase and prediction market platform Kalshi after a New Taipei district court authorized the communications regulator and network registrars to block the sites. The move follows Taiwan's earlier blocking of Polymarket, Kalshi's main competitor. The restrictions underscore tightening oversight of offshore crypto and prediction market platforms in the jurisdiction.
South Korea Finds Security Deficiencies at 130 Financial Firms, Including Crypto Exchanges
South Korea's Financial Services Commission (FSC) will impose stricter cybersecurity assessments after a sector-wide review found 130 of 555 financial companies had security deficiencies, exposing about 100,000 customer records. The crackdown stems from investigations into earlier incidents at 16 companies, including crypto exchanges such as Gopax operator Streami and trading platform Prabang, which reported an October 2 hack that leaked customer data. Large institutions will now face vulnerability assessments at least twice a year, with AI monitoring planned for smaller firms.
TSMC Q3 Net Profit Soars 69% on AI Chip Demand, Reaches Record High
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. posted a 69% year-over-year surge in third-quarter net profit to NT$763.1 billion (about $23.59 billion), beating market expectations and setting an all-time high. The world's largest contract chipmaker said demand for AI processors continues to outstrip its supply capacity. TSMC also confirmed it is in talks with Elon Musk's Terafab project, while insisting that TSMC must retain operational control of any wafer fabrication facility it participates in.
Hong Kong Monetary Authority Unveils ART Framework for Responsible AI in Banking
The Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) published its ART framework to support accountable, resilient, and trustworthy AI adoption across the banking sector. Measures include updated regulatory guidance incorporating insights from the second phase of the generative AI sandbox, an AI training data-sharing platform built with Cyberport and the University of Hong Kong, and further testing of agentic AI applications through the GenA.I. Sandbox++. The HKMA also issued a discussion paper on a proposed governance framework for Agentic AI covering accountability arrangements and intervention mechanisms.
Anthropic Opens Singapore Office, Signs AI Safety MoU with Government
Anthropic has opened a new office in Singapore — its fifth Asia-Pacific location — and signed a memorandum of understanding with Singapore's Ministry of Digital Development and Information. The partnership covers AI safety, model evaluation, applied research, and responsible adoption across the public and private sectors. Anthropic noted that Singapore ranks second globally in per-capita usage of Claude.ai, and the company plans technical exchanges with Singapore's AI safety institutions on model evaluation and incident response.
Canaan Reports 44 BTC Mined in September, Total Holdings Reach 1,875 BTC
Chinese mining hardware maker Canaan reported producing 44 BTC in September amid rising network difficulty, bringing its total bitcoin holdings to 1,875 BTC at month-end. The company ended September with installed hashrate of 4.87 EH/s and operational hashrate of 4.18 EH/s. Canaan's production update offers a window into how listed Asian miners are managing through increasingly competitive mining economics.
JPYC Stablecoin Cumulative Issuance Tops 10 Billion Yen, Lists on Upbit
Japan's yen-pegged stablecoin project JPYC crossed 10 billion yen in cumulative issuance through its JPYC EX service, with users expanding from individuals to Japanese enterprises and overseas projects. JPYC listed on South Korea's Upbit exchange on September 17, trading against KRW, BTC, and USDT pairs, though its market price initially deviated from the one-yen peg. Payment network operator Netstars also signed an MOU with the Kaia DLT Foundation to connect stablecoins on Kaia to its network of roughly 700,000 StarPay merchants.
